School Book: Moon Tiger

I finished reading Penelope Lively's Moon Tiger yesterday and loved every minute of it! Hands down, Moon Tiger is the best book I have read for school this year!

Moon Tiger reminded me of a Margaret Laurence book I read back in high school called Stone Angel. But Moon Tiger was what Stone Angel should have been: Moon Tiger has wonderfully deep characters whom you care about.

Moon Tiger is the story of Claudia, who is dying of cancer. She is planning on writing the history of the world, and is going over her life while she contemplates writing. Claudia shares with us all the major events and people that have coloured her unconventional life.

While Claudia might not be the best mother in the world, she is very interesting and very full of life. She reminded me a bit of Harriet Scrope from Chatterton, but I liked Claudia more. I also liked how her version of events was never priviledged over other people's; whenever Moon Tiger narrated how Claudia saw something, it would immediately give how the other people in her life saw that same event. Moon Tiger is a fantastic glimpse into the different worlds that are people.

Unfortunately, I find myself unable to really describe Moon Tiger in any other words at the moment. So I will just say that it is a fantastic book and I heartily recommend it to everyone! And as far as I am concerned, it definitely deserved to win the Booker Prize of 1987 (it beat out Chatterton!)

Library Book: First Footsteps in East Africa

I decided to read Sir Richard Burton's book First Footsteps in East Africa after reading Laurence's The Prophet's Camel Bell. I am going to write an essay comparing the two books, as both Laurence and Burton's books involve Somaliland.

Burton is an extremely interesting character, so I was rather excited to read something that was actually written by him. I enthusiastically sat down to read First Footsteps...and was immediately disappointed by the introduction. But as that wasn't actually written by Burton, I clung to the hope that the actual stuff by Burton would be better.

In many respects I was mistaken. There are long chunks of the book that list off people's names, or the genealogies of different tribes. These were very hard to get through. But then there are other chunks that are super interesting, detailing his actual adventure. So parts of the book were very good, others not so much, at least according to my taste.

All in all though, I am glad that I read First Footsteps. By no means the best book I've ever read, it was nonetheless interesting. And I think it will work wonderfully in my essay!

School Book: The Prophet's Camel Bell

I have to admit, I was extremely biassed towards this book. I have read two of Margaret Laurence's books, one in high school, and one in a Children's Literature class, and I do not like her writing style. And so I began reading The Prophet's Camel Bell expecting to hate it. I couldn't have been more wrong!

Laurence's The Prophet's Camel Bell tells of the author's experience in Africa. Her husband at the time took a job in Somaliland to build water resevoirs in the desert to help the people get through the dry season. Laurence accompanied him, and together they met many interesting people and saw the life that the Somali people dealt with. A deeply religious people, they lead their harsh lives as best they can, trusting in God's will. Laurence and her husband gain the friendship of their work crew, overcoming language and cultural barriers as best as they can. Laurence becomes interested in Somali poetry, and works to translate it while her husband constructs the resevoirs.

I think my one complaint is that the book tends to throw people at you without properly telling you who they are. Pretty much everyone is explained at the end, but when many of the Somalis are first brought up, you are left guessing as to who they are.

But all in all, The Prophet's Camel Bell was an extremely interesting read, and I am incredibly glad that I have read it!