Suzanna Clarke - A House in Fez (2008)

I really enjoyed this travel memoir. Clarke had the right blend of anecdotes, history & culture. Most travel memoirs are just someone whining about everything that went wrong & how different it was from their country. Not this author. I think the fact that Clarke is well-traveled & comes from a well-traveled family helped. Being conceived in Morocco, born & raised in New Zealand, but now living in Brisbane, Australia gives her a more relaxed attitude to being an easy-going wanderer who just accepts cultures even when they're way more out of left-field than she'd ordinarily be used to.

Meaning there's no way I would sit down with a family I'd just met & eat horse. But Clarke does with barely a blink. Even when the Moroccans give a whole new level of insanity to what passes for their bureaucracy, she takes it in her stride. The little things Clarke writes about give away what a nice person she must be - the way she described how much she liked her taxi driver because he stopped to get a kitten off the road, the rescue of the chameleons, and how she'd help anyone who asked, even when it was obvious that that person was being a bit dodgy - generally because they were poor & it was just the way of life to try & get more out of 'tourists'.

The book was great. Interesting, descriptive & well-written. I loved the pictures. I would have liked to see more of the finished house. Fez just sounds so amazing & historical. I'd really like to see it one day.