Globe Corner Blogs

Martha and Cheetahs

Okay, so I’ll confess: before I interviewed for my job at the Harvard AIDS Initiative, I looked on a map to make sure that Botswana was where I thought it was. (And it was, right there north of South Africa.) I got the job and, four months later, landed in Africa for the first time.

If you mention Botswana to a lot of Americans, they’ll ask, “Have you read The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency?” If you haven’t; do so. I read this first book in Alexander McCall Smith’s mystery series to get a sense of the country. It’s an enjoyable read, chronicling the adventures of Precious Ramotswe, Botswana’s leading and only female private detective. McCall Smith was born in what is now Zimbabwe and educated in Scotland. After working for years as a Professor of Law in Scotland, he returned to Africa to work in Botswana. His books, worldwide bestsellers, portray the people and changing culture of Botswana. If you’re a mystery junkie, there are eight more books in the series.

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The White Tiger --by Aravind Adiga

*On October 14th, Aravind Adiga was announced the winner of the Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2008 for his novel, The White Tiger. To further laud Mr. Adiga and his book, Jess tells us just why exactly this book deserves such praise.*

In honor of coworker Nicole’s departure to Bangalore (and because I can’t go there myself), I’m recommending a recent stand-out novel in the ever-widening body of literature that discusses the post-colonial experience in modernizing countries such as India: Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger.

Written as a modern epistolary novel, the story of the protagonist, Balram Halwai, is dictated over the course of seven nights. The reader learns early on that Balram has not only risen out from the great “Rooster Coop” of India to become a successful entrepreneur, but has also committed the greatest crime of all: murder. First-time author Aravind Adiga consistently uses dark and light imagery to trace Balram’s rise to (relative) economic success and his transition to the modern center of India, Delhi. But as Balram emerges from the dark heart of India, he is also faced with a new type of darkness — a moral darkness that will either destroy or save him.

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Moon's Patagonia Handbook --by Wayne Bernhardson

A great event is coming soon…REALLY soon. Say, tomorrow, October 16th (Thursday) at 6pm. Wayne Bernhardson, author of the Moon Guides to Argentina and Chile and the Moon’s Buenos Aires Handbook and Patagonia Handbook, is coming to speak for us at the First Parish Church in Harvard Square. (And rumor has it there’s a drawing for a prize!)

Bernhardson is definitely the man to listen to and shoot questions at if you are at all interested in the Southern Cone area of South America. On top of writing all these guide books, he also maintains a highly informative blog (Southern Cone Travel) about the area.

The talk will focus on the current conditions in Patagonia and about travel in it. But as the author spends half his year traveling in southern South America, he will be able to field questions during the Q&A from the whole region. …But the drawing?!

Okay, so then there is this drawing. Every person who comes to one of Bernhardson’s talks can be entered into a drawing for a free plane ticket to Santiago or Buenos Aires. The free drawing tickets from Bernhardson’s talks around the North America are put all together and chosen from in early November – Really? A free plane ticket? I’d put my name in that hat!

So come join the GCB and Wayne Bernhardson tomorrow, October 16th at 6pm in the First Parish Church (3 Church Street) in Harvard Square. Refreshments will follow the talk at The Globe Corner Bookstore.

Jess Caught Fish! --photo by Jess

Up until about a month ago, I had never given much thought to the numerous fishing guides and fish photography books dispersed throughout our store. To be honest, fishing always seemed boring — a kind of waiting game that culminated in a slimy scaled creature with a hook through its mouth, a flapping tail, and an odor that was, well, fishy. But, like with so many other things in life, my preconceived notions were dramatically changed when I had the opportunity to actually go fishing for brook trout in Vermont.

I do have to admit that my first fishing excursion was undoubtedly “fishing-lite,” and any serious fisher, or fan of The Deadliest Catch for that matter, will find my account laughable. Nevertheless, the nerve-wracking yet exhilarating feeling of the first little bite at the end of my rod grabbed and kept my attention. With my eyes fixed firmly on the stream and my thoughts on the fish resting just below its surface, I felt myself fishing.

