The long hours spent in Nepalese gridlocks meant I was able to crack through a fair few books while I was away. Here's the full reading list:

Love and Death in Kathmandu: A Strange Tale of Royal Murder, Amy Willesee and Mark Whittaker -- A fascinating if somewhat shallow account of the Nepalese Royal Family massacre in 2001. It makes up in readibility what it lacks in depth.

The Beckoning Silence, Joe Simpson -- Simpson tries unsuccessfully to kill himself on the side of a mountain...yet again. Simpson seems to have made a career out of writing the same book about half a dozen times. Give it up, Joe, it's getting tiresome. Take up golf instead.

The Snow Leopard, Peter Matthiessen -- Lonely Planet Nepal describes this as "one of our favourite books." It's certainly not one of mine. Maybe it made sense when it was published in 1979 but a quarter of a century on it reads like the ramblings of an acid casualty who won't leave you alone in a Kathmandu bar. Hippy bullshit.

Annapurna: The First Conquest of an 8000-metre Peak, Maurice Herzog -- Herzog's descriptions of festering wounds and the casual amputation of his frostbitten fingers and toes are truly gruesome. I'll stick to the foothills.