Some reading done

Hello, welcome to my next book report.I have managed to bump into some good books again, as I have probably a talent for that, then again, it probably comes out of dedication. If you're extremely hungry you always seem to find something edible, even though it might not be your favorite meal.

41. Roddy Doyle-The snapper I am slowly progressing through his work. The one he won a prize for (Paddy Clark Ha Ha) is not the best one in my estimation. The Commitments is his best known, after the succes of the movie. Apparently this one was a movie as well. The book is good. No, correct myself. Very good. Went through it in two days, it was difficult to put down. For non-native speakers the Irish dialect that pops up occasionaly can be hard, but in all it is a very easy book to get into. You can just imagine this whole family the book is about. To me father and daughter resemble the ones in the BBC-series the Royle family, one of the best comedies on tv nowadays. The story is faitly easy. Daughter gets pregnant, in catholic Dublin not the best option for an easy life, especially as nobody knows the father and she's not prepared to tell. The lifes of the whole family get influenced by it, if they want it or not. But in the end, they're still a family.

42. Ricahrd Condon-The entwining
I wouldn't know how to put a label on this book, no category seems appropriate, even though some people need to do that all the time (I am not sure if I am one of them actually). Swapped in a hostel for a thin one, this one was big and took me a while, though not as much as I thought. The story is about an orphan girl who lives her life using her mother's diaries as a bible. And according to those diaries she's destined for greatdom. The first female president of the United States of America. And she does well, until, on the point of getting nominated as the vice-president, which would mean four years of president-training, the shit hits the fan. Her whole life seems to fall apart. Interesting read about powergames and politics, but also destiny. And you keep being curious until the very last page. No nobel prize winner, but definitely a good book.

43. Mary Higgins Clark-Und tot bist du
I found a German book somewhere and as I nearly ran out decided to read it, as I had heard of the author before. I don't know the original title, though it is not really necessary, as I wouldn't recommend this one to anybody, unless they like mindless reading. Four stories with the same main characters, though everything is very one-dimensional. And again the American president plays an important role. Where does this fascination come from? Apart from that is a 42 year old ex-president not very logical I'd say. One of the best presidents in history, who got elected at 33 or 34? Get real! And his young and lovely wife, who he met the day before the next president was sworn in, turns out to be a sort of hobby detective who in one book, over the course of 3 years resolves a murder, thought to be commited by an ex-minister, a 33-year old murder of a central american prime-minister, a badly organised kidnapping and one more case, that I can't even remember anymore, even though I only finished the book the day before yesterday. Not really a recommendation then, I guess.

44. Helen Fielding-Bridget Jones's diary
I had to read this one rapidly as it belonged to one of my fellow travellers and she left soon afterwards, but I managed in 5 hours (two nights). Easy reading material can be concluded. Highly appreciated in the press everywhere. I wouldn't say it's brilliant, but I had to laugh out loud quite a few times while reading. In the style Adrian Mole made famous, Bridget is a thirtysomething, who hasn't got a boyfriend yet, struggles with her weight, doesn't have a really good job and a family full of problems on top of it. Thoough sometimes a bit farfetched, other parts seem fairly real life stuff, that everybody could recognize. That's probably the strength of it as well. Buy it if you've got plenty of dosh, borrow it, somebody you know must hae it, it has been sold milions, if not the library will have it. It's a light and entertaining read.

Forward...

I recently received one of the many forwarded messages people think I enjoy reading. As if while travelling I haven't got anything better to do than being bothered by urban myths like free mobile phones, cheap loans and dying Argentine kids with a laptop next to their beds depending on the number of times that particular email gets mailed around the world. This one was a bit more interesting though. Read it yourself:


