You Are Here: Cork > reviews

Tuesday, September 23, 2003

How to shit in the woods - book, 3.5 stars

Before reading this book I didn't think that there could possibly be a need for such a book.  After all, what's hard about digging a hole?  But I have since concluded that any person who spends time in the outdoors should read it.

The book is only 102 pages long.  It begins by explaining why we should be concious of our actions and how long shit takes to decompose.  There are several funny stories highlighting the fact that some knowledge and forethought is required before squatting!!! 

What I found most interesting, though, are all the reasons for 'packing-it-out', which range from not damaging environmentally sensitive areas where holes just shouldn't be dug to being in the show where the ground cannot be found, and even if it is visible it would be frozen and too hard to dig. 

And there's even a short chapter for women on how not to pee in their boots.

The book is funny in parts and quite educational. 

Thursday, May 30, 2002

Chocolat - book, 4 stars

I've just finished reading a book by Joanne Harris called Chocolat.  I haven't seen the movie but would be interested to, if only to see whether the director did a good job of portraying the storyline.  I'm not sure how the movie would be done, because the book consisted a lot of the thoughts of two characters, although many of the priest's thoughts were spoken to his mentor, a man unable to answer because of a debilitating stroke.  So I'm curious to see it.

I don't know how realistic Chocolat was with respect to the narrow mindedness of many of the people in the small country village setting in France.  And I can't work out if the prejuce against the gypsies who lived and traveled on the river was simply completely unfouded, or whether it was due to a bad experience from many many years ago.  Either way, it is a story of a town factioned into those who have a hatred and fear of all things different, and those who rejoiced in love and life.

I have now read three Joanne Harris books.  Chocolat, Blackberry Wine, and Five Quarters of the Orange.  I have enjoyed them all immensely, but I would say my favourite was the last mentioned.  All stories have, as their titles suggest, food as a major part of the story which is used in a seductive way.  In both Chocolat and Blackberry Wine there was also an air of magic, subtle magic felt by some and imagined by others. 

I would recommend any of these three books as a good read.