I would be lost without a book to read, but I doubt I will live long enough to read all the books I own. Whatever time I go to bed I have to read for a while or I can't sleep. There are very few books I have given up on -"Catch 22" stands out - couldn't get the hang of it & couldn't be bothered to try, although it went against my Calvanist work ethic. I did manage "War & Peace" though.
I have just read 2 books which couldn't be more different, one for our book club which was a complete waste of my time - "The Secret Intensity of Everyday Life". This, by an large, had good reviews - how wrong can they be? Chapter 18 sent a frisson of shock through the middle aged ladies of the club. That apart, it had little to recommend it, it was disjointed, mundane & had little characterisation or description.
On the other hand "A Passage to Africa" by George Alagiah was extremely good. "No other continent on earth has been interfered with as much as Africa. First there was slavery, then there was colonialism, and after that came the disguised and insidious captivity of development"....."In 1980 the average Westerner was 15 times better off than the average African. 20 years later, the ratio had climbed to a staggering 50 to 1"...... Africa is divided by lines - "the rivers - the Congo, the Niger, the Zambeze, the Limpopo, the Nile, the Okavango & many others"...."the other lines, the political ones mark out the borders of 53 countries. Many are meaningless, artificial divisions that reflect the power politics of 19thC Europe, on each side of which live people of the same culture & language". Africa's indigenous kingdoms were completely ignored.
The West has a lot to answer for, & to be fair so do the Africans themselves. However I can't help feeling that it's about time we learnt the lessons of interfereing for political gain or in order to control natural resources & great wealth. It is becoming obvious that the policies of previous governments are coming back to haunt us in ways that no one forsaw. The trouble is that now it isn't simply political involvement, it's also the great multinational corporations which have more wealth & influence than single countries do. That wealth & influence has the potential to make previous political mistakes pale into insignificance.
I have just read 2 books which couldn't be more different, one for our book club which was a complete waste of my time - "The Secret Intensity of Everyday Life". This, by an large, had good reviews - how wrong can they be? Chapter 18 sent a frisson of shock through the middle aged ladies of the club. That apart, it had little to recommend it, it was disjointed, mundane & had little characterisation or description.
On the other hand "A Passage to Africa" by George Alagiah was extremely good. "No other continent on earth has been interfered with as much as Africa. First there was slavery, then there was colonialism, and after that came the disguised and insidious captivity of development"....."In 1980 the average Westerner was 15 times better off than the average African. 20 years later, the ratio had climbed to a staggering 50 to 1"...... Africa is divided by lines - "the rivers - the Congo, the Niger, the Zambeze, the Limpopo, the Nile, the Okavango & many others"...."the other lines, the political ones mark out the borders of 53 countries. Many are meaningless, artificial divisions that reflect the power politics of 19thC Europe, on each side of which live people of the same culture & language". Africa's indigenous kingdoms were completely ignored.
The West has a lot to answer for, & to be fair so do the Africans themselves. However I can't help feeling that it's about time we learnt the lessons of interfereing for political gain or in order to control natural resources & great wealth. It is becoming obvious that the policies of previous governments are coming back to haunt us in ways that no one forsaw. The trouble is that now it isn't simply political involvement, it's also the great multinational corporations which have more wealth & influence than single countries do. That wealth & influence has the potential to make previous political mistakes pale into insignificance.
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