#will randall

➫ monthly book round-up: september 2024

books read: 6 [-25%] average rating: 3.92 [+5%] average speed: 15.5 days [+19%] total pages: 2,265 [-5%] yearly goal progress: 61/50 [122%] best of the month: an african history of africa, zeinab badawi worst of the month: the muse, jessie burton

5* reads:

an african history of africa: from the dawn of humanity to independence, zeinab badawi

4* reads:

as long as the lemon trees grow, zoulfa katouh

4.5* reads:

the body in the library, agatha christie

3.5* reads:

solomon time: adventures in the south pacific, will randall

you and me on vacation, emily henry

3* reads:

the muse, jessie burton

currently reading:

disorientation, elaine hsieh chou

Wolf

Staring: Jack Nicholson, Michelle Pfeiffer, James Spader   Directed by Mike Nichols

solomon time: adventures in the south pacific // will randall

first published: 2002 read: 04 september 2024 - 11 september 2024 pages: 285 format: paperback

genres: non-fiction; travel/culture; memoir favourite character(s): n/a least favourite character(s): n/a

rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑 thoughts: solomon time is a little outside my usual domain in terms of being a travel memoir, but i bought a signed copy of this and indian summer after the author visited my sixth form about 8-9 years ago. after picking this up multiple times and never finishing it (which had nothing to do with the quality of the book and everything to do with me being quite depressed), i have finally gotten around to finishing it. solomon time was a fun glimpse into life on the solomon islands, a dive into the culture and the people who live there. will randall writes with humour, and i remember his talk to our school being full of laughs (which ultimately convinced me to buy his books), so his writing ended up being a clear reflection of his personality. he writes lovingly about the people on the island as you can tell he grows to feel part of the community, but also realistically about how different the culture was compared to having lived in england for most (if not all) of his life up until that point, and how much this took getting used to. i feel he generally wrote about the people with dignity, not being afraid to poke fun in a good-natured manner, but not looking down on the people for what they lacked, for having different beliefs, etc. it was, i will say, very odd hearing him refer to the children as pickaninnies. to be clear, it didn't seem to be done in a derogatory way and i assume that's the word in general usage on the islands to refer to children - but being in the culture that i am and knowing its usage here, it was funny that a white man was using the word in reference to the solomon islander children.

Current book being read for June/Summer. It’s not a bad book. It’s about Will Randall’s experiences on the Solomon Islands and the culture he encountered there. I gave it a 3 out of 5 stars just because I thought there would be a more variety of experiences. There was a lot just not the ones I was particularly looking for. So I’m the one with the problem not the book.