Demob Happy

Herculean
9/10
Paul Theroux’s ‘Grand Tour of the Mediterranean’ is typical Theroux in many ways, the vagaries of his mood often colouring his perception of the places he visits, but he plays on his reputation as a misanthrop and cumugeon throughout this travelogue. After a comment on the opening page about ‘runty shunted trees and ugly houses’, [...]

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Journey to the ends of the Earth (and back)

9/10
The fifth Paul Theroux travel book I have read (i’ve posted reviews of ‘The Kingdom by the Sea’ and ‘The Old Patagonian Express’ here and here), ‘The Great Railway Bazaar‘ is in fact his first and arguably most rewarding. If you are familiar with Theroux’s writing you [...]

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My name is white
6/10
Orhan Pamuk’s ‘Snow’ is an ambitious (if not over-ambitious) attempt to somehow grasp the complex struggle between fundamentalism and nationalism - and those caught in between - in his native Turkey. The rather unlikely hero Ka, a poet and exile, is drawn unwillingly into this conflict after witnessing a local official [...]

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