This book is simply magnificent. All of Theroux’s travel books that I’ve read have been engaging, but this one stands out above the rest for me. The premise here is simple: Theroux wants to travel overland through Africa, from Cairo to Cape Town. The cultural, geographical, and political contrasts he experiences are all brought to… Read More
Author: Jonathan Turton
Bryson well and truly returns to form with this book on Australia. It is the best of the self-deprecating and exaggerated humour that won him his fans in the first place. But he also steers clear of overdoing the sermons on how places have changed – and never for the better when viewed through BrysonVision.… Read More
It is hard to believe that Tim Moore is quite the couch potato he would have us believe. Although anyone daft enough to attempt to tackle the route of the 2000 Tour de France with even some training must be a sprocket short of a chainring. Moore claims less training than this and thus is… Read More
Starting your book, “I’m not, by nature, a betting man. I’m not, by nature, a drinking man”, raises a certain level of expectation in the reader – and happily Hawks’ book lives up to this. Englishman Hawks takes off on a one-month quest to hitchhike around the circumference of Ireland with a 2’x2′ foot fridge… Read More
Theroux exports his acerbic wit to the Mediterranean for this reconstruction of the Grand Tour. It is pointless berating him – as many do – for his constant criticism and disparaging remarks. What is more remarkable in this book is the contrasts he throws up, both in his own writing – the tone of which… Read More
This may be McCarthy’s first book, but his ample writing experience is clear in this extremely well written, funny, and touching account of his travels in his mother’s native western Ireland. Oh yes, and of his quest to drink Guinness in bars called McCarthy – a laudable aim of any trip. Studiously avoiding any of… Read More
In 1947, French philosopher, novelist and feminist Simone de Beauvoir left her native Paris and spent four months in the United States. She had never been to the US before, and as she travelled from coast to coast she kept a diary. Re-published in English 50 years later it offers a fascinating view of America… Read More
The 1997 edition of Jan Morris’ well-loved, and re-issued Hong Kong book was updated just before the handover of the former British colony to the Chinese government. The new section attempts to deal with the emotions of the residents of this anomalous state on the eve of their migration to another government. The 2000 edition… Read More
I like this book. Partly, it’s true, because it brings back memories – uncomfortable and chuckling alike – of my own Greyhound exploits. But mostly because it is so simple. It is a straightforward unpretentious account of a middle-aged American expat travelling across the US in that most democratic of vehicles: a bus. A quick… Read More
This is one of Theroux’s odder travel books. The spectre of separation from his wife haunts the narrative as the veteran travel writer sets off to paddle the Pacific. Not, mercifully, in a Thor Heyerdahl non-stop-adventure kind of a way, but in a more relaxed pottering-around-the-islands sort of way. It is a difficult book to… Read More
Morris’ collection of travel essays have already entered the pantheon of travel writing classics. This one is perhaps misnamed, as it is more about cities than journeys, but the range of places certainly leaves the reader feeling like they have been on an immense journey. These urban vignettes are ideal for Morris, long enough to… Read More
“Oh no”, I thought, “Not another crazy travel writer doing something offbeat. Still, s’pose I better read it.” And I am glad I did. Llewellyn’s trip with his girlfriend Rohan may have been born out of a premature mid-life crisis and a desire to see Russia, but ends up being an enjoyable and fast-paced story… Read More
Theroux on a train – nothing original there. This is the second of his railway epics, and was many people’s introduction to the irrasicble American. From his home in Boston all the way down to Patagonia, Theroux undertakes the ultimate American (rail)road trip, and brings us all along for the ride. The narrative really picks… Read More
Do not start reading this book while flying. I’d just launched into Chapter 3 when my flight was called. Chapter 3 is where van der Post stops explaining why he feels he has one foot in Africa and one in Europe, and starts describing his appalling series of flights from London to Nairobi. Not for… Read More
I’m not a nautical person; and I had worries early on in this book that it would be too technical, and too boring for me. I was very wrong. Severin’s attempt to prove that Irish monk Brendan could have crossed the Atlantic in the 6th Century in what amounts to little more than a leather… Read More