With my arm smarting from the first of several vaccinations (Tetanus & Diptheria and Typhoid, today) and with eight weeks to go until departure, my thoughts turn to another kind of preparation for our trip.
I know, as an English teacher, it's stating the obvious, but I do quite like to read the odd book.
And when I'm visiting a country for the first time I like to read fiction that is set in that place. I'm not very good at retaining facts and figures: I'll leave that to Mr Woodman who will, no doubt, approach this from a far more rational perspective and arrive armed with data and statistics about rainfall, population density, educational history, and the price of coffee. So, I'll look forward to his powerpoint presentation, and meanwhile, I'll settle down with a good book. It is the way, for me, to bring a country to life in my imagination - and to add flames to the fire of my excitement about visiting.
Here are a few that will shortly be lining my bookshelves:
Abyssinian Chronicles by Moses Isegawa
In A Free State by VS Naipaul
White Teeth by Okot p'Bitek
The Last King of Scotland by Giles Foden
The Ghosts of Eden by Andrew JH Sharp
The Gravity of Sunlight by Rosa Shand
Fong and the Indians by Paul Theroux
Reviews and recommendations to follow shortly!
