by Patrick Ogle

Every Day is for the Thief by Teju Cole is a travel book and a view of contemporary Lagos.

I've had this book for years. It was one that just slipped through the cracks and didn't get read. This is a shame because it is an engaging and quick read.

It won't make you want to vacation in Lagos? But it definitely gives the reader a feel for the city and its people.

I was thinking of other writers who've delved into this sort of travel based work. These include the likes of Henry Miller and Graham Greene. I am more fond of the latter than the former and, in some ways Teju called him to mind. I confess I cannot quite put my finger on WHY. Perhaps it is just that I haven't read much travel literature that was personal.

At various points in the book I wondered about Cole constantly contradicting himself; on the one hand he lambasts his homeland and writes that he would never move back, then he turns it around and considers that prospect. He discusses the lack of artistic endeavor and then says that if only some famed American writers were exposed to a place like Lagos their writing would have improved. It took a few of these turns and reversals for it to dawn on me that Cole left these seemingly opposite views there for us because it was what he felt while he was there.  It was his genuine reaction.

The book also draws on firm conclusions at the end. No predictions are made, no optimistic (or pessimistic) view of the future is forthcoming. I suspect that is because Cole doesn't know what is going to happen in Nigeria. Nor does anyone else.

More than anything this made me want to read more by Cole whose books include Open City, Tremor and Blind Spot.

by Patrick Ogle

Bad Actors by Mick Herron is the latest Slough House book.

Shortly after starting the 8th novel in the Slough House series the reason for the books' appeal became clear to me. It isn't the characters or the plot or the action or the humor.  It is that we all relate to the denizens of Slough House. Who hasn't had a pointless, tedious job with an awful boss?

Sure usually fewer of our co-workers are killed in a given workday but let's not quibble over that. It is also true that the worst bosses most of us have had pale next to Jackson Lamb (based on the various smells that seem to emanate from any segment he features in.., and yes, Herron makes it so that you can ALMOST smell it).

This latest entry has tons of changes to the trajectory of the series, to the point that you might wonder how much longer it will continue. In true Herron fashion there were several side plot lines and character that I wasn't terribly interested in--until I suddenly was. There is a point to everything put before you in these books and they are incredibly hard to put down.

Next up for me are the collected novellas after which I will wait for book number 9!