Arthur Ransome and Safari exploits

I have finally ploughed my way through to the end of The Last Englishman: The Double Life of Arthur Ransome by Roland Chambers. I did find it interesting - even though I haven't read Swallows and Amazons. A large part of the book is Ransome's exploits in Bolshevik Russia which I found excessively confusing. He eventually married - as his second wife - Trotsky's former secretary. He also worked - officially and unofficially - for the British Secret Service. The big question is did he also work for Russia? The book leaves the reader to make up their own mind. There was very little about his successful later years following the publication of Swallows and Amazons and its successors. It was an interesting book - though heavy going at times.

I've also just finished Don't Look Behind You: True Tales of a Safari Guide by Peter Allison. The author's love of Africa shines throughout this book as well as his love of the animals. There are some hair raising incidents with the author getting on the wrong side of elephants lions and tigers but there are also some sad incidents where the author and his colleagues cannot intervene when animals are in danger. The book is almost as good as going on safari.

Arthur Ransome

I'm still ploughing through a biography of Arthur Ransome and finding it a little heavy going as the greater part of it is a history of the Bolshevik revolution in Russia in 1917. Apparently Ransome was suspected of being a Bolshevik spy though he seems to have spent a lot of time spying for Great Britain on an unofficial basis. For some reason the powers that be in Russia seemed to trust him even though he was English and a journalist for the Daily News at the time. Very cloak and dagger. I will finish it but I really should go back and read all the complicated toings and froings but as I'm not really sufficiently interested I don't think I shall be doing so.

Currently reading

A biography of Arthur Ransome - The Last Englishman: the Double Life of Arthur Ransome by Roland Chambers. Even though I haven't read Swallows and Amazons I'm still finding it interesting. For some reason I always think of famous children's authors as perfect people - and yet they are far from perfect. As a child and young man Arthur Ransome comes over as unbearably self centred and demanding - writing to his mother to tell her to send him a particular book -'I want it'. No please or thank you. You never know whether it could have been a family joke but it certainly comes over as demanding. I get the impression the author doesn't particularly like him either.

Also re-reading Rumpole on Trial by John Mortimer - for the umpteenth time.

Then there's Kate Harrison's The Secret Shopper Unwrapped. It is a sequel to The Secret Shopper's Revenge and I'm not finding it as good. Sometimes sequels shouldn't be written and this is one of those cases I think.

I have just received a book by Susan Hill called Howard's End is on the Landing. She realised she had a great many unread books and books she wanted to re-read so she decided not to buy any books for a year and just read what she already owned. Hummm - maybe I ought to do the same thing?