August 2011 Archives

The second in Bernard Cornwell's Warlord trilogy, and Derfel's telling of the Arthurian saga continues taking us from the halcyon days of Camelot's heyday to Arthur's betrayal by Guinevere and Lancelot, always against the backdrop of the continuing battle between the old Gods and the new.

Amazon.co.uk link: Enemy of God: A Novel of Arthur - Bernard Cornwell

One of the events I went to as part of the British Museum's exhibition on Afghanistan: Crossroads of the Ancient World was the screening of the 1979 documentary Khyber. The director, Andre Singer, recommended Cables from Kabul, and I treated myself to the hard cover edition.

It's a great book. Sherard Cowper-Coles was British Ambassador to Afghanistan from 2007 to 2009, and the Foreign Secretary's Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan from 2009 to 2010 - roles that put him at the heart of Britain's diplomatic missions to AfPak during the War in Afghanistan during 2007 - 2010. In these memoirs he shares his first hand experience of the political and military developments of the time, and provides insights into key players, British, American and Afghan.

Amazon.co.uk link: Cables from Kabul: The Inside Story of the West's Afghanistan Campaign - Sherard Cowper-Coles

19 August 2011: All the more recommended, in light of today's attack on the British Council office in Kabul.

The first instalment of The Warlord Chronicles, Bernard Cornwell's three part telling of the Arthurian legend. A new angle on a familiar tale - no surprises, no disappointments.

Amazon.co.uk link: The Winter King - Bernard Cornwell

Phil bought this for me from Daunts as holiday reading for the Croatia-Berlin-Paris mini tour, in anticipation of a trek in Nepal later this year.

Not surprisingly the chapter on Everest particularly appealed. As it turned out, the account of Mallory's expeditions to Everest resonated strongly as last year's Himalayan Journey meant that I had followed in some of his footsteps through Tibet - and this section about mountain light rang particularly true:

There is the Midas light,the rich yellow light which spills lengthways across the mountains, turning everything it touches to gold. And there is the light which falls at the end of a mountain day, and unifies the landscape with a single texture. This light possesses a gentle clarity, and brings with it implications of tranquility, integrity, immanence. page 214

Covering a range of histories - geology, alpine travel, travel writing, tourism, mountaineering, Everest - plus poetry, psychology and philosophy, it is a fascinating read, although in parts the "testing out" as articles was a little too obvious. But the main theme of the book is why we are drawn to the mountains, and it is a book to read if this snippet rings true for you....

Returning to earth after being in the mountains - stepping back out of the wardrobe - can be a disorienting experience. Like Peter, Edmund, Susan and Lucy returning from Narnia, you expect everything to have changed. You half-expect the first people you see to grip you by the elbow and ask you if you are all right, to say You've been away for years. But usually no one notices that you've been gone at all. And the experiences you have had are largely incommunicable to those who were not there. I have often felt as through I were a stranger re-entering my country after years abroad, not yet adjusted to my return, and bearing experiences beyond speech. page 204

Amazon.co.uk link: Mountains of the Mind: a History of a Fascination - Robert Macfarlane