Books I Read in 2021

Last January, I set out to read ten books in 2021. I did – but the extra two were work-related and I shan’t mention them here. Of those listed, three were translated. Regular reading does wonders, not only for learning but general concentration in our dopamine-saturated age. This year, I hope to read another ten – hopefully more.

January

• Herodotus – The Histories (430 BC). The first book about history. All writings about the Greco-Persian Wars trace back to Herodotus. 5/5

April

• Witi Ihimaera – Navigating the Stars (2020). A comprehensive book on Māori mythology. Well written and humorous. 4/5

July

• Paolo Coelho – The Alchemist (1988). An Andalusian shepherd goes on an adventure to see the pyramids. Poignant but somewhat overrated. 4/5.
• Miguel Cervantes – Don Quixote (1605). Spain’s best book. Hilarious but long. 5/5
• Ernest Hemingway – The Old Man and the Sea (1952). A Cuban fisherman goes out to sea one last time. Gripping. 5/5

August

• Larry Mcmutry – Comanche Moon (1997). A horse thief kidnaps a Texas Ranger captain. Full of violence, adventure and melancholy. I devoured it. 5/5.

October

• Larry McMurtry – Lonesome Dove (1985). Best book I’ve read.  5/5

• Stephen King – On Writing (2000). Part memoir and writer’s handbook. A useful aide. 5/5

See Also:

• Books I Read in 2021
• Books I Read in 2020
• Books I Read in 2019
• Books I Read in 2018

Conn Iggulden – The Falcon of Sparta

The Falcon of Sparta (2018), by English author Conn Iggulden, is a fictionalised account of Xenophon’ Anabasis: a story of ten thousand Greek mercenaries stranded in the heart of the Persian Empire and their journey home. It features such characters as Xenophon, Socrates, Artaxerxes of Persia and the rebel prince Cyrus.

The book’s first half deals with the campaign of the charismatic Cyrus the Younger to take the throne from his scholarly elder brother Artaxerxes under a falcon banner. To do so he assembles a Persian army and hires mercenaries from across the Greek cities, including their old enemies the Spartans. Even before the battle, he faces struggles. Dissension, bankruptcy and mutiny plague his campaign. The date is 409 BC, roughly between the Battle of Thermopylae and the conquests of Alexander.

Leaderless in the desert and hopelessly outnumbered, the Greeks must confront the impossible. Iggulden focuses just as much on the logistics of moving an army and the challenges that come with it, as combat itself. The Greeks must assail long deserts and snowy mountains to get to the Black Sea.

The Battle of Cunaxa is described in an epic and near-legendary tone. It is hard to imagine that the greatest armies in the world did clash in such numbers but Iggulden does a good enough job in describing the fight from the perspective of the combatants in as historically accurate terms as possible. Aspects of the second half, such as the Greeks’ battle with the Carduchi mountain tribes, seem a little rushed but are compelling enough.

Prince Cyrus, and his Spartan general Clearchus, are well portrayed as characters. Xenophon, who wrote the story in real life, is somewhat of a self-hating Athenian, associated with the Thirty Tyrants, a Spartan puppet regime and preferring the Spartan system to his own. Beginning the story as an intelligent but resentful young man, it is Socrates who persuades him to head east and make something of himself. Tissaphernes, the conniving former tutor, makes an easy to hate villain.

Though the story is told largely from the Greek perspective, I liked how it begins with the Persians and portrays the Greek culture as alien and strange, rather than the other way around. The story occurs at a time when the Greeks were more busy fighting each other than the Persians, who cooperate with powers like Sparta.

The Sunday Express called The Falcon of Sparta Iggulden’s ‘finest work to date’ and that quote made me buy the book. While better than his Roman series, I still prefer his Conqueror books about the Mongol khans, if only because the murkier history allowed more creative liberties.

See Also:

• Cyrus the Great (not to be confused with his namesake Cyrus the Younger)
• Cities of Ancient Greece

Books I Read in 2019

I read more non-fiction last year and was happy with what I read. Books are dated by the month I finished reading them, click hyperlinks for full posts.

February

• Mark Twain – The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885). A boy and a runaway slave go on an adventure down the Mississippi River. A Great American Novel known for writing dialogue in the actual dialect of the time. Not as engrossing as I hoped. 4/5

April

• Larry Gonick – The Cartoon History of the Universe III: From the Rise of Arabia to the Rennaissance (2002). Informative and funny.

