Опыт путешествий

by A.A. Gill

О чем эта книга
Разумеется, о путешествиях – ведь вы уже прочитали или читаете первую книгу знаменитого одиночки, Адриана Гилла. С завидным упорством он исследует и открывает для читателей по всему миру совершенно неисследованные или, напротив, изъезженные местечки планеты. Можно сказать, что странам и городам очень повезло попасться на глаза Гиллу – а потом в его колонку в Sunday Times и на страницы этой книги.

Куда же занесло его на этот раз? Сложно поверить, ведь это:
- Алжир, Арктика, Копенгаген, Индия, Албания, Гаити, Исландия, Мадагаскар, Мальдивы, Нью-Йорк, Сицилия, Стокгольм, побережья Дуная…

Кроме всего прочего, в этой книге Гилл пробует себя в качестве психолога-любителя, рассуждая о взаимоотношениях и самоощущениях людей разных культур, религий и цветов кожи. Автор замечает и с одинаковой страстью описывает все стороны жизни в этих странах – социальные, культурные, просто забавные. Это в буквальном смысле путешествие через континенты, к которому Гилл приглашает присоединиться своего особенного - непресыщенного и жадного до новых впечатлений читателя.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Humor, Essays

376 pages, Hardcover

First published April 7, 2011

About the author

Adrian Anthony Gill was an English journalist. He was the author of 9 books, including The Angry Island. He was the TV and restaurant critic and a regular features writer for The Sunday Times, a columnist for Esquire, and a contributor to Vanity Fair. He lived in London.

Reviews

[Vicki · Rating 4 out of 5]

British author AA Gill has become one of my favourite travel writers. Sure anyone can write about travelling to exotic places, or finding joy on your own doorstep, but Gill does it in such a way that I can’t ever begin to explain. Sure he’s witty, but it’s more than that, he has a unique way at looking at the world.

It is well documented that Gill actually dictates his stories rather than writing them as he is dyslexic. In that sense, he becomes a storyteller in my eyes. Here & There: collected travel writing is made up of selected articles from his monthly column in Australian Gourmet Traveller; close to 60 slices of charm, most only four pages in length.

Too many to review, but one that springs to mind worth a mention is Bombay Dreams. “Travellers can be divided into two categories: those who travel to get away from people, and those who travel to find people. …One is all about you, the other…about everyone else.” For the record, Gill believes the humanity commuters are the storytellers, the others, self-regarded bores. Which beckons the question, which type of traveller are you?

[Manoj · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a terrific read! The book was funny all the way with A A Gill smart and sauve dry humour , this is a must read if you dream about travelling or a avid traveller already, A A Gill breaks all those traditional prejudices with this travelogue or travel memoir of his. He has travelled to every darned place in the world including Iceland or Greenland!

A A Gill is essentially a renowned food critic and is dyslexic (I Did some research) , he actually dictates and technically doesnt write. But this British author is just brilliant, I want to read all his other books now!

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent little book of travel writing by noted British travel writer and food critic, A. A. Gill.

Interesting, and thought provoking, though Gill's style may not be for everybody. He comes across at times as a little bit pompous, but his sense of humour is almost stereotypically British.

The perfect book for the armchair traveler.

[Jon Mountjoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

On the one hand, this is a travel book, of sorts. On the other, a wonderful set of short stories, with glorious and rich descriptions of the world, witty, sarcastic, biting and humorous observations about people and places. The author has a way with words, and I spent much of this book simply enjoying his wonderful prose. I can't say I know too much more about places he visited, but I do feel I've been there now - sat in the heat of Chad ("You get the feeling that Chad is only a country because cartographers, like quilt makers, can't abide gaps"), mulled life in a cafe in Paris, and kicked the sand out of my sandals on some beach in the Pacific.

Some quotes:
* "It was the Spanish who had the uncharacteristically blue-sky idea of taking interest out of travel, of removing the place from the destination" - on the mass UK Spanish holiday style. Lovely observation.
* "Everything you think of with slowness comes with an accompaniment of sybaratism. Slow soup, slow-ripened peaches, slow kisses."
* "Ghanaians don't just wear their hearts on their sleeves, but in repeat patterns all over their bodies."
* "Fashion is a vanity of temperate climates."

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

AA Gill's style, flair, wit, unique voice (sometimes very politically incorrect, but he doesn't care!), eye for detail, and ability to put into words what may at first have seemed intangible...all this makes 'Here and There' a supremely pleasurable, enchanting and eye opening read. This isn't the usual travel writing of do this, eat that, but rather one that will make you think about what it means to be a traveller, to embark in journeys.

[Anastasia Sidorova · Rating 3 out of 5]

Вцелом неплохая книга. Свежий взгляд на самые отдаленные уголки планеты - от Свальбарды до Гаити Но мне совершенно не понравилось читать филосовские зарисовки автора на отвлеченные темы. А они занимают половину книги.

