Understood

A Walk In The Woods by Bill Bryson

Hardback:  The Appalachians are the home of one of the world's great hardwood forests - a relic of the richest, most diversified sweep of woodland ever to grace the temperate world - and that forest is in trouble.

If the global temperature rises by 4°C over the next fifty years, as is evidently possible, then the whole of the Appalachian wilderness below New England could become savannah.  Already trees are dying in mysterious and frightening numbers.  The elms and chestnuts are long gone, the stately hemlocks and flowery dogwoods are going, and the red spruces, Fraser firs, hickories, mountain ashes and sugar maples may be about to follow.  Clearly if ever there was a time to experience this singular wilderness, it was now.

The longest continuous footpath in the world, the Appalachian Trail stretches along the East Coast of the United States, from Georgia to Maine, through some of the most arresting and celebrated landscapes in America.

At the age of forty-four, in the company of his old college friend Stephen Katz (last seen in the bestselling Neither Here nor There), Bill Bryson set off one March morning to hike through the vast tangled woods which have been frightening sensible people for three hundred years.  Ahead lay almost 2,200 miles of remote mountain wilderness filled with bears, moose, bobcats, rattlesnakes, poisonous plants, disease-bearing tics, the occasional chuckling murderer and - perhaps most alarming of all - people whose favourite pastime is discussing the relative merits of the external-frame backpack.

Facing savage weather, merciless insects, unreliable maps and a fickle companion whose profoundest wish was to go to a motel and watch The X-Files, Bryson gamely struggled through the wilderness to achieve a lifetime's ambition - not to die outdoors.

"If nothing else, A Walk in the Woods is proof positive that the journey is the destination.  As Bryson and Katz haul their out-of-shape, middle-aged butts over hill and dale, the reader is treated to both a very funny personal memoir and a delightful chronicle of the trail, the people who created it, and the places it passes through. Whether you plan to make a trip like this one yourself one day or only care to read about it, A Walk in the Woods is a great way to spend an afternoon." - Alix Wilber

About the author:  Bill Bryson’s bestselling travel books include The Lost Continent, Neither Here Nor There and Notes from a Small Island, which in a national poll was voted the book that best represents Britain.  His acclaimed book on the history of science, A Short History of Nearly Everything, won the Royal Society’s Aventis Prize as well as the Descartes Prize, the European Union’s highest literary award.

Bryson has written books on language, on Shakespeare, and on his own childhood in the hilarious memoir The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid.  His last critically lauded bestsellers were on history - At Home: a Short History of Private Life, and One Summer: America 1927.

Another travel book, A Walk in the Woods, has now become a major film starring Robert Redford, Nick Nolte and Emma Thompson.  The movie will be released on 18 September 2015 in the UK.  Bryson’s new book, The Road to Little Dribbling: More Notes from a Small Island comes out on 8 October 2015.

Bill Bryson was born in the American Mid-West, and is now living back in the UK. A former Chancellor of Durham University, he was President of Campaign to Protect Rural England for five years, and is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society.

Fatty O'Leary's Dinner Party by Alexander McCall Smith

Hardback:  It takes a lot to get under the skin of Cornelius 'Fatty O'Leary, but then there is a lot of skin to get under.  He has been known as Fatty O'Leary from the time he is twelve, which is in the early 1950s.  He never objects to being called Fatty and even signs himself as such.  He is a good man and a kind one.

The heroically proportioned Fatty can normally take life as it comes.  Right at home in easy-going Fayetteville, Arkansas, he is happily married to his childhood sweetheart Betty, and likes nothing better than the company of good friends Tubby O'Rourke, an accountant with an interest in model railways, and Porky Flanagan, a dentist who runs a dental practice set up by his father and his uncle.

But when Fatty and Betty head off to Ireland on the trip of a lifetime, they find that they have left their comfort zone far behind.

Calamity and mayhem ensue as one mishap after another befalls the beleaguered couple - the seats in economy class on the plane are too small;  Irish bathroom furniture is not as commodious as he would have liked and all the time, Fatty must put up with the unthinking cruelty of strangers.

Can Fatty's broad shoulders take the strain or will he suffer one indignity too many?

Will he get his just deserts, or just dessert?

In an hilarious and touching portrayal of a kindly and misunderstood soul, McCall Smith has created yet another memorable character who will become an instant favourite to his many fans in Fatty O'Leary's Dinner Party (2014).

About the author:  Alexander McCall Smith is one of the world’s most prolific and most popular authors.  His career has been a varied one:  for many years he was a professor of Medical Law and worked in universities in the United Kingdom and abroad.  Then, after the publication of his highly successful No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, which has sold over twenty million copies, he devoted his time to the writing of fiction and has seen his various series of books translated into over forty languages and become bestsellers through the world.

The series include the Scotland Street novels, first published as a serial novel in The Scotsman, the Sunday Philosophy Club series starring Isabel Dalhousie, the von Igelfeld series, and the new Corduroy Mansions novels.

Alexander is also the author of collections of short stories, academic works, and over thirty books for children.  He has received numerous awards for his writing, including the British Book Awards Author of the Year Award in 2004 and a CBE for service to literature in 2007.  He holds honorary doctorates from nine universities in Europe and North America.  Alexander McCall Smith lives in Edinburgh.  He is married to a doctor and has two daughters.

Rating:  5/5

All We Need To Remember In This Life

Nature

The World According To Bertie (A 44 Scotland Street Novel) by Alexander McCall Smith

Paperback:  Scotland Street occupies a busy, Bohemian corner of Edinburgh's New Town and number 44 has more than its fair share of the street's eccentrics and failures.

