Book reviews
Speed up that long haul flight with the best in business and travel this month
2009-03-20
The Lost City of Z
By David Grann
£16.99 Simon & Schuster
The dense, lush and treacherous jungles of the Amazon basin form a backdrop to this fascinating study of adventure and doomed ambition. Beginning with the story of Colonel Percy Harrison Fawcett, an explorer who disappeared during a 1925 expedition to find the fabled City of Z (also known as El Dorado), it becomes a meditation on the romantic and obsessive nature of exploration. Many of those who traced Fawcett’s steps also disappeared forever, and Grann sets out to solve the mysteries surrounding their fates. The Lost City of Z follows a thread which has long fascinated writers, artists and film makers from Joseph Conrad to Werner Herzog; the idea of man confronting nature and a wilderness of both physical and psychological extremes. Yet it is also an inspiring and compelling portrait of men who had the courage to do battle with the world – and themselves – often with violent and tragic results. Grann shows a genuine passion for his subject, and The Lost City of Z can be read as an old-fashioned adventure story with Quixotic overtones as well as a well researched history of survival and disaster in the face of adversity
Hackney, That Rose-Red Empire
By Iain Sinclair
£11.99 Hamish Hamilton
A resident of the London borough of Hackney for some 30 years, Iain Sinclair writes with a fervour about his adopted home that flares up from every sentence. His style is hypnotic, an avalanche of imagery conjuring up dingy pubs which are “London fictions in embryo, waiting for the right ventriloquist”; “a fig tree that overhangs the pavement, heavy with sour-green grenades”; and cycle shops with “gaudy-tough helmets like laminated skulls.” By combining his own impressions of the area and interviews with other residents (albeit heavily reworked to conform to his masterplan), Sinclair weaves a thoughtful and irresistible picture of a place which has always been in a state of flux, a fascinating combination of vibrancy and decay. With huge swathes of the area being redeveloped to make way for the 2012 London Olympics, one gets the sense that much of what Sinclair writes about will be gone in less than three years – but Hackney itself will endure as it always has.
More an impressionistic portrait than a history, Sinclair provides a personal observation rather than an all-encompassing overview, and therein lies the book’s weakness, as well as its strength.
Touring the Natural Wonders of New Zealand (Hardcover)
Peter Janssen (author), Andrew Fear (photographer)
£17.99 New Holland Publishers
Peter Janssen is the author of several books on New Zealand, including Excellent Short Walks of the North Island, Excellent Short Walks of the South Island (both from New Holland), and 1001 Things to See and Do in New Zealand. The photographer Andrew Fear specialises in shooting nature.
Here thermal hotspots, tranquil bays, smoking volcanoes, towering alps and grinding glaciers, primeval forests, lakes and braided rivers, seabird colonies and seal rookeries. Peter Janssen’s magnificent hardback touring guide dedicated to natural attractions is structured geographically around itineraries – 22 in the North Island and 24 in the South – each of which takes in several sites within one area, describing their natural beauty and listing a few good short walks or detours that show off the scenery at its best. The itineraries are flexible, allowing the reader to simply follow the book or use it as back-up for their own extended touring plans. The text is supported by route instructions and detailed maps, and illustrated with Andrew Fear’s stunning images.
All in the Detail: Over 400 Finishing Touches That Make a House a Home (Hardcover)
Caroline Clifton-Mogg
RRP £19.99 Ryland,
Peters & Small Ltd
In All in the Detail interiors expert Caroline Clifton-Mogg, author of French Country Living and Inspired by Antiques, looks at the importance of finishing touches and how they can enhance your home. Over 400 affordable ideas for adding elegance and individuality to your home with finishing touches and your own favourite things. She looks at the principles of display and arrangement, of the importance of scale, and how to edit your belongings so they make maximum impact. The chapters include Pictures, Mirrors and Other Wall Art, Flowers and Plants, Soft Furnishings, China and Glass and Living (encompassing Living with Books, Mantelpieces and Fireplaces, Lighting) and Decorative Objects and Collections.
As she discusses each area, the author shows us how to display practical items in an attractive way, how to combine different pieces to best effect and how to create focal points in a room. All in the Detail makes for a wonderful domestic companion.
