I plan to go down the East and back up the West, or possibly the other way. Hopefully I can see a gorilla in the wild in the heart of Africa too - major bucket list.
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Whatās your planned route between Egypt and Kenya?
Something like this:
It changes all the time, but plenty of people do it. Iām told Euro overlanders generally consider Africa safer than the Americas.
Ethiopia is a bit dicey right now due to some political unrest in Tigray, but that could be very different in a few years when I get there.
Worst case scenario thereās an option of shipping to Kenya. I really havenāt spent a ton of time researching Africa because everything changes and itās a ways off.
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No comment on the journey, and only because I think you might be āinterestedā (probably not the right word given how grim it is.) But calling it political unrest in Tigray seems too much of an understatement.
Like I said Iām not paying much attention right now. Posters on the Overlanding Africa group, who are usually pretty up on things, are still asking when the roads will be open - which is where I got the impression it wasnāt a full blown civil war yet.
There are always other options - but it would suck because Ethiopa is supposed to be insanely beautiful.
Finished Anxious People: A Novel (By Fredrik Backman). Interesting book, quite enjoyable. Some laughs, some tears, but in the end absolutely worth reading.
Finished: The rise and Fall of the dinosaurs.
The dino parts were great, the parts about the author and his colleagues not so much, probably still worth it but couldāve been a lot better.
Finished: The invisible life of Addie LaRue. Highly recommended, great idea for a story and very good execution.
Starting now: The midnight library
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nice, Iām a little ways into anxious people, good to know its good.
I read midnight library a month or so back, i thought it was fine, some parts about it were annoying, let me know what you think.
I just finished this. Amazing book, highly recommend. Also absolved me of ever wanting to spend any serious time in Greenland. Although I assume itās different now than the 60s.
But still - roving packs of starving huskies that eat children, whole families that have to sleep naked together to keep warm, doing your business in a slop bucket in the corner of the room while carrying on a conversation, and eating nothing but blubber, frozen seal lungs, and other gross stuff.
There does seem to be complete free love though - and Iām sure STDs to go with it.
Nice, I did order this too based on your earlier post, couldnāt find a kindle version of it so had to get the physical bookā¦
Hard to read any physical books nowadays when the kindle is so much more convenient. Will probably read it after the midnight library.
I donāt need leather-bound books or anything like that, but I like to buy hardcover when possible because they hold up better and look nicer on the shelf. Iāve had my eye on a nice three-volume set of the Arabian Nights from Penguin. They did what seems to have been a very limited run in 2008 followed by another printing in 2011, and the set seems to have been out of print since then. There are a few listing on eBay and other sites for over $800 for sets that arenāt in great condition.
Anyway, the other day I saw a set in new condition on eBay for several hundred dollars less than any other listing. I snapped it up, although I was a little worried about getting scammed somehow. Happily it arrived today as advertised.
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Yeah I was expecting more from the midnight library. In the end I found it quite disappointing. The premise of the book is pretty good, but donāt like the execution.
My main problems were how easy she was hopping from life to life, and how amazingly varied her lives were. I just donāt think that you can be anything like she was, I get the idea of āinfiniteā books, but felt this just was a bit too much of a reach. Idk, I just never really cared about any of the characters in the book either, which makes sense since they keep changing every ālifeā.
Also didnāt like that I saw the ending coming from a mile away
agreed, i thought the concept was pretty cool but the execution was lacking and agreed on the ending as well.
I didnāt like that she didnāt know anything in each life, like I get that he says that the longer you are in that life you pick up stuff, but it just seemed to needlessly complicate each life, like i said, the execution was weak.
Really liked the lonesome dove four books when I read them back in college
The Murderbot Diaries
Search tells me theyāve been mentioned twice already but Iām going to promote them again anyway. I just burned through 4 novellas in 3 days and am about to start the first full length novel. Theyāre about an introverted, misanthropic security cyborg that hacked its own governing module so it can be a free agent and spend its downtime watching serial dramas. Lots of fun to read and frequently laugh out loud hilarious.
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holy shit
Glass Hotel or Station Eleven?
Both. Almost literally read both back-to-back in one sitting, barring a sleep break obv, this past weekend.
Station Eleven first if youāre curious.
I have a feeling this is gonna ruin me for awhile on other books. I started reading some psychological thriller that won or got shortlisted for awards and three chapters in Iām like, āItās fineā¦ even goodā¦ but goddamn it aināt no Emily St. John Mandel.ā
Awesome. I am 1.25 books away from the end of my reading queue, and I was starting to get anxious. I guess Iām covered for one additional sitting.
Some recent acquisitions
The Tale of Genji set is the hardcover edition of a 2001 translation, now only available in paperback as a single volume.
The Mark Twain set was published in 2020 by Abbeville press, using Norman Rockwell illustrations from 1936 and 1940 editions. https://www.abbeville.com/
The Kafka volume is a special edition published on the hundredth anniversary of his birth (1983).
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