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    #51
    I’m a bit surprised we’ve got this far without anyone mentioning In Patagonia by Bruce Chatwin, which is generally held to be the book which redefined what travel writing could be (not sure I hold with that opinion, mind you).

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      #52
      I liked the Songlines better. Though as with much of this stuff, the utterly upper middle class snobbishness of the author kind of gets to me. I’m not sure I could read him these days.

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        #53
        Thinking of authors who love writing about how very dangerous the things they do are (I find it's a subgenre I have a soft spot for despite knowing I should probably be more cynical), I really enjoyed Martha Gellhorn's Travels With Myself And Another

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          #54
          Originally posted by Third rate Leszno View Post
          I’m a bit surprised we’ve got this far without anyone mentioning In Patagonia by Bruce Chatwin, which is generally held to be the book which redefined what travel writing could be (not sure I hold with that opinion, mind you).
          Songlines is also a fascinating read.

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            #55
            Originally posted by Third rate Leszno View Post
            I’m a bit surprised we’ve got this far without anyone mentioning In Patagonia by Bruce Chatwin, which is generally held to be the book which redefined what travel writing could be (not sure I hold with that opinion, mind you).
            Yeah, I never quite thought of "In Patagonia" as highly as that either.

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              #56
              Originally posted by Doraemon View Post
              The roads to Sata - Alan Booth
              This is superb, really recommended to anyone interested in Japan.

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                #57
                Gellhorn was a very good writer.

                Shame about her boyfriend.

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                  #58
                  I'm half way through Danube by Claudio Magris. Magris is an Italian columnist and essayist and professor of German Literature at the University of Trieste. Danube is an amazing book, following the river. I'd hesitate to call it a travel book in the way that I've typically understood them, since he basically says nothing about the journey itself (he's in Vienna at the moment in my reading, and I have no idea how he travelled. He has some friends with him that occasionally he refers to, but that's it). Instead it's a series of pieces inspired by the places along the river at which he stops. He is one of those people with an absolutely encyclopedic knowledge of history, literature, art, philosophy, mathematics, you name it, he knows about it and weaves it all together beautifully. Some pieces are basically historical stories and anecdotes, some are his musings on various historical or literary moments, and some are just funny. I don;t agree with everything he says, and nor do I totally follow all of his musings, but it's so rich and so fascinating that these are not criticisms at all.

                  It was written in the mid 80s, so it will be interesting when he leaves Vienna and goes behind the Iron Curtain. He's a Germanist (if there is such a word), so having been so far in Germany and Austria means he's very much on home turf, but I have little doubt that his knowledge and erudition of Czechoslovakian, Hungarian, Yugoslavian and Romanian literature culture and history will also be vast.

                  Anyway, I recommend it massively.

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                    #59
                    That's been on my informal list for years. Will have to get it now,

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                      #60
                      Not sure if this is a travel book exactly, but I've just finished Ottoman Odyssey by Alev Scott. A journey around the various parts of the former empire mixing interviews with history with travel. She delves into Erdoğan and his attempts to revive the empire and the way he spends money to do so (especially in the Balkans). She's very up front and honest about Israel and Palestine and is not afraid to call apartheid apartheid. And she also doesn't shy away from using the word genocide to describe what happened to the Armenians. (The author, who is a young journalist, is from London from a Turkish Cypriot family)

                      Recommended. Think Antepli Ejderha would enjoy it in particular, but anyone who enjoys a good travel /modern history book will get a lot from it. My only criticism is that it could be much longer.


                      ​​​​​

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                        #61
                        Thanks ad hoc I've not read her work yet but know of her, I've bought the book on kindle now.

                        Have you read Ece Temelkuran? Turkey The Insane and the Melancholy is well worth a read.

