Paul Theroux - The kingdom by the sea

mobi + epub


The Kingdom by the Sea: A Journey Around the Coast of Great Britain 1983

Random review :

'' A typical Theroux travel guide - brutally honest, misanthropic and often gleefully unfair to the people and places he encounters.

But I find this approach works really well, as it nearly always does. Many people and places are annoying, trite or boring. But Theroux also has a sneaking affection for the human race and for most of the towns and cities he goes to. He does too seem to genuinely talk (and more importantly listen) to the people he meets.''


The Pillars of Hercules 1995

Random review :

''I'm about 1/3 the way through and yes, he is one cranky old man and annoyingly full of himself. This isn't anything new, but in the past he was also a very good travel writer. This, alas, is no longer true.

In this book he's become lazy. He goes from place to place getting on one boat or train after another and interacting only with the people he randomly encounters: the proprietor of the he hotel, others waiting for transport, the lunatics who accost strangers in public places. ''