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Ghost Train to the Eastern Star: On the Tracks of the Great Railway Bazaar
Paul Theroux
Houghton Mifflin, 2008
The Return of an Old Friend
I'm a big fan of Paul Theroux. I like both his fiction and his travel books. Having read the Great Railway Bazaar years ago, I reread it to refresh my memory before I read Ghost Train. Paul shows a bit of sentimentality on this trip, but it is not overdone or ...
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The Old Patagonian Express: By Train Through the Americas
Paul Theroux
Mariner Books, 1979
From Boston to Patagonia by Train
Note: I made some immature Mormon angry because of my negative reviews of books that attempted to prove the Book of Mormon, and that person has been slamming my reviews almost as fast as they are posted.
So, your "helpful" votes are appreciated. Thanks, and note ...
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The Mosquito Coast
Paul Theroux
Mariner Books, 2006
An Important Character Study
Allie Fox not only thinks he is right, he thinks everyone else is wrong. In fact, every person and thing is so wrong, he can see nothing good in New England, and everything right about the life he creates for his family on the "Mosquito Coast". His psyche is so ...
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The Elephanta Suite: Three Novellas
Paul Theroux
Houghton Mifflin, 2007
Innocents abroad
This is my first Paul Theroux experience and even though I can now see how he is as much acclaimed as a travel writer as a straight novelist, reading this book left me with a feeling of great unease and just a bit scared. This trilogy of very loosely connected ...
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The Happy Isles of Oceania: Paddling the Pacific
Paul Theroux
Mariner Books, 2006
Unapologetically Direct
A terrific read, Theroux has the courage to be politically incorrect in an age where Americans fear speaking the truth of their own experience.
As a travel writer myself, I am always astonished when someone is angered because my travel experience does not mirror his ...
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The Last Place on Earth (Modern Library Exploration)
Roland Huntford
Modern Library, 1999
A Ripping Good Yarn
I saw a program on PBS about Amundsen and the Northwest Passage and decided I wanted to know more so I bought this book. Much has already been said and thus doesn't need repeating. If you hold to the hero status of Scott then you are apt to be severely disappointed. ...
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Pillars of Hercules
Paul Theroux
Ballantine Books, 1996
A gorgeous bit of writing.
I have read five of Paul Theroux's travel books: The Great Railway Bazaar, The Kingdom by the Sea, The Old Patagonian Express, Travel Fiend and now The Pillars of Hercules. I can say without a doubt, that this is my favorite travelogue of his. The book is concise and ...
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Riding the Iron Rooster: By Train Through China
Paul Theroux
Mariner Books, 2006
Along for the ride
The book, like a long train trip, gets tiring after a while, but Theroux loves traveling this way. His observations of the people, land and culture are well worth reading.
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Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Capetown
Paul Theroux
Mariner Books, 2004
One of his best.
Consider what it is like to live with an exceptionally well-developed appreciation of your own flimsy mortality and insignificant standing in this strange and dangerous place we call the universe. Throw in a morbid and febrile imagination prone to generating 'what is ...
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The Great Railway Bazaar
Paul Theroux
Mariner Books, 2006
A peerless and unforgettable travel narrative
This fabulous account of getting on the train in London and riding trains (including the decrepit Orient Express) through Europe, across Asia as far east as Japan, then looping back to Europe on the Trans-Siberian, is not a bit dated, even though it was first ...
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To the Ends of the Earth
Paul Theroux
Ivy Books, 1994
Best of the Best in Travel Writing
In his Introduction Paul Theroux writes, "When something human is recorded, good travel writing happens." Theroux always records the human aspects of countries and people he meets along the way. He records the scene outside the train window or porthole like no one ...
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The Widow (New York Review Books Classics)
George Simenon
NYRB Classics, 2008
"[G]oing on to a narrow place
where there was no way to turn aside either to the right hand or to the left." Numbers 22:26
Georges Simenon was nothing if not prolific in both his literary and public life. Born in Belgium in 1903, Simenon turned out hundreds of novels. Simenon's obsession with ...
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The Comedians (Penguin Classics)
Graham Greene
Penguin Classics, 2005
BETTER LATE THAN NEVER
This is a late review and I won't go over what has already been said about this novel. Papa Doc's reign of terror is now historical fact. But if one reads this tight political thriller and one of Greene's best, you can see history repeating itself in the not too recent ...
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Sir Vidia's Shadow: A Friendship Across Five Continents
Paul Theroux
Mariner Books, 2001
Theroux's biography
This book is supposed to be about the airing of dirty laundry. Instead it tells you much about the personality and expectations of a young Paul Theroux. Read this book to see the path of a young writer's rise in the literary world. I've heard many horror stories ...
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Playboy: The Complete Centerfolds
Robert Coover, Maureen Gibbon, ...
Chronicle Books, 2007
buy it cheaper
Just as Taschen are releasing a 2nd edition of the massive 'Stanley Kubrik Archives' on October 8, so too are Chronicle Books, releasing a 2nd edition of this huge book of Playboy centrefolds with a $50 retail and $36.50 Amazon pre-order price. - Oct.4
At this moment, ...
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