Holy Smokes!

I just took a quick count in my pocket notebook and realized I've read 18 books since I left home!!!

From Hannibal Rising on the plane to Sydney to some crappy tattered 70's Western I picked up in a guesthouse in Bali yesterday, I've been burning through the lit - some bad, but mostly good. I guess if you are gonna drag a book halfway around the world, it might as well be something you like...

Most hostels have a pile of discarded books and the policy is leave one - take one, but I've had fellow travellers give me one they liked and I've made a gift to others of the ones I found special. There are always lots of really good-looking ones in German, wish I knew the lingo!

The best so far have been Shadow Of The Wind, a story about a bookseller's son in post-war Barcelona (it was awesome - drop what you are doing and go buy this book right now!!) Next best are First They Killed My Father, about Cambodia in the 70's (light reading,) and two books by Bill Bryson the humorous travel writer, In A Sunburnt Country, (Australia,) and A Walk In The Woods, (about the Appalachian Trail.) I also really enjoyed John Irving's Until I Find You, (but I always love Irving,) which was a bonus as it was more than a thousand pages long and got me through a tortuous train ride to Singapore!

The most fun have been The Devil Wears Prada, (yes I like Chick Lit too,) and The Beach, the novel that Leo DiCaprio's movie was based on. Kinda cool reading that book in a Thai Island Hostel on a beach reading about a guy in a nearby spot.

That's all - nothing earth-shaking, just thought I'd share. I'm off to meet some German surfers for Bintangs!

Prost!
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