I have a sneaky suspicion that many of my fellow forumites will have been lucky enough in their lives to have travelled and/or have an interest in travel....so the main purpose of this thread is to wonder if anyone has any recommendations of travel writing?
I have just finished "the 8.55 to Baghdad" by a chap called Andrew Eames.
He takes the Orient Express as far as possible and then other of it's "bastard children" (my words) through the Balkan States, Turkey and Syria, having to transfer to a coach tour for Iraq, ostensibly following the route Agatha Christie took many times in the late 40s and early 50s to join her second husband, the archeologist Max Mallowen, on digs in Iraq.
The writing is tight yet colourful and it's an easy (not in a negative sense) read covering aspects of Agatha's story, the sights, sounds and characters he encountered and, facinatingly for me as I knew very little of it, a good outine of the history of the Balkans and points East.
The book is in no way religious but he manages to make bible references that have me now determined to read it (never have
) and make comparisons to the Koran and Jewish writings.
Can heartily recommend this for anyone interested in:
Agatha Christie
Trains
The Balkans
Turkey, Syria, Iraq.
damn fine travel journals.
And would like to ask:
Any other travel writing recommendations out there?
Anyone recomend a (not too heavy) read that highlights similarities in the bible / koran / torah (sp??) stories?
C
ps if the title sounds familiar it was the radio 4 book of the week about 6 weeks ago, which is what prompted me to buy
