City Travel Guides > Books > Travel Writing

Average Rating:

.Join Me: The True Story of a Man Who Started a Cult by Accident
City Travel Guides > Books > Travel Writing
by: Danny Wallace

June 03, 2004
I was really excited to get this book having read the reviews. However, although I found the concept amusing and genuinely laughed out loud at some observations, usually the relationship ones, Danny is not a good writer. The prose is overly wordy for my liking and simply not tight enough to the extent that I have added this book to my very small " will never finish" pile of books. I have no doubt that an evening down the pub with Danny would be very funny indeed, he loves people and shows genuine affection for them in this book which is endearing. However, if he does any more projects, I might just wait for the tv show to come out.....
>>See More Reviews & Details on Join Me: The True Story of a Man Who Started a Cult by Accident

Used Price: £1.29

Average Rating:

.Long Way Round
City Travel Guides > Books > Travel Writing
by: Ewan McGregor, Charley Boorman

May 16, 2005
I picked up this book to take on holiday. It's gripping reading and I managed to get through the whole thing comfortably in a week. The 350 or so pages have fairly large text.

The book documents their trials and tribulations whilst travelling east around the world from london through europe, asia, and north america to new york and does so in great detail. It made me feel like I was almost there with them experiencing some of the joys and sadness.

A lot of the book focuses on the scenery, people who they meet along the way, and various border, bike and language issues.

For me, the stories are well written within and the two differing and alternating views of the journey make the read much more interesting.
Read More:
>>See More Reviews & Details on Long Way Round

Used Price: £0.30

Average Rating:

.Waterlog: A Swimmer's Journey Through Britain
City Travel Guides > Books > Travel Writing
by: Roger Deakin

May 18, 2000
If you're the kind of person who sees water and immediately wants to go in, this is the book for you. It's practically a bible for the wild swimmer; full of marvellous places and written with such likable enthusiasm and fascinating detail that I really wished it were longer. Such a shame that he won't be writing any more.
>>See More Reviews & Details on Waterlog: A Swimmer's Journey Through Britain

Used Price: £4.30

Average Rating:

.Travels with Herodotus
City Travel Guides > Books > Travel Writing
by: Ryszard Kapuscinski

May 01, 2008
This book is a very informative, enlightening and interesting read.

This book is a pleasure to read. It is easy to follow the author as he travels around the world. He starts explaining briefly about his background in Poland and his desire to `cross the border' and how, as a consequence, he finds himself being sent to India.

Perhaps one of the main attractive qualities of the author is that he is honest; he doesn't say he likes or even enjoys all of the places he travels to. For example, taking his first long-haul trip to India, the reader gets the impression that he really entered at the deep end and found it quite tough.

Later in the book he goes on to discuss in more detail the reasons why people travel and ... Read More:
>>See More Reviews & Details on Travels with Herodotus

Used Price: £4.73

Average Rating:

.Me Talk Pretty One Day
City Travel Guides > Books > Travel Writing
by: David Sedaris

January 03, 2002
Me Talk Pretty One Day is the first Sedaris book I've read. It is a series of anecdotes and reminicences and, as such, the chapters are rather uneven. The best of them (towards the end of the book) are genuinely laugh-out-loud funny; when Seadris pulls it off he creates that magical mixture of insightfulness, charm, bitchiness and wit that makes you wish he were singing for his supper at one of your dinner parties.

Clear-eyed observation of both the eccentricities of family and friends, and the moments we all can relate to, however obliquely, is at the base of the best humour and Sedaris definitely has this.

Inevitably, he does not quite pull it off with all his stories, which can then seem slight, rather staged and a little mannered.
Read More:
>>See More Reviews & Details on Me Talk Pretty One Day

Used Price: £2.25

Average Rating:

.Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: 25th Anniversary Edition
City Travel Guides > Books > Travel Writing
by: Robert M. Pirsig

November 18, 1999
I too had to read it more than once...

What's the point of the author indulging in a 'Chautauqua' on 'Romantic' & 'Classic' 'Values', with the resultant (extravagant) soliloquy on the 'Value' of 'Quality', when the author can't even work out how to relate to his own child (who having spent the majority of his formative years in apparent mental turmoil - brought on by the behaviour of the author, as described in this book - was murdered in San Francisco 2 weeks before his 23rd birthday)?

This book is just another example of self-indulgence sold off as enlightenment...

What's the point? There is NO point.

>>See More Reviews & Details on Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: 25th Anniversary Edition

Used Price: £1.97

Average Rating:

.Fatty Batter: How Cricket Saved My Life (then Ruined It): How Cricket Saved My Life (Then Ruined It)
City Travel Guides > Books > Travel Writing
by: Michael Simkins

April 03, 2008
Having played in a team which never reached the heights described in this book, and being the worse player in that team, I can fully relate to the bitter sweet joys of cricket. For all you pub players and the like, read it while rain stops play.
>>See More Reviews & Details on Fatty Batter: How Cricket Saved My Life (then Ruined It): How Cricket Saved My Life (Then Ruined It)

Used Price: £1.98

Average Rating:

.Stories from Spain: Historias De Espaana (Side by Side Bilingual Books)
City Travel Guides > Books > Travel Writing
by: Genevieve Barlow, William N. Stivers

May 01, 1999
I am so pleased to have found this book again, I used to own it once before and enjoyed its easy style but I gave it away to a South American friend who was learning English (she loves it!).

This book is so expertly executed that even if you have only a modest level of Spanish, it will strengthen what you've already got, provide you with new words and encourage you onto more.

It's set around 18 stories or myths or folklores from Spain's past, starting with the oldest first and working towards the newest last, with the Spanish and English presented on facing pages.

But each story is introduced by a one paragraph abstract which helps sets the scene for the story that follows. And each of the stories in turn are interesting and engaging in their own right. ... Read More:
>>See More Reviews & Details on Stories from Spain: Historias De Espaana (Side by Side Bilingual Books)

Used Price: £2.81

Average Rating:

.Into the Wild
City Travel Guides > Books > Travel Writing
by: Jon Krakauer

March 12, 1999
What might motivate someone to cut all ties with their family, to give away all of their money to charity, dispose of their belongings and adopt a life on the road? In this day and age our possessions and vocations end up owning us, so it comes as somewhat of a shock to the system to see that a young and intelligent man would decide to dispose of the normal trappings of life. McCandless is infamous for having starved to death in the Alaskan wilderness, though the book looks at what brought him there.

In fact McCandless had spent a year or more on the road, moving from place to place throughout western and northern USA, holding down some basic jobs for a short time before moving on, seeming to all as though he were just one more drifter passing through. Though the book delicately ... Read More:
>>See More Reviews & Details on Into the Wild

Used Price: £2.40

Average Rating:

.Don't Stop Me Now
City Travel Guides > Books > Travel Writing
by: Jeremy Clarkson

May 01, 2008
Now we all know that Clarkson makes loads of money from selling books full of stuff he has already written in the paper but so what....who cares whether he's making extra money or not when you get to read this much funny stuff all in one book!

We all know he says he's writing about cars when in fact he just rants about complete rubbish for 3/4's of the articles....but who cares when he can make rubbish this funny!!!

We all know that Clarkson is a pompous, over opinionated, biggot....who cares....he's funnier than most other people you can read these days!!

I love this book....I think all the clarkson books are great but this one really is one of his best. I like the fact that they have made a bit more effort and actually put pictures of the cars he is talking ... Read More:
>>See More Reviews & Details on Don't Stop Me Now

Used Price: £0.90