Travel Writing & other items....

[Chicklet]

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

[Lory]

Originally Posted by Chicklet

I wonder if anyone has any recommendations of travel writing?

I'd recommend Michael Palin's around the world in 80days.

Amazon details

This is a taster of the book, the first page......

I leave the Reform Club, Pall Mall, London one hundred and fifteen years three hundred and fifty-six days, ten and three-quarter hours after Phileas Fogg. It's a wet, stuffy morning, I've had three and a half hours sleep and the only thing I envy Phileas is that he's fictional.

Few buildings could be more fitted to a Great Departure. With its 60-foot-high main hall, marble columns, galleried arcades and the grand scale of a Renaissance palace the Reform Club is a place of consequence, grand and grave enough to add weight to any venture.

This morning it smells of old fish, and glasses and bottles from the night before stand around. I can see no one sampling the sort of breakfast Fogg had taken the day he left: ' . . . a side dish, a boiled fish with Reading sauce of first quality, a scarlet slice of roast beef garnished with mushrooms, a rhubarb and gooseberry tart, and a bit of Chester cheese, the whole washed down with a few cups of that excellent tea, specially gathered for the stores of the Reform Club.'

[Chicklet]

completely agree Lory - get that one off the shelf regularly!!

[Lynn]

Probably should read more such books - one I have read is Malaria Dreams by Stuart Stevens. Its about travelling from Central African Republic to Algiers in a less than satisfactory vehicle and if you have ever travelled by road in West Africa you will recognise little local features such as 'roads' that resemble dry river beds, officials who want to 'check your papers' (but really want a small 'gift') and lots of helpful people who seem to appear from nowhere on a deserted road when your car breaks down (or accidentally reverses into a ditch - and no, I wasn't driving!)

[drathzel]

I think Bill Bryson is a brilliant travel writer. I always find his book so funny, but i also learn a lot about the place he has gone.

I am reading a book by Belinda Jones, She is travel writer of sorts. What i mean is the book is set out like a fiction book but shes actually been to places. Its quite good!

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by Lory

I'd recommend Michael Palin's around the world in 80days.

Amazon details

This is a taster of the book, the first page......

I leave the Reform Club, Pall Mall, London one hundred and fifteen years three hundred and fifty-six days, ten and three-quarter hours after Phileas Fogg. It's a wet, stuffy morning, I've had three and a half hours sleep and the only thing I envy Phileas is that he's fictional.

Few buildings could be more fitted to a Great Departure. With its 60-foot-high main hall, marble columns, galleried arcades and the grand scale of a Renaissance palace the Reform Club is a place of consequence, grand and grave enough to add weight to any venture.

This morning it smells of old fish, and glasses and bottles from the night before stand around. I can see no one sampling the sort of breakfast Fogg had taken the day he left: ' . . . a side dish, a boiled fish with Reading sauce of first quality, a scarlet slice of roast beef garnished with mushrooms, a rhubarb and gooseberry tart, and a bit of Chester cheese, the whole washed down with a few cups of that excellent tea, specially gathered for the stores of the Reform Club.'

Personally I think that all of the books that accompany Michael Palin's series are worth a read.

[ToeTrampler]

A couple of travel books I enjoyed reading were:

The Weather Prophet by Lucretia Stewart. This is the story of a Caribean journey and is a result of a number of trips by the author. It gives a good insight into many of the less well known islands and is frank aswell as funny; to quote the blurb ".. she (Lucretia Stewart) careers through the Carribean in flimsy boats, staying in sleazy hotels, braving high waves and bed bugs.."

and

So Far From God: A Journey to Central America, by Patrick Marnham. This is really a bus and train journey through the old Spainsh empire of the New World taking in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rice and even California. I found this a facinating read as the author descibes (often with wry humour) the cultural/ religious/ political diversities of each Country and yet how they somehow manage 'merge' or justify what would seem to be complete opposites together and then just get on with it. The title of the book comes form the (apparently) traditional saying "Poor Mexico: so far from God, so close to the United States!"

[ToeTrampler]

Also one I forgot about was: A Rose for Winter by Laurie Lee.
Admittedly this is a very romantisied (word?) travel story and follows Laurie Lee's return to Andalucia with his wife Catherine some fifthteen years after he was trapped in Sourthern Spain by the outbreak of the Civil War (told in As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning).

A fine read.

[Stuart]

Another travel book I liked was "A Viking Voyage" by W.Hodding Carter. It tells the story of a man who attempts to recreate Leifur Eiriksson's voyage from Greenland to North America. He had the slight problem that he couldn't sail, hated to be cold and panics when he gets lost. What kept him going was that he always wanted to be a Viking!

[philsmove]

Originally Posted by Lory

I'd recommend Michael Palin's around the world in 80days.

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I can recommend Full Circle

Also by also by the genial crinkly-eyed Python

[Diane]

I've just finished watching 'Long way Round' Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman. Brill stuff!

The book to go along with it must be good I would think.

[Stuart M]

I'd meant to post on this thread ages ago, but a recent book tidy uncovered an interesting book - "The Basque History of the World" by Mark Kurlansky.

No, it's not about Chicklet's Paypal account, it's about that little green bit straddling the Spanish-French border which, whatever the international treaties, maps, and money markets might say, is really a different country.

As the title suggests, it's really more history book than travelogue (in fact it's a bit of a cookbook as well). But if your knowledge of the Basques goes no further than ETA terrorists, find a copy. It's like finding out all about the Irish when all you knew beforehand was the IRA.