The Delight of Being Caught Off-Guard by a Book

I've mentioned before that I do most (not all) of my reading on a Kindle these days. Occasionally I get notices about books I might like, which is always fun. Being an author, I get lots of notices about books (ok, maybe being an author has absolutely nothing to do with it; maybe it's just that I'm a known book addict). At any rate, with so much to choose from, I have to be somewhat fussy about what I buy or I'd a)go broke and b)never have time to read everything I buy.

So, while I enjoy getting emails with pretty pictures of books, I try to be wise and not purchase indiscriminately. But occasionally, a book will just jump out at me and I have to give the book a try even if I know nothing about it. I've found lots of fun books that way and I've already mentioned some of them here (do a search of this blog using the word books and you'll find lots of my favorites). A couple of weeks ago, I stumbled across Whatever You Do, Don't Run: True Tales of a Botswana Safari Guide by Peter Allison. It looked somewhat interesting, and I thought that I'd probably get around to reading it on some future vacation.

Jump ahead two weeks. Forget about all that vacation drivel. I picked up the book yesterday, I'm halfway through the book and already I'm a fan, ready to seek out his other works and possibly give this book to people on my Christmas list (hint: if you like Bill Bryon's tales of travel with a touch of humor, you may also like Peter Allison's style).

As for what the book is about...Peter Allison was 19 when he went to Africa and ended up staying and leading safaris for ten years. Whatever You Do, Don't Run is the story of his adventures there. It's fast paced, informative and laced with humor. In other works, it's a thoroughly enjoyable read! I love it when I buy something on a whim and end up with a new author to add to my list of favorites, don't you?