City Travel Guides > Books > Travel Writing

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.Blood River: A Journey to Africa's Broken Heart
City Travel Guides > Books > Travel Writing
by: Tim Butcher

January 03, 2008
This is a page turner, no doubt. The details of his journey are mildly interesting, the people he meets much more so. But there are better books on the DRC and much of this feels over familiar and repetitious. Butcher writes well enough but lacks the ability to convey a deeper understanding. He aint no Kapucinski. But a worthy effort and hats off to him for meeting such a daunting challenge. More than I've ever managed. But, hey, I'm just an interested but slightly disappointed reader.
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.Friends Like These
City Travel Guides > Books > Travel Writing
by: Danny Wallace

July 03, 2008
Having been a fan of Wallace's writing since reading 'Are You Dave Gorman?' (of which he wrote half) I planned to buy this book before hearing what it was about.
When I found out it was about a man facing up to the inevitability of his 30th birthday it just seemed even more right to buy it - I will face that challenge myself in a few months.
Unlike Wallace's previous (excellent) books this story of looking up old friends is a more relateble tale we can all see ourselves reflected in - anyone who ever went on Facebook etc has done it - Wallace just does it with style!
I wont spell out the specifics of his journey, suffice to say that I laughed out loud several times but was also moved by the more serious heart-felt passages.
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.The Discovery of France
City Travel Guides > Books > Travel Writing
by: Graham Robb

July 04, 2008
Having been a fan of Wallace's writing since reading 'Are You Dave Gorman?' (of which he wrote half) I planned to buy this book before hearing what it was about.
When I found out it was about a man facing up to the inevitability of his 30th birthday it just seemed even more right to buy it - I will face that challenge myself in a few months.
Unlike Wallace's previous (excellent) books this story of looking up old friends is a more relateble tale we can all see ourselves reflected in - anyone who ever went on Facebook etc has done it - Wallace just does it with style!
I wont spell out the specifics of his journey, suffice to say that I laughed out loud several times but was also moved by the more serious heart-felt passages.
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.Francesco's Mediterranean Voyage: A Cultural Journey Through the Mediterranean from Venice to Istanbul
City Travel Guides > Books > Travel Writing
by: Francesco Da Mosto

July 10, 2008
Having been a fan of Wallace's writing since reading 'Are You Dave Gorman?' (of which he wrote half) I planned to buy this book before hearing what it was about.
When I found out it was about a man facing up to the inevitability of his 30th birthday it just seemed even more right to buy it - I will face that challenge myself in a few months.
Unlike Wallace's previous (excellent) books this story of looking up old friends is a more relateble tale we can all see ourselves reflected in - anyone who ever went on Facebook etc has done it - Wallace just does it with style!
I wont spell out the specifics of his journey, suffice to say that I laughed out loud several times but was also moved by the more serious heart-felt passages.
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.Yes Man
City Travel Guides > Books > Travel Writing
by: Danny Wallace

April 06, 2006
A friend gave me this book to cheer me up. I was dubious. I'm not always a fan of 'funny' books, as humour can be such a personal thing. Thankfully she was right and I was wrong. This really did make me laugh out loud.

Danny tries to stop being so negative by listening to a man on a bus who tells him that he should say 'yes' more. As to be expected from a man who co-wrote and helped in the mayhem that was 'Are You Dave Gorman', Danny takes it to extremes and decides to say yes to absolutely everything in his life.

My favourite part of the whole book is the episode where he ends up in Amsterdam with a picture of him and his imaginary dog. I won't tell you any more because it will spoil the surprise, so now you have to go and ... Read More:
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.America Unchained: A Freewheeling Roadtrip In Search of Non-Corporate USA
City Travel Guides > Books > Travel Writing
by: Dave Gorman

April 03, 2008
Having been a fan of Gorman's since the explosion of the 'Are You Dave Gorman?' project my one fear about his work since is where could he go from there? How many amazing accidents and coincidences can happen to one man?
Thats where this project comes in. No drunken bets, no amazingly serendipitus events - just a man wanting to see another side of life and documenting where that desire takes him.
And it takes him on an incredible journey - by turns hilarious, moving, scary, joyess - but above all human.
Highly recommended as both a travel book and a personal memoir of exploration.
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.These Are the Days That Must Happen to You
City Travel Guides > Books > Travel Writing
by: Dan Walsh

July 03, 2008
If you want to get an honest feeling of what riding a bike is like for normal people, not superhuman daredevils, this is the book for you. His insight into the countries he visits, the people he meets, teaches you more than any travel guide or history book. Since getting this I havent been able to put it down. He is selfish, dumb at times, ignorant, all the things real people are and this book reflects its.

For those of us who will never snort cocaine with a prostitute in South America this is good way of finding out what it feels like and more importantly how you end up in that state in the first place.

Sit back, enjoy and start questioning your own priorities.

Have fun and keep drifting
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.Don't Stop Me Now
City Travel Guides > Books > Travel Writing
by: Jeremy Clarkson

May 01, 2008
Jezza's dedication, above, is a little unfair, in that he and the redoubtable Mr "two-jags" Prescott at least share a passion for cars. I like Clarkson's refreshinging un-PC attitude, although not his complancency about CO2 (although he may yet turn out to be right) and enjoy his columns on cars, and on more general matters, in The Sunday Times.

But is this a good book? Mr wife bought me it for Christmas, bouyed up no doubt by my positive reaction to "The World according to Clarkson" the year before, but I have read perhaps half of the fifty or so "chapters". Why?

Well, I can remember most of them from when I first read them, 2003 - 2006, for a start. At the same time, some of the contemporary references were so fleeting that they ... Read More:
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.Russia: A Journey to the Heart of a Land and Its People
City Travel Guides > Books > Travel Writing
by: Jonathan Dimbleby

May 01, 2008
Jonathan Dimbleby is not a name you associate with travel writing. Having read this book all the way through, and watched all episodes of the series, it's not likely to become a name with such an association.

By his own admission, Dimbleby does not like travelling, does not like having to be away from home, and has a phobia about flying. He also speaks virtually no Russian and cannot read Cyrillic (yet was somehow able to function as a Moscow reporter during the Soviet Union days).

One thing comes across very clearly within the first few pages of this book (and remains evident throughout). Dimbleby's mindset vis-a-vis Russia is stuck in the Soviet era of the 1970s. He makes constant references to the Soviet era throughout the book, and ... Read More:
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.Pies and Prejudice: In Search of the North
City Travel Guides > Books > Travel Writing
by: Stuart Maconie

February 07, 2008
There were pages I skipped in this book out of sheer irritation at his socialist, BBC politics; and others I have marked up to remind me to visit or revisit some of the places in the North this southern girl loves.

His prejudice against the south is foolish and stereotyped; and his rants against middle class pursuits, whilst so obviously now being middle class himself, is blind hypocrisy. But, I would say it all adds to the charm of the book. If you want to get into the head of a northern working class lad, who became a middle class, southern media type complete with PC bias - then this is an illuminating piece of social history in its own right.

As a travel guide it is very patchy: it goes into great depth about West Lancashire - but he speeds ... Read More:
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