Keep yourself entertained between Adventure Breaks with our book and film recommendations! This page has affiliate links which will direct you to the relevant product on Amazon. These are adventure and survival stories that we think will entertain and inspire you. Welcome to the Adventure Book (and Film) Club!
This book tells humourous stories and escapades of the author, David Bennan, when he was a young boy growing up in East Africa.
He's an extract:
"Early one Saturday evening I was sent to the duka - the shop, in this case my favourite corner kiosk - on an errand. We were out of paraffin or flour or light bulbs - some domestic essential, at any rate. I was given a 20-shilling note, more money than I had previously guessed existed in the world, and entrusted to the care of one Judy McLean.
The McLeans were an American family who lived over the road, and with whom we had struck up a neighbourly relationship with. My father and Gerald McLean were both whisky aficionados, in as much as they knew whisky was the brown drink, and liked it. Judy was a few years older than me, and took me on as a sidekick. If she had a silly joke or trick that needed an audience, or simply wanted to order me around for the hell of it, I was game. I was a remote-control homunculus, ready to act upon her whims, which might have involved having me jump into bushes, or run around with my eyes shut, or pretend to be invisible, something at which I'd gained plenty of practice to date. I already had a big sister, but there was no way I was going to be that obliging with her. She could find her own pet biped.
So Judy walked me to the duka, where it transpired that whatever it was we had run out of, they had run out of it too. Having come out on a mission to spend 20 shillings, I was not about to be thwarted..."
And later:
"That my mother kept hold of her sanity in the days after her divorce is a source of wonder to me. As if looking after us was not taxing enough, she took on the job of headmistress at St Michael's and assumed responsibility for dozens more children. Then, whenever she came home from work, some new crisis would have developed.
It might be a water bill for 20,000 shillings - around 50 times the standard amount. That happened every few months. A computer malfunction was generally to blame, although one instance it turned out that our account had been confused with that of Wilson Airport, Africa's busiest private airfield, a mile up the road.
"The mistake has occurred because your name - you see here? - 'Bennun', is so similar to 'Wilson'."
You can find the book Tick Bite Fever here.
Other Resources:
Read Bill Bryson's: A Walk in the Woods.
This month's adventure film is A Grand Day Out;
If you like hiking and cheese, this challenge weekend is for you!
Check out our recommended hiking boots.
Learn to build natural shelters and make fire in the woods with our Bushcraft Weekend;
Join the mailing list for news on adventures.
See other adventure book recommendations.