May

• Larry Gonick – The Cartoon History of the Modern World Part 1: From Columbus to the U.S. Constitution (2006).
• Nicholas J Wade – Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors (2007). About the first migrations out of Africa and the founding of world populations. 4/5
• Yuval Noah Harari – Sapiens: A Brief History of Mankind (2014). I cannot recommend this book enough. Everyone I know who read it loved it. 5/5

July

• George RR Martin, Elio M Garvia, JR and Linda Antonson – The World of Ice and Fire (2014). About the fictional history of the Game of Thrones universe. Quite imaginative but I lost interest soon after the show finished. 4/5

August

• John Mann – Attila: The Barbarian King Who Challenged Rome (2006) Less is known about this figure than we hoped but Man pads the pages with background and his trip to Mongolia. 4/5
• Steven Pinker, Matt Ridley, Alain de Botton and Malcolm Gladwell – Do Humankind’s Best Days Lie Ahead? (2016). A paperback transcript of the 2015 Munk Debates.  Interesting perspectives on an interesting question. Only 100 pages. 4/5.

October

• Khaled Hosseini – The Kite Runner (2006). A moving tale of fatherhood and friendship in Afghanistan.  5/5

 November

• Time–Life Books – The March of Islam, AD 600-800 (1988). Discusses the Arab Caliphates, Byzantium, Charlemagne, Tang China, The Khmers and Early Japan. Interesting subject matter but the prose is too flowery at times. 3/5

December

• Lucas Bridges – Uttermost Part of the Earth (1948). A meticulous and evocative account of life amongst the lost tribes of Tierra Del Fuego. Recommended for anyone with an interest in anthropology. 5/5.

See Also:

• Books I Read in 2018
• Top Films of 2019

Nanowrimo 2019

It’s that time of year again. National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo) happens every November. It is an opportunity for aspiring writers to try and draft a 50,000-word novel in 30 days. Last year was the first time I reached that goal. Though productive, it was not easy. 2019 is Nanowrimo’s 20th year.

This November I’m trying the challenge again. Expect little to no posts over the next month as Nanowrimo will consume most of my ‘writing time’. Like 2018, I will update my progress and resume regular posting on the 1st of December. See the links below for more info.

Update 01/12/19: Finished at 12pm with 50,020 words!

See Also:

• Nanowrimo website
• Nanowrimo 2018
• How Nanowrimo Went

The Kite Runner

“I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975. I remember the precise moment, crouching behind a crumbling mud wall, peeking into the alley near the frozen creek. That was a long time ago, but it’s wrong what they say about the past, I’ve learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out. Looking back now, I realize I have been peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty-six years.”

So begins the first novel by Afghan-American writer Khaled Hosseini. The Kite Runner (2003) follows the story of two boys in Afghanistan before the country fell apart. One builds a new life in America, the other stays behind. Literary to the bone, the Kite Runner spans thirty years and takes place in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the USA. It is a harrowing tale of friendship, coming-of-age, betrayal, lost innocence, fatherhood, and redemption. Evil and cowardice play no small part.

Narrator Amir lives with his father Baba, a noble and well-connected businessman, their servant Ali and his son Hassan. Amir yearns for his father’s approval and will do anything to earn it. Like most Afghans, Amir is a Pashtun but harelipped Hassan, his best friend, is a Shia Hazara, an oppressed minority. This embarrasses Amir and he downplays their friendship in front of his Pashtun friends. Amir is better educated and more creative than Hassan, ‘the harelipped kite runner’ but lacks his resolve and strength of character. The distinction defines the story’s course.

The early chapters embellish the innocence of Amir and Hassan’s childhood, in the lost world of a peaceful Afghanistan. Internal events mirror the external forces that shatter their lives forever. A coup topples the monarchy, communists seize power, the Soviets invade and the country plunges into war. When the Taliban take over they ban kites from the skies of Afghanistan. By 2001, the Kabul Amir knew is a relic of history.

The Kite Runner is semi-autobiographical. Like Amir, Hosseini (right) grew up in Kabul and moved to California at 15. Amir is a writer too, which explains his well-crafted prose. Hassan is loosely inspired by a Hazara servant Hosseini once knew but his story and relationship with Amir are fictional. The Kite Runner embodies the survivor’s guilt Hosseini felt when he visited his home country in 2001, a few months before 9/11. He felt like a tourist in his own country.

A film adaptation was made in 2007, which I have not seen.