--- Katja Bouwman <cabouwman@hetnet.nl> wrote:
> On February 12, 1993 a small boy who was to turn
> three on March was taken
> from a shopping mall in Liverpool by two 10 year old
> boys. Jamie Bolger
> walked away from his mother for only a second and
> Jon Venables took his
> hand and led him out of the mall with his friend
> Robert Thompson. They
> took Jamie on a walk for over 2 and a half miles,
> along the way stopping
> every now and again to torture the poor little boy
> who was crying
> constantly for his mommy. Finally they stopped at a
> railway track where
> they brutally kicked him and threw stones at him and
> rubbed paint in his
> eyes and pushed batteries up his anus. They then
> left his beaten small
> body on the tracks so a train could run him over to
> hide the mess they had
> created.
> These two boys, even being boys understood what they
> did was wrong, hence
> trying to make it look like an accident.
> This week Lady Justice Butler-Sloss has awarded the
> two boys anonymity for
> the rest of their lives when they leave custody with
> new identities.
> We cannot let this happen. They will also leave
> early this year only
> serving just over half of their sentence. One paper
> even stated that
> Robert may go on to University.
> They are getting away with their crime. They need to
> pay, and we have to
> do something to make them pay for their horrific
> crime. They took Jamie's
> life violently away, and in return they get a new
> life.
> Please add your name and location to the list and
> forward to friends and
> family. Please copy this email instead of forwarding
> so we do not get >>>>
> at the beginning of sentances.
> If you are the 200th person to sign please forward
> this email to -
> cust.ser.cs@gtnet.gov.uk
> <mailto:cust.ser.cs@gtnet.gov.uk> attentioning it
> to Lady Justice Butler-Sloss.
> Then start the list over again and sent to your
> friends and family.
> The Love-Bug virus took less that 72 hours to reach
> the world. I hope this
> one does too.
> We need to protect our family and friends from
> creatures like Robert and
> Jon. One day they may be living next to you and your
> small children
> without your knowledge.
> If Robert and Jon could be so evil at 10, imagine
> what they could do as
> adults?
> 1. Angelia Hemmingway, Hamilton, New Zealand
> 2. Jolene Rowe, Auckland, NZ
> 3. Evan Graham, Auckland, NZ
> 4. Laura Cole, Auckland, NZ
> 5.Grant Cole, Auckland, NZ
> 6. Leanne Whyte,Auckland,NZ
> 7. Jackie Deacon Auckland NZ
> 8. Aimee Walmsley, Auckland, New Zealand
> 9. Sharynn Walmsley, Auckland, New Zealand
> 10. Karena Russell, Auckland, New Zealand (May you
> rest in peace Jamie)
> 11. Paula Dibb, Brisbane, Australia
> 12. Kathy Chalker, Brisbane, Australia
> 13. Carmel Cule, Brisbane, Australia (I can't stand
> the sympathy the UK
> gov't has for these two immoral rats. I agree with
> the writer in that now
> they are 18 their actions will be worse and they
> will carry with them
> contempt for authority for the rest of their lives)
> 14. Antun Cule, Brisbane, Australia
> 15. Ned Skulic, Brisbane, Australia
> 16. Kathy Skulic, Brisbane, Australia
> 17. Bobbie Mioc, Helensvale. Australia
19. Ferry de Koning, Zoetermeer, Netherlands



So 19 people agreed with the above text I concluded. Which also means that they all send this mail to their friends and family. It is safe to estimate that a few hundred of people at least took the effort to read it. I had to react though. My reaction went as follows:

Hello Peoples court,

this email got me thinking. Who is Angelina Houston, to judge what happened, from all the way accross the world? Why would I sign a petition, that doesn't actually state a clear point of view.

I know, and let me make this clear to start off, that everybody, including myself, was horrified when reading this story in 1993. Those kids did something extremely horrible, the worst thing that you can do to anyone: take his lifes. Obviously there's no way I can justify that. But does everybody on this list knows full details? Were you there when this happened? Where you in the courtroom?

When the British justice department decides 8 years later that these young men will be released, than that's their decision. However bad they might have been, they were still children at the time. There are as many examples (possiibly even more) about children growing up bad, but turning out well, than just become worse. How can anybody judge them and say, I quote, "Imagine what they could do" or "Their actions will be worse". The blood thirst speaking out of this mail, does make a lot of you not much better than those two guys. The thought is already there, the only thing that differs them from you, is that they acted upon this thought.

But can you judge an 18 year old on something that he or she did at age 10? Can you make somebody suffer without giving him or her a second chance, for the whole of their lifes? I don't think so. I'm not saying that they shouldn't be punished, but at some point the punishment should be over. In this case justice has decided that it was 8 years later. If you think you can judge better, make sure you end up in a position that you can.

But remember 'He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone'. And I am not even a religious person at all, in fact I despise all organised religion, but the bible just gave me the most appropriate quote in this particular case.

It is this kind of people's justice that caused a witch hunt last year in the UK, when alleged pedophiles were attacked, without any evidence, without any reason. It is this kind of people's justice that makes it necessary for the two boys to start their new lifes under false names, in a different area or country. Please let's not return to the middle ages, let us be better than that.

We can only hope they learned from their punishment, 8 years in prison is not getting of lightly. 8 years missing from your youth is something that can never be made up again. These boys have been punished. You can always discuss if the time is too short or too long, but you can't say they haven't had to suffer. No way is this similar to 'getting away with it'.

Now I dare you all who signed this petiton to forward this mail as well. Forward it backwards, to the person who send it to you. Think it over and consider if you still want your name to be on this list. I am not judging you, I am not telling you what to do, I only hope that nobody signs his or her name without thinking it through thoroughly. Send my point of view backwards, until the author of this petition reads it. Thank you for your attention and I hope that none of you ever gets into a situation that causes other people to write these kind of emails!

Yours sincerely,

Gerben Kappert




So, is my reaction overdone, or do these people not know what they are talking about? Or am I a minority and should everyone now cut and paste the letter out of my journal and mail it to their friends?