Categories: uncategorized
Date: 10 August 2004 22:48:26
I recently finished C.S.Lewis's "Mere Christianity" (after mander's recommendation) - really interested by my reactions to it this time round - lots more "hmmm"s and raised eyebrows this time! The last time I read it was in the late 80s, just after I came to faith.
Right now, thanks to my recent deliveries from amazon, my current bedtime reading is the rather dull sounding but actually fascinating "Collision and Collusion: the strange case of Western aid to Eastern Europe 1989-1998". Having both past and current experience of living and working in eastern Europe, and wanting to study further in the future, western aid is one of those hot potato issues for me, and has been for years. I've also already (I've only just finished Chapter 1) found some stuff which I really must remember to quote in my current dissertation - even though I actually bought the book as background for my forthcoming PhD application.
Once I've finished that - hopefully by Greenbelt - next on the list is "Molvania: a land untouched by modern dentistry" which is a spoof travel guide to a fictional eastern European country. I'd not heard of it until on the way back from Moldova the other month I picked up my freebie copy of the English language "Budapest Times" and found a really up-itself review by a well-meaning ex-pat, who seemed to think she was so much worthier than the ex-pats who thought it was hilarious because she looked beyond the mickey-taking to the real people who were being spoofed. Personally I think it's spoofing worthy travel-guide writers as much as it is eastern Europe, but I have to say having had contacts with the region over more than 10 years, including living in Romania for a while, there is an awful lot there that is ripe for spoofing. I remember the first time I went to Moldova I flew via Romania with a colleague who had lived and worked in Romania for a couple of years prior to being transferred to Moldova, and as we were coming in to land in Bucharest I said something along the lines of "I feel like I'm coming home..." [cue wistful pause] "... I can't think why, when it's so crap". And he laughed and knew *exactly* what I meant. As will I think many people who've lived and worked in the region - it gets into your guts, even though large swathes of it are utter dumps. I love the region - as you may have noticed - but I can't stand it when poverty and crap and failing infrastructures etc are romanticised. So I bought the book mostly because I thought it sounded funny but also (I must admit) to spite that reviewer.
Once I've read that I think I'll have a break from eastern Europe. Perhaps the next "No1 Ladies Detective Agency" (Alexander McCall Smith) now Deeleea reminded me of that series - I really enjoyed the first one, nice and light reading, not usually laugh out loud funny, but it did make me smile a lot.