Poor put-upon Bertie is still struggling to escape his overbearing mother’s influence, his yoga lessons and his pink bedroom while wondering why new baby brother Ulysses looks uncomfortably like his psychotherapist.

The insufferably handsome Bruce has returned from London to land, on his feet and rent-free, in the arms of heiress Julia Donald.

But all is not well among the residents of 44 Scotland Street:  Angus’s dog and constant companion Cyril is under threat of execution, victim of a miscarriage of justice, while pretty, indecisive Pat and hopeless romantic Matthew are on the verge of making the most terrible mistake of their lives.

Big Lou finds a new man, Matthew and Pat edge their relationship towards something more permanent although this development is not without complications, when a glimpse of someone who just might be her handsome, caddish ex-flatmate Bruce sets Pat’s pulse racing - and Domenica’s friendship with Antonia is tested to the limit when an assortment of her belongings mysteriously appear in Antonia’s new flat.

The World According to Bertie (2007) is the warm, witty and utterly enchanting fourth book in the 44 Scotland Street Novel series.

About the author:  Alexander McCall Smith is one of the world’s most prolific and most popular authors.  His career has been a varied one:  for many years he was a professor of Medical Law and worked in universities in the United Kingdom and abroad.  Then, after the publication of his highly successful No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, which has sold over twenty million copies, he devoted his time to the writing of fiction and has seen his various series of books translated into over forty languages and become bestsellers through the world.

The series include the Scotland Street novels, first published as a serial novel in The Scotsman, the Sunday Philosophy Club series starring Isabel Dalhousie, the von Igelfeld series, and the new Corduroy Mansions novels.

Alexander is also the author of collections of short stories, academic works, and over thirty books for children.  He has received numerous awards for his writing, including the British Book Awards Author of the Year Award in 2004 and a CBE for service to literature in 2007.  He holds honorary doctorates from nine universities in Europe and North America.  Alexander McCall Smith lives in Edinburgh.  He is married to a doctor and has two daughters.

Rating:  5/5

Acyrologiaphobia

Definition: Sentranced

Michael Leunig Again

Housekeeping Favourites

Silence

My Stolen Son: The Nick Markowitz Story (True Crime) by Susan Markowitz with Jenna Glatzer

Paperback:  My Stolen Son (2010) is the true story behind the movie Alpha Dog (2006).

On the morning of 6 August 2000, Nick Markowitz, knowing he was in trouble with his parents, snuck out of the house... and never came home.

Jesse James Hollywood, a 20-year-old drug dealer, and three of his accomplices kidnapped the teenager in broad daylight, as revenge for a drug-related debt owed by Nick's half brother.  The four kidnappers then murdered the innocent boy in cold blood and buried him in a shallow grave.  After the crime that would land him on the FBI's top ten "Most Wanted" list, Hollywood fled to Brazil as a fugitive. It would be nearly a decade before he was brought to justice.

From the day the authorities arrived on her doorstep with the devastating news that Nick had been found dead, Susan Markowitz pursued justice for her son - a mother's nine-year fight to bring the killers to account, and to rebuild a family shattered by an unconscionable crime.

(Interview excerpt with Susan Markowitz by Barry Leibowitz, Senior Writer at 48 Hours):

"The book is filled with the details of stupid choices made by so many people, and I hope others see them and try to learn from everyone's mistakes.  I can go way back to when my stepson Ben was little, when he felt unwanted, and how we could have made better decisions to let him know he was. Which might have prevented him from becoming involved with people like Jesse James Hollywood in the first place.  Not to mention the thirty-two people who witnessed what was going on and chose not to step up and say something, anything!  They chose instead to continue to get high and carry on with their lives as if they saw nothing.  They played games in their minds, justifying why this couldn't really be real.  And the biggest stupid choice of all:  How could Jesse James Hollywood think that murder was an option, because he kidnapped someone and didn't want to face the penalties?"

"The amount of good that has come from the murder of my son is astronomical.  Nick, through his death, has helped more than he ever could have in his lifetime.  For one thing, throughout the search for Jesse James Hollywood, there were hundreds of drug busts.  But the most important thing, I feel, is all the teens who have been truly affected by hearing what happened to Nick.  Teens can be self-absorbed, and when they hear stories about consequences of drugs and violence, they often think, "This won't happen to me."  But for some reason, Nick's story really has helped more teens than anyone realizes."

"I receive thousands of letters from parents and teens telling me how Nick's story has changed their lives forever.  Some were on the wrong path and this opened their eyes.  Some parents say I've been able to make a bigger impact on their teens just by speaking to them for two minutes, than they themselves were able to make in two years.  And I hope the book will expand that reach even further, helping parents and teens communicate with each other and helping people find the courage to speak out if they witness a crime."

About the authors:  Susan Markowitz is Nick's mom.  She was a stay-at-home mom during Nick's life, and is stepmom to Ben and Leah.  She has spent the years since her son's death on a tireless mission to see justice served, and to honour his memory by reaching out to teens and parents about staying away from drugs and listening to their conscience.  She is married to Nick's dad, Jeff, and lives in California.

Jenna Glatzer is the author of 17 books.  Her recent work includes The Marilyn Monroe Treasures, Bullyproof Your Child for Life with Joel Haber, PhD, and the authorized biography Celine Dion: For Keeps. She has written for magazines including Woman's World, Contemporary Bride, and Physical, and is a contributing editor at Writer's Digest and columnist at Hospitality Style.  She lives in New York with her daughter.

The Plight of Refugees

Michael Leunig, Australian Poet and Cartoonist