Book Review

This year I decided to start posting the books that I've read as I finish them. Sometimes it does take me a while as I eat little chunks of books within minutes here and there during my weeks. I always try to have an expectation to get some reading done on the plane, but I must admit, that I end up reading my eyelids most of the time.

Last year, while I was on a trip, I believe in Minnesota, I was driving a pretty long distance and was in the car for a while. When I'm in the car for a long time, I tend to switch on NPR. This time, I switched it on and they were interviewing a woman who had written two books. Its pretty cool because the books she's written are about - books. Basically her job is to read and then she recommends books. The two books she has published are in relation to travel. Any book that has to do with travelling or another country or something a long that lines, she'll read it and then put it in her book.

One of the books she had reviewed was the book "Gertrude Bell - Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations". Its funny because she had talked about books that people have recommended to her and she'll excitedly rush out to get the book and then settle down, only to lose interest in a few pages. However, she'll come back to that same book at a different time and read it voraciously with a totally different attitude. Turns out, I did that with this book.

I had bought Gertrude back in July or August, took it on some trips and always tried to get into it, but just fell flat. I ended up putting it down around October and read a few other books, then I spotted it again in December, picked it up and couldn't put it down. I guess sometimes your book bug has a taste for something, but feed it what it wants, then come back to something else and you just might have a winner at that point.

Gertrude Bell was a pretty amazing woman. She was from a fairly wealthy British family and she become obssessed with travelling and seeing different places. She ended up having lifelong love affair with the middle east, in particular, Iraq which she was very instrumental in developing as a nation.

Parts of it were sad just because of some decisions and beliefs she had in life.

I figured I'd throw in a book review - from Powells in Portland :)

http://www.powells.com/review/2007_05_29

Stay tuned for the next book I'm on -- "The Lost City of Z" .... hooo.,..