Do you ever get those books that look really interesting and then they loiter on your shelf looking guiltily at you?

Phew! Thank goodness, I need to know I'm not alone. Well this is one of those.

How the Girl Guides Won the War- Janie Hampton

I've actually had this book in my possession since, oooh 2010. I took it with me to Pax Lodge in 2011. I didn't actually open it and start it until the autumn of 2011. I really, really, really did want to read it but somehow the actual opening of it never really happened. Then Kateri asked if I still had it (see, it's not even my book! It's a library book) and that prompted me to get cracking.

Anyhows, what about the book? First of I'll start with the not so good bits. It lacks any sort of narrative structure. It doesn't flow from the start to the end of the war. It doesn't start in the UK and move abroad. And if there was a reasoning behind the structure of the book I totally missed it. This made reading it more challenging that the content actually warranted. So, if you are going to read this book (and I'm not saying you shouldn't) don't plan on it being a good story you can get lost in.

Now the good stuff. The book covered stories of Guides all over the world- those in the UK raising funds, volunteering and running everything from first aid stations to schools. There were stories of those who had saved lives under dangerous and terrifying circumstances- entering burning buildings to rescue people, driving fuel tankers while incendiary bombs fell all around. And inspiring and amazing as those stories were they pale beside the stories of the Guides who continued working under occupation.

The Guides in Poland in particular who were targeted by the Nazi's and operated undercover- saving Jewish children from the ghetto's, providing prisoners of war with extra food, helping soldiers escape from occupied lands. There were stories of girls who risked their lives over and over again because they were keeping their Guide promise, and there were far too many Guides who lost their lives- tortured and executed. I found some pride in the simple statement that no Guide was known to have broken under torture.

There were stories of Guides who were prisoners- those in Concentration camps, both in Europe and in Asia. The way that carrying on with the normal Guiding way even if it had to be done in secret brought order, support and mental heath to people who had nothing. To keep working on badges, however much they had to be adjusted to conditions. There was a story of a Guide in a concentration camp who protected her badge from inspections by keeping it under her tongue, even though if it had been found she would have been executed.

The final area that was covered was the Guide International Service, a much less known than it deserves aspect of Guiding. The GIS was filled with volunteers who travelled to the liberated mainland and worked for nothing more than their food and some "pocket money" to win the peace. They did everything from run refugee camps, set up mobile soup kitchens, provide hospital services where none exist. Often with little supplies and working from their wits and a what they learned in earning their badges.

Oh, and one last thing. The Dragon Slayer League. Guiding had a Dragon Slayer League for girls who raised a certain amount of money for the Guide Fund. I want to join the Dragon Slayer League.

A Promise Kept- Jenny Ramsay MBE

This is the opposite of the other book, I borrowed this from Kateri and read it the same night. In fairness it is short- more a sturdy pamphlet than a book but still. This was Jenny's own story of her service within the GIS. She worked with refugees inside Germany close to the border with the Iron Curtain. Jenny was already exceptional- attending university at a time that women did not do this routinely but to then spend years of her young life after the war when many of her friends must have been thinking of the lighter times to come with the end of the war, to perhaps marrying and having a family. This woman was both ordinary and exceptional. You can buy this direct from GirlGuiding

The books were so different but there will be so many aspects of them that will always stay with me.

Just fiction reading makes Clair a dull girl.

Sold as a Slave- Olaudah Equiano

Part of the Penguin travel series. The probably partially fictional story of a slave in the 1800 who worked on ships crossing the Atlantic, serving in the Royal Navy and then in the Caribbean on plantations. The picture he paints is certainly one of relative priviledge compared to the experience of his fellow slaves in the Caribbean- he is well fed, allowed to lean to read and count and is baptised. I didn't particularly enjoy this one, it didn't capture my imagination in the way some of the others did. Interesting but not readable.

Wishful Drinking- Carrie Fisher

Carrie Fisher = Princess Leia. She is also child of Hollywood royalty who has suffered drink and drug addicitions and is bi-polar. Phew. That's a lot for anyone to live with. Wishful Drinkings is the book version of her stage show on her experiences in living with her addicitons and mental health problems. She recounts anecdotes of Cary Grant (yes, that Cary Grant) calling to talk about her LSD problems. I couldn't put this book down- the book was honest, funny and enlightening. Go read it.

Number 38

Escape from Antarctica

Ernest Shackleton

I'll admit up front that my knowledge of Shakleton's voyage to the Antarctic was sketchy at best and abysmal at worst. It's something I feel I should have known more about. This was one of the Penguin series of travel books I've been reading.

{Launching the James Caird to look for help}

Reading about how they survived such extreme conditions with very low tech (by our standards!) supplies- the mend and make do ethos was very much in evidence throughout, not that they had much choice but the creative reusing of almost everything was astounding.

Shackleton is very honest about how he thought they were very much at rist of dying at any moment- from shipwreck, exposure, starvation, or a hundred other potential fatal challenges they faced. That's not to say that the book was all doom and gloom- indeed it did not read that way at all- it is a tale full of hope and optimisim and never, ever giving up. At it's heart is the triumph of man and his ingenuity, stubbornness and determination oversome of the most extreme conditions and environments.

Some of my favourite sections are the kit lists and lists of supplies- particulalrly when the list of food includes a "supply of cold penguin feet". mmmm penguin...

{image taken from the Wikipedia article here}

These are a series of extracts from variuos travel journals and books covering the surface of the Earth. Although they may not be long (about 100-150 pages a piece) they can be challenging in their content. So I'm counting them for the 100 books in 2011 Challenge.

Number 33

Adventures in the Rocky Mountains

Isabella Bird

Isabella Bird should be more widely celebrated. I couldn't help but feel she was an amazing woman. The book covers a small section of her travels around the USA and everything seems to be a challenge and adventure. She travelled alone in what was little more than a slightly tamed Wild West- it was still fraught with attacks and travel was often only possible by horse. I was amazed by her matter of fact tales on how she travelled from the north to the south with very little in the way of luggage and certainly without servants and "help" relying on the advice and direction of those who had been before her. She often takes a wrong turn or gets into difficulties (like being attacked by a bear or getting lost in a vast plain) but it doesn't seem to deter her from continuing her adventures.

Number 34

A Journey to the End of the Russian Empire

Anton Chekhov

I wasn't sure whether I would enjoy this one- the first section of the book seemed to be Checkhov whinging about travelling to Siberia and how hard it was to get there. I found it hard to care after reading the Bird book just prior to it. However the book redeems itself once Chekhov arrives in Sakhalin in Siberia. It is essentially a prison where those exiled finally arrive. It's a shocking piece of reserach on the conditions and treatment of the prisoners and free people living in this part of Siberia. It discusses how freely they employ corporal and capital punishment- usually without any real trial. The decline of the aboriginal people also seems inevitable with the census figures over the years since the island is settled as a prison. Although the book was written well over a century ago the lessons felt very relevant for today.