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                          #62
                          No, that sounds good. I'll put it on my list

                          Hmm, also "How to Lose a Country" sounds like another of hers that would be worth reading

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                            #63
                            Originally posted by ad hoc View Post
                            No, that sounds good. I'll put it on my list

                            Hmm, also "How to Lose a Country" sounds like another of hers that would be worth reading
                            I've got that in my library to read. She's in a self imposed exile in Zagreb of all places.

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                              #64
                              Kapka Kassabova's Border, is utterly utterly superb. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

                              Kassabova is a Bulgarian who lives in Scotland (as far as I can gather this book was originally written in English, and it won the Scottish book of the year award, or similar in 2017). But the book is about Bulgaria, or more specifically Bulgaria's southern border with Turkey and Greece. It's part travel writing, part social history, part just gloriously descriptive writing about an area of Europe that very few people ever see (Kassabova is a poet, which perhaps explains the beauty of the language). She tells stories of the villages and towns she stays in as she visits the border, and of some of the recent history there - the fact that it was a border closed from people heading south before 1989, and is now, thanks to the refugee crisis a border closed for people heading north. Stories of the number of people who tried to flee from the Soviet controlled world (many of them it turns out East Germans, who had heard that it was perhaps the easiest border to cross -spoiler alert - it wasn't). Stories of the ethnic makeup of Thrace in general. The "Big Excursion" in 1989 (I'll start a thread on this in World). Really, get hold of it. It's full of beautifully told stories of awful things and beautifully stories of amazing things (the fire walkers of the Strandja, for example)

                              I am now looking to get hold of a copy of her more recent book, where she goes to Macedonia.

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                                #65
                                I think I've banged the drum about Kassabova on here before (ed: in this very thread! Back in 2018, mind). Definitely highly recommend Border. The second book you talk about there (To The Lake) is also good, though not nearly at the level of Border. Her previous book (Street Without a Name) is most definitely worth a read though, and between that and To The Lake, I'd recommend SWAN).

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                                  #66
                                  Oh yes, so you did. I'll probably get both the other two.

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                                    #67
                                    Originally posted by ad hoc View Post
                                    Kapka Kassabova's Border, is utterly utterly superb. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
                                    Nothing much to add except to second the recommendation. It's a truly wonderful book.

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                                      #68
                                      That's added to my Kindle toread list. I think I've hit 100 now.

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                                        #69
                                        In the last couple of days I've actually been able to read, for the first time in years, so thought I'd start with something easy. Richard Parks 'Beyond the Horizon' is about the ex Wales rugby player turned extreme athlete, it's an easy read because it's well ghost written. I'm so happy to be reading again.

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                                          #70
                                          Originally posted by Antepli Ejderha View Post
                                          In the last couple of days I've actually been able to read, for the first time in years, so thought I'd start with something easy. Richard Parks 'Beyond the Horizon' is about the ex Wales rugby player turned extreme athlete, it's an easy read because it's well ghost written. I'm so happy to be reading again.
                                          That happened to me. I couldn't concentrate on anything for quite a long time. I was staring at a page and realising I hadn't taken anything in for a long time and had no idea what was happening. I got back into it in the last few months by re-reading old favourites. I've always been a re-reader anyway and I've not managed a lot of new stuff yet but I feel I'm on the way back.

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                                            #71
                                            Originally posted by Antepli Ejderha View Post
                                            In the last couple of days I've actually been able to read, for the first time in years
                                            Really pleased for you, and more than a little bit jealous.

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                                              #72
                                              Originally posted by Gangster Octopus View Post
                                              Really pleased for you, and more than a little bit jealous.
                                              Are you not able to read GO?

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                                                #73
                                                I no longer have the concentration to read books.

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                                                  #74
                                                  Originally posted by Gangster Octopus View Post
                                                  I no longer have the concentration to read books.
                                                  That's really sad news, do audio books work for you?

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                                                    #75
                                                    Originally posted by Gangster Octopus View Post
                                                    I no longer have the concentration to read books.
                                                    I hope you can find some way of getting reading back.



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