Books and stuff

There are books that one reads all the way through, and there are books that one begins, and while enjoying , suddenly feel as if one has had enough of. Two travelogue type books, Alan Partridge's 'Nomad' and Clare Balding's 'Walking Home: My Family & Other Rambles' came into this category for me. 'Nomad' is hugely funny, but I got a bit tired of the many diversions and asides. 'Walking Home' is interesting, but a little beige. If I was stuck on a train on a long journey, and they were the only books, I would probably read them cover to cover. What started out as a slow grab, has become my all consuming night read. It's 'The Penguin Lessons' by Tom Mitchell, about his time as a young schoolmaster in Argentina, living with a penguin he'd rescued from an oil soaked beach in Uruguay. It's full of interesting detail about the country during the era of Peron, and a penguin named Juan Salvado. Enchanting.