The Wandering Bark

A few weeks ago, I found myself in Strand bookstore yet again. My typical routine is flitting from one round table of new non-fiction, to new fiction, to bestsellers, to classics. Generally, the classics is the table that gets the most attention. I have an affinity for dead authors and their attention to detail I guess. I often beat myself up for not being drawn to contemporary fiction in the same way.

On this particular occasion I picked up Nick Flynn's 'The Ticking is the Bomb', Elizabeth Gilbert's 'Committed', and Chris Cleave's 'Little Bee'. It is a rarity, that I flip through the pages of a book I pick up in a store and read through half of it. Nick Flynn's memoir has an amazing simplicity and searingly honest voice, but I knew I could get my hands on it for free...'Committed' I could get from the library. I left Strand with 'Little Bee', a thriller that takes place in London where the paths of two women, a nigerian girl immigrant and a single mother, struggle for survival. I thought it gave startling perspectives on immigration through the lens of human experience rather than dry political policy.

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Nicole Kidman has expressed interest in getting this book made into a film. Which could be good... or could be terrible.

You've read this far. I advise you to read the book first.

Preferably, now :-)