Born to Run - Christopher McDougall

I rated this book 10/10

Born to Run is an epic adventure that begins with one simple question: Why does my foot hurt? In search of an answer, Christopher McDougall sets out to find Mexico's Tarahumara Indians, the world's greatest distance runners, who can go for hundreds of miles without rest while enjoying every minute of it.

Interesting, inspiring and page turning; I loved this book and couldn't put it down. McDougall is a real writer and has a way with words that (despite the multiple flashes back and forth in time) have you hooked. His character description is second to none and you can really feel the passion for running seep through his sentences.

I wanted to go out running every time I put the book down for the evening, and even invested in a pair of 'minimal' trainers based on some of the ideas McDougall outlines.

Filled with physiological musings and mixed up in a whirlwind of biographic storytelling, this book is perfect for anybody that's into running, or for anybody interested in travel writing.

Fiesta: The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway

"Robert Cohn was once middleweight
boxing champion of Princeton."

Rated 5.2/10  (not bad)

Paris in the twenties: Pernod, parties and expatriate Americans, loose-living on money from home. Jake is wildly in love with Brett Ashley, aristocratic and irresistibly beautiful, but with an abandoned, sensuous nature that she cannot change.

My Thoughts: I appreciate Hemingway's style but I'm not sure that I really understood this book. I thought that Robert Cohn was treated really quite badly; I didn't like Brett one bit; and Mike was a bit of a monster too. It read, to me, like a lot of pretentious Americans without any compassion. Nothing much happened. Nothing much was said. And I didn't see the relationship between Brett and Jake at all. I think maybe I missed something here.

I've read a lot of reviews that suggest something different might come of this novel from a second reading - maybe even a third. I struggled through this and only just made it to the end (and I did find myself skipping a few pages after the fiesta too). I won't be reading it again to find out if they are right.

That said, I did like the atmosphere of the fiesta. I couldn't quite pinpoint as to why, but I found myself drawn into the book at that point; I think possibly Hemingway's stark writing style with no real description left my imagination to fill in the gaps. It was really quite wonderful, but there just wasn't enough of this atmosphere throughout to keep me interested. It took far too long to kick off.

I loved A Moveable Feast, but this one didn't really do it for me.

Theme: 3/5
I liked the idea of the fiesta and everything building up to a climax in Spain.

Plot: 1/5
The relationships and character's feelings were perhaps too subtle for me, and I didn't click on to the romance that was supposedly lacing the book.

Characters: 1/5 
I didn't like them. I didn't connect to any of them.

Setting: 4/5
Some brilliant settings. All the littlest details weren't filled in, which let me colour in the gaps.

Style: 4/5
I still like Hemingway's style and think that he is one of the great classic American authors.

Overall: 5.2/10

Twitchhiker - Paul Smith

"It was quiet and still, the
very dead of night when the
dead themselves might consider
turning in, and I had no business
being awake."

Date Finished: 12th July 2012

There were five rules of Twitchhiker. I can only accept offers of travel and accommodation from people on Twitter. I can't make any travel plans further than three days in advance. I can only spend money on food, drink and anything that might fit in my suitcase. If there is more than one offer, I choose which I take. If there is only one, I have to take it within 48 hours. If I am unable to find a way to move on from a location within 48 hours, the challenge is over and I go home. 

My Thoughts: First impressions of this book were good - it seemed to have the dry wit and humour that the likes of 'Yes Man' entertained me with, and I was really looking forward to getting stuck in. It seems like a fascinating idea, to travel the world with nothing but the good-will of others to help you on your way.

And so you would expect really interesting cultural observations, crazy characters and heart-warming, funny tales. And you get very little of any of this. Paul Smith tells us mainly about him being drunk; waking up with hangover after hangover; complaining about being tired and far from home; crying a lot; and throwing up a lot.

I could forgive the drunkenness if there were some bizarre escapades and hilarious events that happened during these episodes. I could forgive the endless descriptions of hangovers if he didn't tell us that he sat around on his computer for the rest of the day. And of course he's tired and missing home - we don't need to be told this over and over. Too much vomit and too many tears.

The locations he visited during the course of his travelling must have been amazing, and they would have been brilliant to read about. But Paul doesn't really get chance to explore until the very end. This might not have been his fault, but as a reader I want to be captivated by the locations and entertained by amazing sights and the awesome things that happen. Even just a bit of down to Earth reflection on his deeper thoughts would have sufficed.

As for the other people in the book, Paul doesn't really do them much justice. A brief (and usually quite shallow) physical description and an outline of their personalities - and they are each just another sentence on another piece of paper. Don't get me wrong, he might be a lovely fellow when he isn't being moody and tired, but I really don't like Paul as a person in this book.

In short, although this Twitchhiking business might have been an amazing adventure for Paul and the others involved, and the journey did raise a lot of money for charity (good for him!), as an entertaining read it failed. I'm not quite sure whether the critics on the book cover were reading the same book as me to be honest.

Recommendation: I would be quite reluctant to recommend this to anyone really. Perhaps somebody who is an avid reader of travel literature might be good to give this a go. Or anybody fascinated with Twitter and its social implications. It's not a terrible read after all, just not a particularly good one. 

I RATED THIS 4/10

Click here to grab this at Waterstones.com

A Moveable Feast - Ernest Hemingway

Date Finished: 30th November 2011

Hemingway's memories of his life as an unknown writer living in Paris in the 1920s are deeply personal, warmly affectionate and full of wit. Looking back not only at his own much younger self, but also at the other writers who shared Paris with him - literary 'stars' like James Joyce, Wyndham Lewis, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound and Gertrude Stein - he recalls the time when, poor, happy and writing in cafes, he discovered his vocation.

My Thoughts: I loved this. Picked it up on a lunch break because I had temporarily lost the book that I was in the middle of reading, and I found that I couldn't put it down.

I love Hemingway's style; the way that he describes people is breathtaking and it is quite obvious that he has the art of observation nailed. It's a short read, the perfect length for the laid back feel of the book and I was drawn in to the atmosphere right from the first page.

Definitely a classic to put on everybody's 'to-read' list.

I RATED IT 10/10

Yes Man - Danny Wallace

Date Read: July 2011

Recently single, Danny Wallace was falling into loneliness and isolation. When a stranger on a bus advises, "Say yes more," Wallace vows to say yes to every offer, invitation, challenge, and chance.

My Thoughts: Brilliant! Danny Wallace is an absolute legend! This was a big, bold and hilarious read that had me thinking about it long after finishing the last page. It's nothing like the film starring a certain Jim Carey - it is so much more than that!

An honest and entertaining account of one man's struggle to come to terms with his own philosophies. A definite winner that should be on everyone's reading list.

I RATED IT 10/10

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Hunter S. Thompson

Date Read: November 2010

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is the best chronicle of drug-soaked, addle-brained, rollicking good times ever committed to the printed page. It is also the tale of a long weekend road trip that has gone down in the annals of American pop culture as one of the strangest journeys ever undertaken.

My Thoughts: I went against my usual aversion to borrowing books for this one because I spied it on his shelf and just had to read it. A brilliantly bizarre cult classic that had me hooked right to the very end. A definite must-read.

I RATED IT 9/10