28 Mar 2010

Tahir Shah

The book I'm reading now - Tahir Shah's Trail of Feathers - In search of the Birdmen  of Peru is about the author's quest for a tribe in Peru who had flown even before the invention of airplanes. It is a hilarious book, full of appalling and sometimes horrible adventures yet his story telling is such that the moment he started the journey, you are hooked. He takes us from a cahnce meeting in the British Museum through France and from France to Peru where his quest actually began. His entertaining style of narration makes us forget that this is a serious book and his quest well researched. Like his other books - In Search of  King Solomon's Mines , The Caliph's HOuse - Birdmen is thoroughly enjoyable. He has a taste for the weird and bizarre but it is this very weirdness which gives the book a rich and fantastic journey.

This is the fourth of Tahir's books that I've read and like the others its a delightful and enjoyable read. Reading it I often break into spontaneous laughter at some of the adventures he went through. The one I most enjoyed though is still The Caliph's House, which is about him buying and renovating a house in Morrocco. Like the others it is full of humour, often very dry British style humour. From jinns and lazy contractors who take their time to renovate his house, Tahir Shah tells us of a Morrocco which is not known to outsiders.

2 comments:

The Bookworm said...

Trail of Feathers sounds interesting and different. I hadnt heard of this author before.

http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/

Kat said...

Hi Naida, yes its a great book - a departure from the usual travel books. I'd recommend it.