Khaled Hosseini came to the USA as an asylum seeker. He studied medicine at Santa Clara University and wrote the Kite Runner while working as a doctor. For 18 months, he rose every morning at 5 to write. The Kite Runner’s success allowed him to write full time. Hosseini has since published two other novels, ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’ (2006) and ‘And the Mountains Echoed’ (2013). Like the Kite Runner, both are set in Afghanistan.

Gripping, heartbreaking and full of evocative imagery, the Kite Runner is utterly deserving of its bestseller status.

See Also:

• Peoples of Afghanistan

2018 Goals Reviewed

One year ago I listed five goals for this blog in 2018. Here is my evaluation.

1. Posting once a week: I failed to post every Monday, but stuck to a fairly consistant routine. Sometimes I posted on Tuesday instead. Aside from my holiday in May and Nanowrimo in November I did post once a week. Check.

2. Diversifying: In 2017 I wrote about history and current events. In 2018 I expanded into book reviews, anthropology and culture. Check.

3. Style Guide: Unfortunately I never get round to this – maybe this year. Miss.

4. Nanowrimo: Yes! I managed to write a 50,000 word novel draft in November for the National Novel Writing Month challenge.  If I am not too busy, I will do this again in 2019. Check.

5. Diligence: One year on and this blog is still going strong. I have far more readers than I did at the beginning of 2018 and am still updating regularly. Check.

All in all I accomplished 4/5 of my blogging goals. Not bad. This year I will stick to the same routine as 2018, blogging once a week on topics which pique my interest. Hopefully by 2020 I am still going. Happy New Year everyone!

See Also:

• My 2018 Blogging Goals
• How Nanowrimo Went

Books I Read in 2018

Aside from blogging more, my goal was to watch less TV and read more books in 2018. The books are listed by the date I finished reading them.  Some I have done separate posts on, others I have not.

January

• Ernest Hemingway – For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940). Hemingway at his best. Gritty and insightful.  5/5

February

• Maitland Edey – Lost World of the Aegean (1976). The archaeology of the Ancient Minoans and Early Greeks. Dated but informative. 3/5

April

• Robert Bly – Iron John (1990). An allegorical interpretation of an old fairy tale suggesting what the ancient cultures can teach modern man. 3/5

May

• Aldous Huxley – Island (1962). The utopia to Brave New World’s dystopia. 4/5

June

• Barbara Kingsolver – The Poisonwood Bible (1998).  A family saga of four girls and their missionary father in the Congo.  5/5
• Thomas Sowell – Ethnic America (1981). Details the history and experiences of 11 American immigrant groups. Good on facts and figures, less so on future projections. 4/5

July

• Paul M Handley – The King Never Smiles (2006).  A critical analysis of the modern Thai monarchy. Banned in Thailand. 5/5

August

• Roland Tye – Weekender (2016). Five very different stories about five very different people one weekend in Edinburgh. The connection is revealed only at the very end. 5/5
• JD Salinger – Catcher in the Rye (1951). Great American Novel about a rebellious teenager in the late ’40s. 5/5

September

•  Ian Morris – The Greeks: History, Culture and Society (2010). This old textbook is a good survey of ancient Greece if a little dry. 3/5

October

• Frederick Forsythe – the Dogs of War (1974). A business magnate hires a team of mercenaries to stage a coup in a fictional African country. Good, but not as good as Day of the Jackal. 3/5

December

• Jared Diamond – Guns Germs and Steel: The Fate of Human Societies (1997). Explains why civilization arose in some parts of the world and not others. An excellent read for history and anthropology buffs. 5/5
• Frederick Forsythe – Day of the Jackal (1971). About an assassin hired to kill the president of France and the men chasing him. 4/5

See Also:

• Books I Read in 2019

How Nanowrimo Went

Nanowrimo 2018 was a success! Over November I wrote a 50,000 word first draft of a YA novel, while working full time and maintaining a modest social life. The project consumed my spare time, and my blogging, but it was worthwhile. I wrote more in the past 30 days than I did in the past year.

My advice:

1. Write every day. 1,700 words a day is not difficult but the more you skip the more you will have to catch up. Once you get into a steady rhythm, writing will seem effortless. Try and get as much as you can done on the weekend, if possible.
2. Don’t look back. You have all the time in the world to revise your words after November. For now focus on getting words on the page – that’s what a first draft is all about. Remember no one has to read your original Nanowrimo submission. Save agonising over sentence flow or the the perfect verb for December.
3. Plan in October. When I attempted Nanowrimo in 2016 I had a vague idea of my story at best. After only the first few chapters I hit a wall, with no clue how to keep the plot rolling. This time I familiarised myself with the three act structure prior to Nanowrimo, and wrote a page long plot outline and profiles on all my major characters. It was all subject to change, sure, but the rough notion of where my story was going kept me to the end.
4. Set aside time. I cannot stress this enough. On good days I was writing 1000 words an hour, but this was rare. Know yourself and your habits. If you are prone to procrastination then allow three hours a day to reach your target word counts. Stop when you feel you have written enough.

