Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
BOOK OF THE WEEK with Charlie Richards.
Watership Down, Richard Adams, ISBN 978-0141354965 (Penguin) BD3.400 for Gulf Weekly Book Club members
In remembrance of Richard Adams, who passed away on December 24, 2016.
This book has become one of the most famous animal adventures ever written. The author grew up in Berkshire, the son of a country doctor. After an education at Oxford, Richard Adams spent six years in the army before joining the civil service.
He originally began telling the story of Watership Down to his two daughters and they insisted he publish it as a book. It quickly became a huge success with both children and adults, and won the Guardian Children’s Fiction Award and the Carnegie Medal in 1972.
In this epic story, a young rabbit called Fiver senses that something terrible is about to happen to the warren. Fiver’s sixth sense is never wrong according to his brother, Hazel.
They leave immediately and persuade the other rabbits to join them. And, so begins, a long and perilous journey of a small band of rabbits in search of a safe home.
Fiver’s vision finally leads them to Watership Down, but here they face their most difficult challenge of all.
READ IT NOW IN PAPERBACK
Sully: My Search for What Really Matters, 365 Good Deeds, Chesley B. III Sullenberger and Jeffrey Zaslow, ISBN 978-0062677303 (Harper Collins) BD4.400 for Gulf Weekly Book Club members.
This is the inspirational autobiography by one of the most captivating American heroes of our time, Capt ‘Sully’ Sullenberger, the pilot who miraculously landed a crippled US Airways Flight 1549 in New York’s Hudson River, saving the lives of all 155 passengers and crew.
His cool actions not only averted tragedy but made him a hero and an inspiration worldwide. His story is now a major motion picture from director / producer Clint Eastwood and stars Tom Hanks, Laura Linney and Aaron Eckhart.
Sully’s story is one of dedication, hope and preparedness, revealing the important lessons he learned through his life, in his military service and in his work as an airline pilot.
It reminds us all that, even in these days of conflict, tragedy and uncertainty, there are values still worth fighting for—that life’s challenges can be met if we’re ready for them.
My favourite read of the week
To Kill A Mockingbird Harper Lee, Ken Robinson, ISBN 978-0099549482 (Arrow) BD2.900 for Gulf Weekly Book Club members
In remembrance of Harper Lee, who passed away on February 19, 2016.
“Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”
Through the young eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee explores with exuberant humour the irrationality of adult attitudes to race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s.
The conscience of a town steeped in prejudice, violence and hypocrisy is pricked by the stamina of one man’s struggle for justice. But the weight of history will only tolerate so much.
To Kill a Mockingbird is a coming-of-age story, an anti-racist novel, a historical drama of the Great Depression, a sublime example of the Southern writing tradition and currently a study book for teenagers at schools in Bahrain.
