Welcome to Litsy!

Admittedly this book was written at a sorrowful stressful time in the author‘s life, his wife having just told him she‘s divorcing him. So he‘s very sulky as he travels across Oceania in his portable kayak that he carries with him as he flies from place to place. But that doesn‘t excuse his utter lack of humility, and a serious superiority complex with his smug judgments about 90% of his encounters with folks. He starts by blasting New Zealand ⬇️

Theroux thrives on unusual words, prompting me to want to start a #wordoftheday or week or whatever. That‘s not new to litsy. But it‘s new to me since I‘m continuously looking up words in the tagged book. Mom @Doll8455 and I, both avid readers and fairly well educated, but we both had to look up “lugubrious” from this book. Now we toss it out often to one another! 😂 and then 😔

I‘ll start today with the word “ruction.” Use it in a sentence?

The author ridicules Thor Heyerdahl to the ends of the earth and then there‘s this statement: “Probably the most obnoxious aspect of Heyerdahl is that he appears to display a deep bias, bordering on contempt, against Polynesians.”

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!!

If you ever have a desire to read this book, be aware there is a lot of this.

The author is thorough, and 80% into it, I‘m getting a ton of detail about every possible island in Oceania. I‘m not fond of his constant criticisms (Wikipedia calls it a strong stream of irony, that‘s not what I‘d call it) of pretty much every single person he meets, and judgments of swaths of people based on those he encounters. But as usual I enjoy reading about ⬇️

The worst of the author‘s invective is against the French. It‘s a wonder this man has any friends, but then again, his wife is divorcing him and he‘s on an extended solo outing. 🧐

But his contempt for the French may be justified (sorry all my French friends). At the time he wrote this book the French were nuking Pacific islands mercilessly. France, at least at the time, was the world‘s largest supplier of nuclear weapons.

More about food in #Samoa.

#foodandlit @Catsandbooks

I had no idea there were two Samoas!

#Samoa #foodandlit @Catsandbooks

Finally, a description of some food in #Samoa. #foodandlit @Catsandbooks

#Samoa #foodandlit @Catsandbooks

Well, Samoans don‘t sound very nice at all. The author doesn‘t have much nice to say about Tongans (from Tonga) or New Zealanders for that matter. #Samoa #foodandlit @Catsandbooks

Reading my book and being snubbed by my 🐈‍⬛ (blending into the chair on the left). Her dad is out of town and he‘s her primary human. So daughter and I just get attitude when he‘s gone.

“Fiji is like the world you thought you left behind—full of political perversity, racial fear, economic woes, and Australian tourists looking for inexpensive salad bowls (though why anyone would think a race of Queequegs, proud of their cannibal past, might excel at making salad bowls is not only a cultural mystery, but proof that tourists will believe almost anything as long as they are comfortable).”

Cooking on the slope of a volcano on Savo Island in the Soloman Islands. The eggs they refer to are megapode eggs.

The author hasn‘t made it to #Samoa yet, but this was very interesting food. #foodandlit @Catsandbooks

The author is still in #Australia, so this isn‘t food from #Samoa. Nonetheless I feel compelled to post the dishes eaten in northeastern Australia: flyswisher stew, fried barramundi, snorkers and googs, roast chook. To be honest I haven‘t a clue what these are. #foodandlit @Catsandbooks

Awesome book coincidence reading this book for #foodandlit #Samoa and it crossed over into my reading Dracula for #hauntedshelf #blackcatcrew

@Catsandbooks @BookwormAHN @PuddleJumper

This is hilarious if true! Australian Littens: is this true?

#foodandlit #Samoa @Catsandbooks

When I posted the first part of this paragraph a short while ago, and I complained about how petty the author had been already in this book, I hadn‘t even finished reading the whole paragraph. And he proves my point! He‘s petty yet again! A period after the word cathedral would have been appropriate. Then he belittles his literary compatriots back home. If this bad attitude doesn‘t end quickly I may bail. #foodandljt #Samoa @Catsandbooks

The author is hiking in the woods of New Zealand. This would be a lovely quote but for the author‘s pettiness up to this point. He has brutalized the Māori and New Zealanders.

For example: “Others evolved into enormous and complacent specimens, like the spoiled and overfed children I had seen in Auckland…” & “the most terrible aspect … was that the New Zealanders themselves did not seem to know what was happening to them in their decline”

⬇️

I‘m getting a little head start on #foodandlit with my first book for #Samoa

@Catsandbooks

Ebook on sale for a very short time. Perfect for #readingoceania @Librarybelle @BarbaraBB

In #Oceania the new year has started already and with it #ReadingOceania24!
You can read authors from the countries and/or books set there.
You‘ll find the prompts and reading suggestions on Storygraph: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reading_challenges/ece66821-f9a2-4e67-b74d-15d70c8...

All welcome to join @Librarybelle and me 🇦🇺 🇳🇿

Reposting for @barbarabb and @librarybelle
https://www.litsy.com/web/post/2664478