I don’t plan to read my ‘novel’ until January. This will allow me to view it with an objective eye and better revise and recraft my 50,000 words into something I can show others. In the meantime, I will focus my creative energy on art and this blog. To my regular readers, thank you for your patience.

All in all, I am proud of what I accomplished. It’s not a masterpiece, or even a published book, sure, but it’s a start!  If you have ever wanted to pen a novel, but struggle with procrastination or writer’s block, I recommend giving Nanowrimo a try. Stick to it and it may surprise you what you can achieve.

See Also:

• Nanowrimo 2018
• My 2018 Blogging Goals

Nanowrimo 2018

Nanowrimo stands for National Novel Writing Month. The aim is to write a 50,000 word draft in 30 days.  The project provides an incentive for aspiring authors to overcome writer’s block and set up a consistent writing routine.  Achieving the 50,000 word mark requires an average of 1,666 words a day – no small feat.

To ‘win’ Nanowrimo you must write 50,000 words – it doesn’t matter whether or not your narrative is finished. The project relies on an honour system where you don’t need to submit your manuscript or even have anyone read it. To compete you make an account and update your word progress on the Nanowrimo website. While there is no reward, you do earn the satisfaction of achieving a personal goal and getting more writing done in one month than many do in years. Nanowrimo is the perfect opportunity for writing the book you’ve always wanted to write but never found the time.

The key to winning is to not look back. Nanowrimo is not about creating a polished and succinct story ready for publishing but getting words down on a page. No first draft is good, after all, and to make a compelling story requires coming back at a later date, editing and redrafting. All this is impossible, however, if you have nothing to work with.

Nanowrimo began in 1999 with a group of 21 writers in the San Francisco Bay Area. November was chosen for its poor weather. The following year it moved online and grew in popularity every year since. In 2017 over 400,000 people from across the world participated. Many schools and libraries offer public write-ins where Nanowrimo participants can work together and discuss ideas while a wide range of forums and pep talks are available online.

Since 2006 over 200 Nanowrimo projects have become fully published novels. Countless more have been self published. Big names include:

• Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
• The Night Circus by Erin Morgunestern
• The Beautiful Life by Alan Averill

As promised in January, this month I will attempt to write a 50,000 word novel.  This project will consume most of my creative energy so there will be few blog posts until December.  When the 30 days are over I will share what I have learnt from the process. Wish me luck!

See More:

• Nanowrimo Website
• My 2018 Blogging Goals

My 2018 Blogging Goals

On the 2^nd day of 2018 I sit at my desk wishing I began this blog at the start of last year, or perhaps waited to the start of this one, so on January 1^st I could look back over a year of content, and easily count how long I’ve been blogging in the future. But it’s not the case; I’ve been going only five months.

Nevertheless, the New Year is a time for reflection in all aspects of life, so today I set straight my blogging goals for 2018.

1. Posting once a week: From now on, I will publish new post every Monday. If I wish to follow up with a smaller one, such as a song review, I will do it on the Thursday.
2. Diversifying: Aside from the usual history and current events I intend to write about culture this year too and perhaps the odd personal anecdote. This is my first blog after all and by not sticking to one, specific topic, I hope to find my voice, what I enjoy writing most and what my audience likes to read.
3. Style Guide: One will be made at some point this year.
4. Nanowrimo: I started National Novel Writing Month in 2016, but followed the example of my two friends and dropped out only 18,000 words in. This November, I’ll see the 50,000 through.
5. Diligence: For reasons mentioned below, my New Year’s resolution is to stick this blog out to  the end of year at least, whether anyone reads it or not.

I have written both fact and fiction in my free time, on or off, since I was nine. Completing a finished product was always my demon. Now I think of it, that was one of the best aspects of school: accountability to teachers and deadlines. I actually finished things, whether I enjoyed the process or not!

Since then I have started a hundred projects and finished none, save for a shabby first draft I wrote as a teenager. No more.

These are my blog goals for this year! Are you a blogger? Do you have any questions or advice to offer? Let me know in the comments below!