Litsy

The Happy Isles of Oceania: Paddling the Pacific | Paul Theroux

so-so

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 ⬇️

Texreader as a most dreadful place. And his favorite? Hawaii. Well, yeah, he splurged and rented a luxury room and hobnobbed with the richest people in the world. I could almost hear the name-dropping spilling on the floor. I did appreciate the travels, as I like travelogues, and his descriptions of places. And sometimes even his descriptions of people; honesty is not a bad thing. But judging a whole island of folks based on the few he encountered, well ⬇️ 3d

Texreader that unnerves me. I stuck it out because his kayaking was breathtaking. But sadly not enough to make this a book I‘d recommend. I wanted to hear about his experiences in #Samoa, and they felt about average for all his experiences. Islanders are fatty, fat, fat eating canned meat and tuna and cheeseballs, if we are to believe the author that this is true of every island dweller. So if you read it, be prepared. #foodandlit @Catsandbooks 3d

Dilara Thank you for sticking with it so we don't have to! 😅 3d

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willaful Why are so many travel writers like this??? 3d

Bookwormjillk @willaful good question! 3d

Suet624 Thanks for saving the rest of us. 3d

SamAnne Unstaffed! 3d

57 likes7 comments

Dilara

The Adventures of Vela | Albert Wendt

My last Samoan dish: Tina and Amazing's Green Island Salad
It is a salad that combines fruit, vegetable (watercress, cucumber) & starch (green banana). I, however, kept all the ingredients separate so that fussy people could mix and match as they wished in their plates. I used mango and pineapple instead of vi (which I'd never heard of) and guava (which I didn't have). Very nice, as I knew it would be!
#Samoa #FoodandLit @Catsandbooks @Texreader

Dilara recipe source: https://www.pacificislandfoodrevolution.com/recipes/tina-and-amazings-green-isla... 1w

Jari-chan Oh, that looks so yummy! 1w

AnnCrystal 💝🤩👍🏼😋💝. 1w

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Texreader That‘s incredible!! 1w

kspenmoll Yum!!!! 1w

Dilara @Jari-chan @AnnCrystal @Texreader @kspenmoll Thank you all for the compliments! 😁 1w

CSeydel This looks amazing, I‘ll have to try it! We have guavas growing in our backyard. 1w

Dilara @CSeydel That's fantastic! I am slightly envious... Please post about it if you do make it 😋 1w

CSeydel Does it really work to boil the bananas and then grill them? I feel like they‘d fall apart 1w

Dilara @CSeydel It works with “cooking bananas“, ie the green variety (which is different from unripe dessert bananas) and plantains. You can boil them in their skins for 10-15 minutes, let them cool down, and then remove their skins, and slice them (I cut them in half crosswise first, and then lengthwise). It was a bit fiddly, but doable. 😁 1w

CSeydel 👍 1w

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Texreader

The Happy Isles of Oceania: Paddling the Pacific | Paul Theroux

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?

Texreader “The kids had a ruction over early-to-bed time.” Does that work? (edited) 1w

Doll8455 My dad said my brother always caused a ruckus. Might have been taken from the word ruction. 1w

Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick I like to think I'm fairly smart, but I find myself looking up words, sometimes multiple times across a few books before the meaning sticks. I did skip out on extra SAT prep classes so...🤣 1w

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Texreader

The Happy Isles of Oceania: Paddling the Pacific | Paul Theroux

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!!

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Texreader

The Happy Isles of Oceania: Paddling the Pacific | Paul Theroux

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 ⬇️

Texreader his trek itself. This chunkster of an ebook is one of the reasons I read so few books in October, and only this one for #Samoa #foodandlit. Still going though. 20% left! 2w

Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick Good to know! I'm delaying Samoa & Algeria until 2026 since I've fallen behind in Latin America. It's just easier for me to track them if I fully pause. I have this book and Coming of Age in Samoa on my shelves, so I'll likely read both. 2w

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Texreader

The Happy Isles of Oceania: Paddling the Pacific | Paul Theroux

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.

SamAnne I‘m finishing up Richard. Power‘s Playground and may have to read this. 3w

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Dilara

The Adventures of Vela | Albert Wendt

More food from The Adventures of Vela, which I finished - at last! - the other day 😁
Honestly, it was a bit of a slog in places, but I am happy I read it to the end because it really was a window into another culture.
Bonito in coconut cream, yam (I thinks is is going to be proper yam, and not sweet potato), and papaya sounds delicious!
#Samoa #FoodandLit @Catsandbooks @Texreader

pic Sonja Pieper via Teinesavaii, Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 2.0

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Texreader

The Happy Isles of Oceania: Paddling the Pacific | Paul Theroux