Fascinating look at a lost Afghanistan

In April the group read my choice - Full Tilt by Dervla Murphy, the story of her cycle trip from Ireland to India in the 196os. I first read this book when I was a teenager and Dervla has been a favourite author ever since. She takes to the road with the minimum of baggage (well, she'll happily carry a load of books, and on this trip took a gun as well, but she takes so little clothes that she ends up with her backside literally hanging out of her threadbare breeks after awhile.

This journey took her through a lot of countries, but Afghanistan is the star of the book - Dervla falls in love with this magical and timeless place. It has to be said that she tends to be treated as an honorary male on her travels (barring some unfortunate tussles with dodgy pervs in Azerbajan) so she notices but perhaps doesn't fully appreciate the awful situation of women in Afghanistan. The author's cheery no-nonsense determination to go wherever she pleases, putting up with the most uncomfortable and hair-raising situations, make this an entertaining read. She is also a writer of great intellect and, I'm glad to say, is still going strong today - still travelling parts of the world that are strictly off the tourist trail, and getting ever angrier about the way we're screwing places up.