[Olya · Rating 2 out of 5]

Though pithy in places, overall it felt like a collection of random ramblings of a curmudgeon.

[Lindsay Mouat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not usually one for reading acollection of writings, but this from travel writer A.A.Gill is very good, a collection of columns from Australian Gourmet Traveller.
"Every place is three places. A trinity, seperate but indivisible. A place is first the place you imagine, then the place you see, and then finally the place you remember. They are all distinct, they're all related, all different, though none of them remain the same. The place you imagined is changed by the place you see, and that in turn changes as everything does. And memory is as ethereal as a performance that alters with every retelling".
I loved Gill's perspective on places I've seen, places I want to visit and places I've never before considered.
Enjoyable summer read

[Meredith Entin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!

It’s an adventure of the highest sort from beginning to end What a gift the author shares, his own intellect and experience! I d definitely grown from thee reading!such a loss he is no longer with us.

[Anya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Прекрасный сборник эссе о жизни в соседнем дворе и на другом континенте. Живо, вдумчиво, с иронией и местами с сарказмом, захватывающе описывает журналист прогулку в соседнем парке или поездку на крайний север

[Neil Hamilton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy having a book of short stories or essays by the bed, so that I can read something ‘self contained’ before sleeping. This is a cracking collection of travel stories. Keenly and humorously observed and beautifully written. I recommend.

[The Contented · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it! He was a wonderfully talented writer with great wit

[Cath · Rating 4 out of 5]

Works as a selection of short anecdotes. I prefer it in the newspaper. But Gill's writing is witty and cynical and on point.

[Vonne Learmonth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wish I had started reading this writer earlier. Brilliant.

[Olena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Прекрасный слог, даже в те моменты, когда не очень согласен с автором. Очень рекомендую!

[Mo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful read, I do miss his columns.

[Joe Parish · Rating 5 out of 5]

A re-read and well worth another

[Shirley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting collection of travel writing by an author I had not read before. Much food for thought.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Smart, funny, clever, articulate...

[Debra Komar · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am an unabashed A.A. Gill fan. I love his work in Vanity Fair and have read a number of his collections. I get that his acerbic wit is not for everyone but he strikes the right balance for me. This collection centers on his travel writing, and if anything, its too gentle. The bite he uses in Vanity Fair is missing here and its a stretch to call a few of the chapters "travel writing" (what does the song Happy Birthday have to do with travel?) but I still love him. I freely admit that he does tend to get carried away, saying the same things six times in a single paragraph, but at least one of those six will contain a clever and unexpected turn of phrase. His insights are sharp and go well beyond the standard travelogue fare. Not his best collection, but absolutely worth the time.

[George Masora · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sublimely curated collection of travel articles by A.A. Gill. What makes this book such an interesting read and a real page-turner, are the keen insights and highly honed observational skills that A.A. Gill applies to mundane issues, a skill no doubt perfected in his incarnations as a restaurant critic, as well as a cultural commentator for The Sunday Times. Magnifique!

[Miranda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full of broad stereotypes about nations yet full of hilarious anecdotes and observations, great insights (and not just into travelling), and stunningly vivid descriptions, all combining to produce some really tempting/off-putting/bewildering (delete as appropriate) impressions of various countries. Loved it.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is some of the best travel writing you are likely to come across. I have read this book a couple of times now and never get bored of AA Gill's dry sense of humour and unique observations.

Picking this book up again reminds me how his writing was on a whole other level to his contemporaries and it is such a shame that there is no more. Highly recommend.

[Alice Hamilton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love AA Gill's brand of snide criticism. That language is some Zorro-style sword work. Fittingly, my copy has pages and pages marked with a shredded boarding pass. And I'm now obsessed with going to Madagascar.

[Sergio GRANDE · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not every single essay here is as brilliant as Adrian Gill can be but I would buy this book just for the stories about Rome ("Cashmere If You Can") and on pretentiousness ("Paree or Paris?").

I recommend this book to anyone who can appreciate intelligent humour and good writing.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of the travel writings of A. A. Gill. who has an acerbic, biting way of looking at the world. Mostly very entertaining, sometimes thought-provoking views about countries, peoples and travellers.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great collection of short articles on various aspects of the world and travelling it. Some thought-provoking, some inspiring, all of them wonderfully written.

[Ashleigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

First class. A A Gill is a travel writer, correspondent and philosopher. Highly recommended.

[Adam Wiggins · Rating 1 out of 5]

Only made it 37 pages, but I found the writing style (florid + snarky) too off-putting to continue.

[Paul McBride · Rating 4 out of 5]

If there is a better observer/reviewer/travel writer out there I have not read their work. AA Gill is one of a kind and we are all better for his amazing observations.