Writing Worth Reading
Writing Worth Reading
It’s about this guy who’s in his early 20s, hasn’t developed a career yet, and how his girlfriend gets a job with an NGO in this tiny Pacific island nation called Kiribati, on a tiny strip of land called the Tarawa atoll
So what’s your last book?
The Sex Lives of Cannibals. I’m not sure the book legitimises the title and, in any case, it’s such a funny, engaging book that it doesn’t need a title like that. It’s the funniest of all the books I read. It’s about this guy, the author J Maarten Troost, who’s in his early 20s, hasn’t developed a career yet, hasn’t launched into a job after university, and how his girlfriend gets a job with an NGO in this tiny Pacific island nation called Kiribati, on a tiny strip of land called the Tarawa atoll. It’s the middle absolutely nowhere, zillions of miles from civilisation, and it’s this flat, baking strip of land that’s overpopulated, full of trash, people defecating on the sea shore: the worst detritus of modern society. All there is to eat is tuna. And while his girlfriend’s working there, he’s trying to write the great American novel.
Any luck?
Not much, so he writes this book instead. And it’s so great. He writes about the infinite number of uncomfortable things about Kiribati: the baking heat, the shark-infested waters, the people pooping in these shark-infested waters. There’s the hard drinkers and the fights and the tuna…
It’s just a very, very funny read, but if I think about one thing that all these books I’m recommending have in common, it’s that people who put themselves in uncomfortable situations end up with interesting stories to tell. So this guy puts himself in a horribly uncomfortable place for two years, but by the end of the book the strange thing is that you almost want to go there anyway. You know? If I’d believed the US State Department website I would never have come to Yemen.
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Jennifer Steil is a writer, journalist and actor currently living in Yemen. She has worked for several newspapers, both in America and abroad, while continuing to perform in theatres where it is legal for her to do so (ie, not in Yemen). Her memoir about running a newspaper in Yemen, The Woman Who Fell From the Sky, is published by Doubleday. ‘People who put themselves in uncomfortable situations end up with interesting stories to tell,’ she says. ‘If I’d believed the US State Department website I would never have come to Yemen.’
I’m not sure the book legitimises the title, and in any case it’s such a funny, engaging book that it doesn’t need a title like that. It’s the funniest of all the books I read. It’s about the author, J Maarten Troost, who’s in his early twenties, hasn’t developed a career yet, hasn’t launched into a job after university, and how his girlfriend gets a job with an NGO in this tiny Pacific island nation called Kiribati, on a tiny strip of land called the Tarawa atoll. It’s the middle of absolutely nowhere, zillions of miles from civilisation, a flat, baking strip of land that’s overpopulated, full of trash, people defecating on the sea shore – the worst detritus of modern society. All there is to eat is tuna. And while his girlfriend’s working there, he’s trying to write the great American novel.
Any luck?
Not much, so he writes this book instead. And it’s so great. He writes about the infinite number of uncomfortable things about Kiribati – the baking heat, the shark-infested waters, the people pooping in these shark-infested waters. There’s the hard drinkers and the fights and the tuna. It’s just a very, very funny read. People who put themselves in uncomfortable situations end up with interesting stories to tell. So this guy puts himself in a horribly uncomfortable place for two years, but by the end of the book the strange thing is that you almost want to go there anyway.
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William Fiennes recommends:
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