The 25th October sees the publication of Cicerone’s new, major, work from Chris Townsend — “Scotland”.

I first talked to Chris about this book over five years ago (I think …).

I think this book was originally commissioned as the second in the series of comprehensive guides to follow the Kev Reynolds book “The Pyrenees: the High Pyrenees from the Cirque de Lescun to the Carlitt Massif”. The Pyrenees book is nothing short of a walking and climbing encyclopaedia of the Pyrenees. It is a wonderful book, not one that you would take to the mountains but one to consult and pour over during the winter months.

I think Chris’ task was made harder by the standard set by Kev in the first of these guides. I know the experience of researching and writing the book was something of an exhausting one.

I must admit to wondering whether this would ever see the light of day but was very pleased when Jonathan at Cicerone proudly told me (at the Outdoor Show) that they now had the text. I think at the time Cicerone was into complicated design issues, for example, the licensing of maps and photos is quite something in a book this big and comprehensive.

Anyhow, it is now here and I suspect will prove to be a major resource for those wanting to explore Scotland. It will be particularly welcome for those planning their first TGO crossing.

I reckon this will be a big success. If I get a chance to review this I will.

But, congratulations Chris!

Scotland, Chris Townsend (Cicerone Books). £25.00

 

This is quite an unusual book. Some people will love it and some people won’t. Me? I love it (I think …).

Jim Perrin is one of Britain’s greatest writers on the outdoors. Jim doesn’t just write about places or even about travelling through them. Jim’s writing is somehow deeper than that. I’ve always thought Jim Perrin is a writer who becomes part of the landscape itself. Through his pieces you can ‘feel’ the land, sense its history and connect — pretty directly — with the people who live and work on it.

This book has been heavily promoted as one that focuses on loss. Two key events dominate the book and indeed seem to have dominated Jim’s life over recent years.

The first loss here was that of Jim’s son, Will, who tragically committed suicide. It’s enough for us to know here that Jim raised Will as a single parent from a very early age. The second loss was that of Jim’s partner Jaquetta. Jaquetta and Jim met while young and then lost each other. They came together again just a couple of year’s before she died of breast cancer, after a chance meeting at one of Jim’s book readings.

But West is more than just the story of these two losses.

In many ways West is a memoir, one that is defined through a series of losses. There’s Jim’s Grandfather who was forced to move from his native Wales and its landscape, culture and language, to travel to Salford in search of work. Jim ponders on the change of life experienced by his Grandfather and the loss that he must have felt almost every day of his life.

Jim was raised by his grandparents and although his own parents are present in the book (and in his childhood) there is also a sense of ‘loss’ here as he recounts stories of adventures with his father who died far too young for his son. And then there were other changes in life that read as if they were experienced through loss. There’s the climbing — Jim was one of the UL’s brightest talents — but much of that ended when caring for Will became Jim’s main responsibility. There was the loss of mountains, a loss so great that Jim abandoned his studies at one of the countries most prestigious universities to choose Bangor instead. Bangor University was, of course, close to Jim’s beloved Snowdonia but his tutors thought him barmy.

Throughout all of these stories, and encounters, landscape, the great outdoors and wilderness loom large. Jim’s life was fashioned by these landscapes; he didn’t just experience them he was part of them. And so it is entirely logical for these feelings of loss to be experienced, analysed and written about through this relationship with wild land.

But it is the two key relationships around which this book is anchored. Will’s death is never dwelt on in an analytical way. It’s clear that Jim’s love for his son was exceptional. There are hints and guilt and regret as I suspect would be natural for any parent in this position. There’s Jim’s uneasy relationship with authority and his passion for social justice which it seems Will inherited and might have made his life more testing that it otherwise would have been. There’s Jim’s love of drugs, the cannabis of later years replacing the LSD of his youth, and there are hints here and there that this might not have helped Will. But Jim doesn’t go far in either direction. What we have are loving recollections of a father and son exploring and experiencing the wild land of Wales, joy in the everyday outdoors and trepidation when Will decided to follow his father’s love for the risk taking of mountaineering.

Will’s death came at a time when Jim was at his happiest. He and Jaquetta came together when they were young and when Jaquetta was extracting herself from a failing relationship. She left Jim for a while to sort our loose ends with a promise that she would return. But she didn’t. The ending of the relationship was effectively another great loss and you can sense every bit of pain as Jim searches for her back in her native Liverpool and beyond.

And then many years later Jaquetta appears at once of Jim’s book readings and the two of them never look back. The story here is that Jaquetta sorted out her issues and travelled back to Wales only to find Jim tackling a very dangerous climb. Outraged by Jim’s obsession with danger Jaquetta disappears, ling abroad for many years.

Jim and Jaquetta embrace the reformed relationship like two people who have little time in order to make right their joint histories. Jim describes their relationship is great, sensuous and even erotic detail. They become devoted to each other. Jim clearly found the relationship of his dreams, every bit as fulfilling as he knew it would be during the years of loss. And then Will dies. And soon after Jaquetta is diagnosed with breast cancer and she too is gone.

The book is even sharper and more poignant as Jim is himself diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. He moves to France and away from his beloved Wales (yet another loss) in order to avoid the suffocating good will of friends and fans alike.

