Book 13: Dark Star Safari, Paul Theroux

This book is a bit like seeing a fight between husband and wife in public: you really don't want to watch or eavesdrop, but you can't help it. A bit like an infuriating lecturer because he's so pedantic, yet the subject is so fascinating you can't help wanting to listen more. 

I have fond memories of reading Paul Theroux when I was younger, he was the first travel writer I read and I couldn't wait to go to China after reading Riding the Iron Rooster: By Train Through China (in fact, I credit him with wanting to go to China in the first place). It was all so romantic and foreign and new and exotic. And he still manages to take me with him on his journeys. But boy do I want to take him by the shoulders and shake him and tell him to stop being such an idiot. He knows he is an idiot I think. But that's the way he is. That all sounds horribly unkind and that really doesn't reflect how much I enjoyed the book. 

This is the second book from the Penguin Celebration series with the subject matter of Africa and I'm glad they were included, I don't think I would've picked them up myself but I've really enjoyed both. Thank you Penguin.