The great Railway Bazaar - Book club

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Ah, fantastic travel writing from my favorite grumpy old man on my absolute most loved country, and a fewothers! Train travel is still the most interesting, relaxing, enjoyable and fascinating way to travel, especially in India and parts of SEA. This book is guaranteed to produce a huge yearning in those who have experienced rail travel in the subcontinent, and a burning desire to do so in those that haven't. Reply to this

Digression is a significant part of travel writing. Without digression the business of travel writing would collapse. No one would read the great writers in the history of the genre. People like the legendary Paul Thereoux and John Flinn of the San Francisco Chronicle would not be able to put food on the table to feed their families. For that matter the whole business of literature would collapse because literature, like travel writing, depends a great deal of their materials from digression. Because traveling can be frustrating and agonizing most of the time, a great deal of time is spent thinking and writing about how frustrating and agonizing it can be,...

From Around the World with Mark Twain by Phaedrus Reply to this

I will finish it tomorrow. I have enjoyed it and I'm glad I read it but it was it was not as good as I wanted it to be. I agree with you that the beauty of this amazing trip was the time period and all the places he traveled to. It was quite an undertaking. I had not thought about it but now that you say it he did have a negative point of view from time to time. It was interesting to hear him reflect on his perceptions of other people and events.
From time to time I got lost because he would take off on a tangent.

The book did make me want to go on a train trip. I will have to give that some consideration.
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