Eric Idle Blog » Reading on the Road. Australia and New Zealand. October 24.

Reading on the Road. Australia and New Zealand. October 24.

By Eric Idle, January 4, 2025 12:55 pm

Intermezzo Sally Rooney

I like the way she writes. I found the first half gripping, then felt it was going adrift, but returned to it with delight, because of her prose and the fresh way she writes about people. Especially in sexual relationships. I keep going despite several breaks because she can really write. However though I have re started many times I still haven’t finished it so I must reluctantly conclude the book doesn’t quite work for me.

Gabriel’s Moon William Boyd.

One of the books I devoured on the road and left behind on a hotel shelf. I know I loved it but can I remember why or where? Alas.

The Goodbye People Gavin Lambert

I left this for a fact on a hotel shelf in Sydney. I was only quite enjoying it and it went as a sacrifice to weight. It was a nice McNally Edition I picked up in New York.

The Decline and Fall of The Human Empire. Henry Gee. (Preview)

Why Our Species is on the Edge of Extinction.

Now this one I still have because the author kindly sent me a Kindle copy. I believe I was supposed to write something about it, but the road is so demanding, and tiring and tasking, that I am afraid I forgot to do that. I think Henry will forgive me as I recommend the book a lot. The gist is that we have already passed the point of becoming extinct once we became the sole hominid on the planet, but, he allows some room for the possibility of survival if we can manage to leave the planet and colonise space. The future does not look optimistic on that front and the only upside is that we won’t be here to witness it. However we will shortly suffer the consequences of our short sightedness in terms of survival on this planet.

Dark Renaissance Stephen Greenblatt (Preview)

This is a note I wrote to my pal Stephen Greenblatt who had kindly shared his book with me. I just adored it as you can see.

“First of all let me say I read your book end to end with delight. Your writing is effortless, your humor superb, your arguments unanswerable. I love the way you now bring Marlowe to life in the way that you did Shakespeare. Through their writing as well as through the scant historical details of their lives you make them live for us. Marlowe in particular, the precocious boy suddenly lifted out of his working class world and expanded by education which propelled him into Cambridge which allowed his brain room to expand and grow and view the Universe as well and revealing his thoughts in the dangerous world of late Elizabethan life. That naturally rang home to me, a boy who was gifted a similar elevation. You expose so well the curse of religions and their cruelty when given half a chance, as well as the dangers faced by scientists in trying to reveal the Universe to us and of common people in the years when religions changed with the weather.

I loved learning about Bruno and his dangerous – though totally accurate – views of the universe and the true nature of the sun and earth – for which he paid with his life. Everyone should expect the Inquisition! In short you’ve done it again, written a totally engrossing, compelling read, throwing light onto a genius poet and playwright who was mysteriously removed from the stage in his prime by forces unknown.

Over The Edge of The World Laurence Bergreen.

Magellan’s Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe

An amazing story. Enthralling. Gripping and true. Though I had my appetite whetted by Henry Green’s short narrative. This detailed history of the three year expedition by the Portuguese Magellan for Spain, the mutinies, the tragedies, the discoveries was absolutely superb. It led me into searching for more details about the Chinese exploration of the globe which seems to have certainly preceded all the European “discoveries” and I went looking for any book that shed light on the Chinese Treasure Fleet of Cheng Ho in the15th Century. Quite by chance I found a copy of the below in Betty’s Books, a delightful bookshop in Newcastle, NSW.

1434 Gavin Menzies

The year a magnificent Chinese Fleet sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance.

These Junks were five times bigger than Magellan’s boats and it is clear that these fleets sailed the world and it was their maps, so valuable, that finally got into the hands of European explorers and led to the age of discovery. I remember reading his previous book 1421 but I think it may have gone when I chucked out my library. This book too remains somewhere on a shelf in a hotel in Australia for someone else to enjoy. I take photos of the covers to remind me not to forget, and by the context I think I left it in Sydney, which makes sense.

This is What Happened Mick Herron

Nobody Walks Mick Herron

Miss May Does Not Exist Carrie Courogen

An enthralling account of the Life of Elaine May, with wonderful stories of the extraordinary Mike Nichols, their meeting, their early days, their successes, and their subsequent inevitable interactions in life and showbusiness.

The Glass That Laughed Dashiel Hammet

An early recently discovered very short story.

