Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records Braille and Talking Books Division
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WELCOME TO BOOK TALK

This location presents Arizona Braille and Talking Book Readers
with book summaries and reviews suggested by our readers, staff, and volunteers.
Also provided will be recent library news.

(Writer’s note:) As we welcome in the holiday season and the promise and hope of the New Year, let us not forget that for movie buffs – like your reviewer - this is also a very special time. From now until January 1st a host of top movies premier as they rush to qualify for consideration in the 79th Academy Award race.

One of the many promising contestants is The Last King of Scotland starring Forest Whitaker. It is based on true events and taken from the novel by Giles Foden. Forest Whitaker plays the Ugandan Dictator Idi Amin and most film critics believe his performance is so outstanding that he will be nominated for Best Actor and may even win it all!!

Both the novel and this block busting movie cover events in 1970 when a young Scottish doctor (played by Gillan Anderson) becomes the personal doctor of Idi Amin. Covering the psychological elements of fear, denial, and unchecked loyalty and at the same time following factual historical events, The Last King of Scotland is spellbinding both as a movie and as a book!!!

THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND
RC 49952
by Giles Foden
335 pages on three cassettes
Published 1998
Narrated by Steven Crossley

FROM THE BOOK JACKET

“Nicholas Garrigan has fled his native Scotland, and his parents’ expectations, to take a position as a doctor in a remote rural outpost in Central Africa. Shortly after his arrival in Uganda, he is called to the scene of a bizarre car accident: Idi Amin, manically driving his red Maserati down the dirt tracks of Garrigan’s small village, has run over a cow.

Garrigan binds Amin’s sprained wrist and puts the incident behind him, until a letter arrives from the Minister of Health informing him that Amin – in his obsession with all things Scottish – has appointed Garrigan his personal physician. Garrigan is instructed to settle into State House, on the grounds of Amin’s residence, immediately.

Later, Garrigan will reflect that had he known what awaited him, had he foreseen the terrifying concatenation of events this decision would set in motion, he would have boarded the first plane back to Scotland. He will wonder why it never occurred to him to simply say no. But – flattered, disarmed, and intrigued, if uneasily, by the prospect of entering Amin’s inner circle – he steps into the role of caring for the man who will turn out to be one of the most brutal dictators of all time.

So begins Nick Garrigan’s journey into a Conradian heart of darkness, as his own moral center battles weakly against, and then succumbs to, the dark and irresistible seductions of Idi Amin Dada, whose cruelty and cunning are masked by brilliant rhetoric, hilarious wit, and electrifying personal magnetism. When at last Nick awakens to the horrors of Amin’s regime, he must awaken also to this own complicity in it – he cared for Amin, as a doctor and as a friend – and to the knowledge that he is both a traitor to his own country and a prisoner in his new one.

By turns comic and chilling, Giles Foden’s The Last King of Scotland is a masterful debut from a remarkable talent – a riveting history of ‘blood, misery, and foolishness’ that lingers in the mind long after the last page is turned, and a profound meditation on conscience, charisma, and the slow corruption of the human heart.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Giles Foden is a native of England, born there in 1967. His family moved to Africa and lived in numerous countries on the African Continent until 1993. This life adventure provides him with the unique and fascinating cultural and social experiences which he incorporates in The Last King of Scotland. Foden was editor of the Times Literary Supplement before joining the staff of the Guardian and currently resides in London.

Besides The Last King of Scotland your Arizona State Braille and Talking Book Library will soon receive Giles Foden’s most recently published book, Mimi and Toutou’s Big Adventure: The Bizarre Battle of Lake Tanganyika. This novel develops Foden’s great interest in and knowledge of African history and covers a World War I mission in 1915 when two gunboats – the Mimi and the Toutou - are assigned to sink German steamers in Lake Tanganyika. While this book is still in production, you can order it now by calling the library and requesting that RC61690 be placed on reserve for you.

ABOUT THE NARRATOR

Many National Library Service narrators are first commercial audio book voices and later become part of our program. However, Steven Crossley recorded his first audio book with the American Foundation for the Blind (a non-profit organization that produces cassette books for The National Library Service) and then found his way into commercial recordings. Crossley is a British narrator who notes that he feels at ease reading both fiction and non-fiction. Steven most enjoys narrating creative writing styles and has a delightful Scottish brogue that is on display in The Last King of Scotland.

Other Recordings Narrated By Steven Crossley

RC31133 The Road To Botany Bay
by Paul Carter on three cassettes.
This non-fiction presentation covers the exploration of landscape and the history of Australia’s Botany Bay.

RC31157 Fu-Manchu: four classic novels
by Sax Rohmer on seven cassettes.
Rohmer was inspired to create this fictional series as a result of a 1913 assignment to interview a community leader in London’s Chinese quarter.

RC32310 Unbridled
by Mark Daniel on two cassettes.
Fictional novel about an Irish steeplechase jockey.