I’m not sure I’ve done this book justice. You’ll have to experience it for yourselves. But amidst all of this amazing writing about relationships and feeling, is some of the most sublime prose you will ever read.

Nobody writes about landscape, land and our relationship with it like Jim.

This book may be a difficult one. But it is an absolute triumph.

 

Susie emails to ask why I haven’t reviewed any books recently! Well, in truth I review travel books and travel literature and I haven’t been reading those genres recently. But Susie got me thinking. When we’re out on the trail, or an a walking or camping holiday we read all kinds of stuff. So, this is a review of books that would be good to read on our travels rather than books about travels themselves. Clear? Good.

I thought I’d start with crime. To be honest I’m not a mad, avid, crime reader as many of you are. But I do like a good story and in these books, well, you get a great story.

There’s a TGO Challenge connection here. During this year’s event I sat somewhere or another with my mate Humphrey Weightman discussing our recent reading. Humph and I do this a lot, swapping book recommendation in — to be honest — most other genres. I mentioned that I’d started reading Stieg Larsson’s Girl Triology, The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, etc.

Larsson’s books are a global phenomena. They’ve sold in bucket loads all over the world. I can see why. There is something a little unusual about the hero who is not a detective but an investigative, financial, journalist. His sidekick, Lizbeth Salander is something of a true and original creation.

Humphrey had also begun to read Larsson’s triology but had given up. There was something about these books he didn’t like, and I know what he means. Larsson’s plots might be brilliant but the characters are a bit one dimensional. The main character, Blomquist, is clearly based on Larsson himself and gets more than a little annoying as the series goes on. These books might be very dramatic but I’m not sure I’d have wanted to have spent too much time around Larsson.

Humphrey told me that the Jo Nesbo books were far better. “Treat yourself, buy the lot and you can read them all in a few days”. Humph had come across Nesbo in a recent review in the Guardian, a review that I’d remembered. So, when I got home I went out and bought the first novel in this series and very quickly had finished the first three.

Nesbo’s hero is a more traditional crime fighter. Harry Hole (pronounced Humph tells me as Holey — and I always defer to Humph in linguistic matters) is a Norwegian detective based in Oslo. He is the classic anti hero, a bit of a bum, a man with lots of past demons and an alcohol problem. He has difficulty holding down relationships and is a nightmare for his bosses to manage. Hole’s Oslo is not the classic, Scandinavian design icon that you often see, but a city of diverse communities, crooked Policeman, dodgy bars and even more dodgy neighbourhoods.

While Harry stumbles around hidden Oslo he cuts a remarkably convincing and complex figure. This might be because Nesbo himself is something of a remarkable character. Not only is Nesbo a crime writer he is an economist. He’s also the bass player in one of Norway’s better, long-lived, punk bands! Oh, and he’s also writes children’s novels and has been likened to Roald Dhal!

If I simply gave you a clue about the stories you might think that they’re a bit conventional. But Nesbo’s wide range of interests really adds something different. The novels explore many of the darker issues of Norway’s recent history. He writes knowledgeably and convincingly about the facist right, those who fought alongside Hitler and those young who cling to the far right today. There’s a lot of psychology and criminology here. Nesbo’s novels feature as series support characters a wonderful forensic scientist and old and experienced criminal psychologist. You learn a lot from these novels, especially about the mindset of criminals and their behaviour patterns. In case your worried about being lectured to all of this comes out in a relaxed and natural way.

Nesbo’s characters are far deeper than Larssons’s and far more interesting. Yes, there is a strong first division case but the supporting characters are just as rounded and just as fascinating. And, in case your wondering, the plots are great, keeping you guessing until the end. These plots may not have the pyrotechnics of La villain rrson but they’re more convincing. Ultimately they are a more rewarding read. Harry  Hole is a great character and in the corrupt Policeman Nesbo has created a great, modern — yet complex — villain.

If you like a good crime story then these are for you. If you just like a good read that keeps you gripped, then look no further. Scandinavia and Northern Europe is turning out some great writers at the moment. Look on Amazon and you’ll see Nesbo talked about in the same breath as Henning Mankell’s Wallender. I prefer Nesbo.

The first three Harry Hole novels published in the UK hang together as a trilogy. Each has a distinct plot but as we move through them we get to know all of the main and supporting characters well. And common threads and challenges run through the series and are only resolved at the end of the third novel.

You need to be careful with the order you read them in though. For some weird reason the books were not published here in the order they were written. So, don’t try and establish the order by the first published date. Also, be aware that you can jump a book without knowing it. I started reading book three as book two. They seemed to flow well but Humphrey but me straight and I realised that I had missed a lot.

So, the order of these UK published books is: The Redbreast; Nemesis; and the Devil’s Star.

Two more books follow these in the series, The Redeemer and The Snowman (which has just been published in hardback). These take Harry Hole further but move on from the distinct nature of the first three I feel.

These are great page turners. They’d sit well in a rucksack or a daypack or cabin luggage. They’d read well in mountains, on beaches and, oif course, on fjords!

I’d happily back Humphrey’s advice. Buy the the lot on Amazon and read in one go — or at least the first three keeping the Snowman until it comes out in paperback!

Wonderful stuff.