The dearth of book reviews early in the month isn’t helped by the
fact that my current book is a slow, thick one: a biography of Sir
Richard Francis Burton. Burton was a 19th Century soldier and
adventurer; he’s best known these days for his pilgramage to Mecca (he
was one of the first Europeans to go there), and for his translation of
the 1,001 Arabian Nights (the original translation, and still the raciest,
I’m given to understand). More about him when I’ve finished the book.