RC32398 The Landlady’s Master
by George Macdonald on two cassettes.
A romantic triangle – this fictional novel was originally published in 1888.

RC32993 The Siege of Kristnapur
by J.G. Farrell on three cassettes.
This 20th century British historical novel, with an India colonial setting, won the Booker Award.

RC33206 Dark Safari: the life behind the legend of Henry Morton Stanley
by John Bierman on three cassettes.
Biographical sketch of the English explorer who claimed large parts of Africa for his backers.

RC33278 Potter’s Field
by Ellis Peters on two cassettes.
English historical mystery; part of the Brother Cadfael series.

RC33298 Murder Song
by Jon Cleary on two cassettes.
A Scobie Malone contemporary Australian mystery.

RC33309 Death Squad London
by Jack Gerson on two cassettes.
Political mystery that takes place in London in 1936 involving an anti- Semitic plot linked to British Fascists.

RC45021 Underworld
by Don DeLillo on five cassettes.
Best-selling psychological historical fiction novel covering United States culture, history, and politics from 1951 until 1990.

RC33485 Master and Commander
by Patrick O’Brian on three cassettes.
Historical fiction sea tale that involves Jack Aubrey of the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars.

RC33668 Edge of Eden
by Nicholas Proffitt on three cassettes.
Tough murder mystery that takes place in Kenya in 1978. A man’s mutilated body is discovered in one of the national parks.

RC34095 They Came To Baghdad
by Agatha Christie on two cassettes.
Espionage mystery with a setting in Baghdad at a cultural conference.

RC34146 50 North: An Atlantic Battleground
by Alan Easton on two cassettes.
Canadian naval officer gives true life personal accounts of German U- boat attacks on the Allied fleets during WWII.

For further titles narrated by Steven Crossley and/or to order any of the above titles, just call 602-255-5578 or outside the Phoenix area 1-800-255-5578 and ask for your Reader Advisement Librarian.

READER CRITIQUE

Seldom does a novel excel both at weaving a narrative around factual events and at the same time conveying almost self-help psychological messages that may provide the reader with life-saving advice. Giles Foden in The Last King of Scotland truly accomplishes this feat with a literary style equaled by few!!

A young newly graduated Scottish medical doctor, anxious to flee the expectations of his parents and leave the confinement of normality, journeys to Uganda in the hopes of assisting those in need. Instead, he finds himself locked into situations that force him to become the personal physician to one of the world’s most gruesome dictators, Idi Amin Dada. As the plot develops the reader quickly sees how one’s ego can threaten their very existence, for both Amin and the youthful Scottish doctor allow their desire for fame and fortune to negate their initial humanitarian accomplishments and to destroy the very lives they were trying to save.

With factual authenticity, Foden unfolds a tale of gradual moral destruction that eventually brings down a nation and results in the murder of thousands of innocent people. Told with the force of a Greek tragedy, The Last King of Scotland is both historical fiction and a tale of lasting moral value.

NARRATOR REVIEW

Usually when a narrator goes into an accented voice, the listener is lost. The book becomes difficult to hear and the reader can become frustrated and angry. Indeed, it is only the best of voices that can skillfully portray an accent and yet be understood. Steven Crossley is blessed with a vocal range and precise pronunciation ability that allows him to do this! His delightful Scottish brogue comes through loud and clear even for those with hearing difficulties.

There simply is nothing better than giving a story an immediacy through the human voice. Crossley’s Scottish brogue, so artfully portrayed, will cause the reader to remember both the youthful Scottish doctor and The Last King of Scotland long after the final page.

Library News

While your library doesn’t have any last kings of Scotland hanging around, this is the time of the year when phone calls start arriving in bunches with the same message. “I’m down to my last talking books and I need lots of books for the holidays.” Please remember that the earlier you order, the better chance you have of making sure your reading pleasure is not interrupted as the holiday season takes its toll on your postal carrier.

Talking about the holiday season, did you know that Santa is hard at work on your digital talking book program? The National Library Service elves are busy coordinating the new digitally mastered books and have completed the first round of testing on prototypes for the digital talking-book player and flash memory cartridge. The elves will be busy making changes with the prototypes and conducting usability tests in February 2007.

Recently, the Director of the Arkansas Regional Library for the Blind, after viewing the new prototype digital talking book machine, had this to say about the work of our NLS elves: “The high contrast of the machine and the cartridge and the bright colors of the buttons will be an instant hit with our seniors. We finally have a design that appears to be simple, practical, and easy to use, with all the necessary options but without the confusing complexity created by the options and layout of the C-1.” However, if this new state-of-the-art reading pleasure toy is not on your gift list, don’t be concerned. The National Library Service will continue with the current cassette book and player for several years.

So in closing, while not all our staff and volunteers are Scottish, we do have a last 2006 wish for all of you — May you have a great holiday season and prosperous New Year!!

(Comments and questions regarding “BookTalk” should be
directed to Reader Advisement Librarian Henry Hayden at hhayden@lib.az.us)

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Updated:12/11/2006

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