Well, have just left Antarctica with the fantastic 'Everland' by Rachel Hunt - definately recommended; it is a tale of 2 expeditions on the Antarctic island of Everland; one in 1913 and the other 100 years later in 2013. Both expeditions feature parallel events and personalities; as well as a shared sense of undefined dread as the polar winter closes in... with a conclusion to both narratives that demonstrates that human nature - in all of its facets - is universal, no matte...r what age we live in.

On from there I am currently in the Falkland Islands with 'Little Black Lies' before heading off to my final 2 continents: South & North America. I have 90 books to go and, having read 230 books in the past 7 years of my journey, I reckon on another couple of years before I end up back in my starting point of London, England. Who knows where I'll be myself geographically when I reach that point :)

Well, I have finally finished my travels across the slumbering giant of a nation: China. It took a total of eleven books and thousands of miles to traverse this incredible place, a land of many paradoxes. 

Here I found incredible extremes of wealth and poverty, hope and despair and humanity and (political) insanity...

Having now journeyed on to Korea, I find I am still in a land of paradoxes - hardly surprising as since the Korean War of the 1950s the land has been divided into the ultra-communist North and the democratic, western-leaning South. 

In the North - courtesy of Adam Johnson's sweeping novel 'The Orphan Master's Boy' I encounter a modern-day nation still in the grip of a dictatorship that echoes the worst excesses of Maosim in China. Through the story of one individual - who's true name we never learn - we gain insights into this highly secretive nation and the constant tensions between its US-backed neighbour to the South.  

However, this is a novel of humanity as well as politics - and the brutal de-humanising nature of the state; and the extremes to which personal liberty and values are tested by this - are chillingly reminiscent of the 'Big brother' regime depicted by George Orwell in his 1948 novel '1984'. Here, too, human relationships are discouraged and events and reality are only 'true' if depicted as so by the state. An extreme instance of this can be seen in the story of the state interrogator whose parents, who he shares a flat with, live in contant terror of being denounced by him - communicating to him only in parroted slogans praising the glorious North Korean nation and its 'Dear leader' - the ruler Kim Jong il.

The central 'Dear Leader' figure of Kim Jong il is both ludicrous and sinister in equal measures. At times almost childlike in his petulance and his paranoia at being shown up by his US enemies (for one US delegation he insists on building a reproduction of a Texas ranch on the airstrip where they land), yet also terrifying in his inhumanity and egoism (he imprisons an American female rower rescued by a North Korean fishing boat, for a year and forces her to transcribe his collected writings; yet believes there is a chance she will fall in love with him). The sickening depictions of the worse prisons - where food, medical assistance and any basic human provisions are denied, leave no room for even the harsh humour of caricature however. 

Here then, is a novel that depicts a very real and contemporary modern-day regime that is all the more chilling for being laughably preposterous... a regime that places as much import on crushing the spirit and emotions of its subjects, as their physical beings.

I have just crossed the border of this benighted country and have arrived in Seoul, the South Korean capital, courtesy of 'Your Republic is Calling You', a novel which, whilst set in South Korea, also recalls the tense relationship between the two Koreas, as it follows a seemingly successful South Korean who has, in fact, been a 'sleeping' North Korean agent for over a decade and who is unexpectedly called back to his 'Republic,' facing him with a choice between his South Korean family and freedoms, and his sinister motherland.

Well, since leaving Fuling I've been racing through several Chinese cities so this is a bit of a condensed update!

My first stop was Dongguang, with Leslie Chang's fascinating account of young female migrants who have left their village homes for the dubious benefits on offer from China's huge industrialised factories (some as big as towns themselves, with their own stores) that make anything from sports shoes to car parts. We follow the true ife accounts of several of these girls as they strive to make their way, find their identity and avoid the pitfalls of this huge urban sprawl where friendships are fleeting, working hours long and wages low.

We also hear a parallel story of Chino-American Chang's own family history that mirrors the experience of the girls' own hopes and fears in migrating to a strange city miles from home. Along the way Chang makes some telling points about the new found freedoms of China's rural youth and the impact upon the traditional Chinese way of life...    

Next up was the wonderful novel 'The Ghost of Neil Diamond' by debut author David Milnes. Set in the underbelly of Hong Kong, this unique tale follws the (mis)fortunes of a washed-up 48-year old Neil Diamond impersonator desperately trying to make his way in an impersonal city of karaoke bars and chepa hotels, whilst dealing with shady promoters and disillusioned tribute acts along the way. A great tale that manages to be both tragic and comic in equal measures - and often at the same time - this was my first '5 star' novel in quite some time. 

Macau's book - 'Ballad of a Small Player' by Lawrence Osborne, took a similar theme  - though here the ashed-up Englishman abroad is an invererate gambler, posing as a Lord but actually frittering away the ill-gotten gains that we embezzled from an aged widow back in the UK - purposely seeking to lose his fortune in the many high and low-brow casinos that pepper Macau and its neighbouring Kowloon district. Whilst the gambler 'Lord Doyle' is not what he seems, neither are the mysterious young 'karaoke girl' that he meets or, indeed, the night-time gambling dens of Macau. All in all an good read tinged with an elegaic, vaguely supernatural, air.

Most recently I have been visiting Shanghai with 'Red Mandarin Dress'  - a detective novel by Qui Xiaolong. This novel features Detective Inspector Chen and is part of an ongoing crime novel series featuring the policeman, who used a combination of psychoanalysis, classical literary theory and old-fashioned police work to solve his cases. The case in this instance revolves around a series of murders all involving young women who are found in public places wearing only a torn, old-fashioned red mandarin dress. Chen must untangle the mystery of the dress and follow the leads - is this the work of a lunatic or are their subtler, even politicial, motives here...
 
And so, I now travel on a remote village in the vast East-central plains of Henan Province with 'The Dream of Ding Village' courtesy of celebrated Chinese auther Yan Lianke. Whilst this work is presented as a novel it is based on actual events whereby villagers were coerced into selling vast quantities of blood and then infected with the AIDS virus as they were injected with plasma to prevent anaemia. Whole villages were wiped out in this way, with no responsibility taken or reparation made. ' The Dream of Ding Village' focuses on one village, and the story of one family, torn apart when one son rises to the top of the Party pile as he exploits the situation, while another is infected and dies. Narrated by the dead boy, the novel is still banned in China....