Sweet Tooth Ian McEwan

I found this 2^nd hand in a rather lovely Coffee House Bookshop in Newcastle Australia. I wasn’t sure I hadn’t read it but I very much enjoyed it, particularly the first half which is wonderfully written. The plot twist works very well. A very pleasant travel read with lots of nostalgia about Cambridge in the early seventies.

Hero Thomas Perry

Another total blinder from Thomas Perry. How does he remain so good? A female protagonist is attacked for doing her job. She goes on the run from police, news organizations and revenge seekers. Totally gripping.

Howard’s End E.M. Forster

Which I found second hand in paperback in Newcastle Australia and left in a hotel in Sydney. I had not re read it in a while and the problem was that after writing “What About Dick?” I kept giggling at various points where Helen(a) stole umbrellas or Leonard Bast(ard) walked all night into the countryside. It’s my own fault I know but since I have a first edition at home I left this for some other reader to enjoy, who hadn’t been polluted by comedy.

Henry V Dan Jones

The astonishing rise of England’s greatest warrior King.

A big book in all ways, and I was grateful to Sydney for publishing it already in paperback. They do that there and it’s much better for we travellers. The only problem with Henry Vth for me was that I did not like him at all. Of course one can feel sympathy for him being attached to the Court of the worrying Richard 11nd, but only in the way you can feel sorry for Caligula attached to the court of Tiberias. His father was unpleasant but I began to particularly dislike the son when he invaded France and this dislike grew with every siege and chevauchee. Is this what we want from our Rulers? Ruthless efficiency in warfare, and the belief that God has singled you out personally to determine the state of Western Europe. Yes there are far more unpleasant people around at the time but bashing in towns and cities in the name of God is hardly England’s greatest King. Shakespeare here has done him a huge favour of course and Lawrence Olivier, but historically at the time England was the one doing the invading so Henry V is hardly the victim of Nazism. I learned a lot about myself while reading this highly readable and enjoyable biography of one of the greatest Worrier Kings from the deeply mysterious world of the Medieval Ages.

The Blue Hour Paula Hawkins

Another brilliantly written suspense book. I think that’s the right definition. She is more like Highsmith in narrative form. Her observation of character is as good, her writing as fine, and she leaves you in the same suspended state of not quite knowing what will happen. No spoilers.

The Human Factor Graham Greene

An odd book which I found second hand in the Adelaide Central Market.

Didion & Babitz Lili Anolik

A brilliant book where – as a huge fan of Eve – I learned to appreciate Joan a little more. Very interesting and of course I knew half the characters in it – odd people like Earl McGrath and the imperious mischievous Ahmet Ertegan. A very finely researched book based on her discovery of a box of unsent letters, which are of course the most accurate kind, since they say what you think, but then cleverly withdraw from the unpleasant consequences.

True and False David Mamet

Oh I love David Mamet. Here he brilliantly peels away the bullshit that surrounds the acting trade.

Three Uses of the Knife: David Mamet

On the Nature and Purpose of Drama. Kindle.

Research Philip Kerr

I felt very fortunate to fall upon this book in the back of Dymocks in Perth. I, like many others, was saddened by his early death, and I had no idea that anything else had been published since his decease and yet there it was! So I fell on it and devoured it on a day off. Then of course I left it behind in an hotel somewhere, because, well, bags are heavy on the road, so I can give you no information whatsoever, except I immediately recommended it to fellow Kerr enthusiast Jeff Davis and I remember I loved it and intended to buy it again when I returned to the Untied States.

May We Borrow Your Husband Graham Greene

& Other Comedies of the Sexual Life.

A re-read. Still a bit disappointing.

Joe Country Mick Herron

Episode 7 of Slow Horses. Very good read, except unaccountably it lost a little at the end.

Independence Square Martin Cruz Smith

I had not read him or what looks like this series which appears to be the last of The Renko novels.

The Master & Margarita Mikhail Bulgakov

I had previously abandoned this book some years ago on an earlier visit. I might re-leave it again. I was intrigued at first then I wasn’t.

Catherine de Medici Leonie Frieda

Renaissance Queen of France. Kindle. The life of Catherine de Medici, the Italian Princess who became Queen of France, and mother of several Queens of France. This author argues that she was far less the monster that she is painted after the St. Bartholomew Massacre.

Whiplash River Lou Berney

I read for a while before remembering I had definitely read this BUT it set me up for the third of this trilogy which has been newly published and which I have yet to read. I blame Don Winslow for this confusion since he keeps recommending him, and rightly so.