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Cool Parents Guide to NYC by Helen Rogan & Alfred Gingold

My parents had never been to New York City. I am not sure why, I guess that it just seemed too far away from the state of Washington and being small business owners they never had enough time to get away except for a long weekend. However, my parents are now retired and apparently have spent a lot of time discovering the joys of HBO On Demand and catching up on the TV show Sex and the City.  My Mom loves the show so much that her only request for her birthday trip to New York City was to on on the Sex and the City Tour. Well, that and to see the Statue of Liberty.

Since I was put in charge of planning the trip for us,  I started to figure out where we could dispose of my father while we went on the tour and when I discussed the possibilities with Mom the conversations went a little like this:

“So Dad can sit at a cafe and read the newspaper while we go on the tour,” I said.

“Oh no!” said my Mom. “Buy him a ticket too.”

“But Mom, Dad doesn’t want to go on the Sex and the City Tour,” I protested.

“Your Father probably won’t even realize that he is on a Sex and the City Tour,” was the curt reply.

“But Mom, he will be on a bus of women, looking at shoe stores and drinking cosmos. He might figure it out. Did you ask him what he wants to do? ”

“He never asked me if I wanted to spend my time looking at Civil War sites across the South. Or go on a golfing vacation in Florida. (Mom hates golf.) He will be fine. Besides, if we leave him alone for 4 hours he will get lost and we will never see him again. Buy the tickets.”

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Voices --by Arnaldur Indridason

“Jesus,” Henry said. “A murder!”
“You have murders in Iceland?” his wife, Cindy [...] asked, glancing over at the Icelandair brochure on the bedside table.
“Rarely,” he said, trying to smile.
(excerpted from Voices)

I didn’t expect to get so wrapped up in a series of murder mysteries. There has to be some secret to this one because I rarely read when I cook, and Arnaldur Indridason’s books made me do just so. The main characters, three detectives from the Reykjavik police, are too different to stick together in the world outside the investigations they lead. The lives of Erlendur, the senior detective, perfectly bred and American-educated Sigurdur Oli, and the amazing cook and housewife Elinborg would have never met if Iceland didn’t have truly mysterious criminal cases popping up now and then. In some strange way those murders remind me of (please, don’t laugh) those wooden matreshka dolls — you open it and there is a new one sitting inside, which contains yet another one, and another one, and so on until you have found the tiniest, the very last little doll. I would say that’s a different plot recipe from a usual missing puzzle piece-type paperback thriller.

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Rough Guide South India

In a few hours, I’ll be on my way to India. I’ve never been before, and it’s a little hard to fathom. I have not yet stepped off the plane and am already discombobulated and overwhelmed. The big stuff is taken care of: I’ve got my tickets, and my visa is on the way. My doctor has inoculated me against a number of diseases I’ve never even heard of, and I have a giant vat of anti-malarials resting safely in my backpack. (I have placed them there for safekeeping, in case I forget them in a frenzy of last minute packing.  Although it is equally likely that I will forget that I have already packed them and panic when I can’t find them…)

But it’s the smaller things that have been churning around in my brain. I’ve been scouring the travel blogs for any helpful bits of last minute advice for a woman going off to the subcontinent by her li’l ole self. (A blogger on the India Mike forums said she always carries a door stopper with her to supplement a lock; there is another post that lists the addresses of stores in the Bangalore area that sell Cobra brand Mace.)

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Trees: A Visual Guide --by Tony Rodd and Jennifer Stachouse

Trees can tell us a whole lot of things. They can tell you direction if you are lost. Some can provide water for you. They make the air you breathe, which is pretty cool. They also can tell us which way the prevailing wind in a specific area blows. Oh yeah, and they look amazing. Trees, A Visual Guide by Tony Rodd and Jennifer Stachouse has come in to the store and the book is awesome. It has gorgeous pictures of all different types of trees from all over the world. It gives you all the information you need to have a general understanding of tree usage in our world and tree usage in the animal world. This book also lets you know how tall they are, where they grow, the types of flowers or fruits they produce, and much, much more. Anyway, I think it is an awesome book that tells you about some of the tallest and oldest living things on earth. Even if you don’t want the information, the pictures alone are worth it and are spectacular.