Tag Archives: Non Fiction

In My Hands Today…

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The Granta Book of India – Granta: The Magazine of New Writing, Ian Jack

Granta has long been known for the quality of its travel writing. The 1980s were the culmination of a golden age, when writers including Paul Theroux and Bruce Chatwin, James Hamilton-Paterson and James Fenton set out to document life in largely unfamiliar territory, bringing back tales of the beautiful, the extraordinary and the unexpected. By the mid 1990s, travel writing seemed to change, as a younger generation of writeres that appeared in the magazine made journeys for more complex and often personal reasons. Decca Aitkenhead reported on sex tourism in Thailand, and Wendell Steavenson moved to Iraq as foreign correspondent. What all these pieces have in common is a sense of engagement with the places they describe, and a belief that whether we are in Birmingham or Belarus, there is always something new to be discovered.

In My Hands Today…

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Freedom at Midnight – Larry Collins, Dominique Lapierre

First published in 1975, this 2009 edition is a new edition of the best-selling book described as irreplaceable by Le Monde, Paris. It is a poignant reminder of the defining moments of the end of the British Raj, the independence of 400 million people, their division into India and the newly created Pakistan. Time Magazine raised a poetic salutation to this brilliantly written book, hailing it as the Song of India . . . illuminated like scenes in a pageant .

The significance of the new edition lies in engaging the minds of two generations born into a free country, to enable them to empathetically understand the aspirations and goals that united our leaders then towards the common cause of freedom. The significance lies in invoking the re-awakening of the Indian spirit. Surely it is time for the over 1 billion people in India to ask themselves honestly what their contribution has been thus far towards realizing an India free from poverty, illiteracy and inequality.

While numerous tomes have been written on the Indian freedom struggle, the popularity of Freedom at Midnight lies in its easy narrative flow which veers from the thrilling to the enlightening, sometimes poignant and ever-compelling style.

In My Hands Today…

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Great Australian Outback School Stories – Bill Marsh

If your teacher commuted to school in a plane; if you had to watch out for rogue bulls rather than traffic; if your daily pick-up was done by a horse – you probably went to an outback school.

This collection of more than sixty stories, gathered by Bill ′Swampy′ Marsh in his travels across Australia, perfectly captures the experience of life growing up in the outback. Whether you loved school or not, these stories will bring a smile to your face and maybe even a tear to your eye, as students and teachers alike share their yarns and memories of a time gone by.

…this little kid, he spun around at me and he snapped, ′Piss off, Miss.′

Of course, I immediately replied with, ′Excuse me. In this school we always use our best manners when we talk to teachers and adults. So what should we say, then?′

And this little kid, well, he looked up at me all sheepish and he said, ′Well then, Miss, piss off, PLEASE.′

In My Hands Today…

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A South Indian Journey: The Smile of Murugan – Michael Wood

Some time in the future you will come back here to Chindambaram and you will make a pilgrimage, said the astrologer to Michael Wood as they sat in a small airless house in Tamil Nadu. It is the most important thing you will do. Four years later Michael found himself on a pilgrim bus heading southwards on a journey of more than a thousand miles through the temples and holy shrines of Southern India. The bone-shaking bus, its aisle crammed with passengers on folding chairs and its video showing glimpses of old films through a blaring snowstorm of white static, would transport him into another world and time where the rituals at the spiritual heart of India are still observed as they were a thousand years ago, existing side by side with all the trappings of the modern world. As his many admirers know, Michael Wood is the perfect travelling companion, eyes and ears wide open, knowledgeable yet eager to learn. His touching and humorous account of this inner and outer journey captures both the life-enhancing spirit of Hinduism and the essence of India itself.

In My Hands Today

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Grand Forks: A History of American Dining in 128 Reviews – Marilyn Hagerty

A legendary 86-year-old food critic brings together a collection of the best down-home, no-nonsense restaurant reviews-from Red Lobster to Le Bernadin-culled from her fifty year career

Writing for her local North Dakota newspaper, the Grand Forks Herald since 1957, Marilyn Hagerty went from obscurity to overnight sensation in 2012 when her earnest, admiring review of a local Olive Garden went viral. Among the denizens of the food world-obsessive gastronomes who celebrate Alice Waters and Michael Pollan, revere all things artisanal, and have made kale salad a staple on upscale urban menus-Hagerty’s review ignited a fiery debate over the state of American culture. Anthony Bourdain defended Hagerty as an authentic voice of the larger American culture-one that is not dictated by the biases of the food snobbery that define the coasts.

In this refreshing, unpretentious collection that includes more than 200 reviews culled from a voluminous archive spanning over fifty years, Hagerty reveals how most Americans experience the pleasure of eating out. Bourdain hails Grand Forks as, “a history of American dining-in the vast spaces between the jaded palates and professional snarkologists of the privileged coasts-as told by one hard working small city journalist. . . . We watch American dining change over time, in baby steps. Traditional regional Scandinavian giving way to big chains, first iterations of sushi, early efforts at hipster chic. Part Fargo, part Lake Woebegone. It’s the antidote to snark. This book kills cynics dead.”