December Group Read: The Great Railway Bazaar

[[deleted user]]

Some winter armchair traveling!

[Zoe]

This is great. I'm not too far in, and at first I was confused....he doesn't tell us a great deal about why he is on the train, or what his life was like that led him to taking the train, but his little vignettes of people are fabulous.

Personally, I love trains, inside and out. I think we Americans under utilize them. I had to take on on thanksgiving to get back home to work the next morning ( ah, retail....) and it was just lovely- podcasts in my ears, knitting in hand....I could do that more often.

[[deleted user]]

I took a train alone across Canada, Vancouver to Toronto, years ago. I traveled what the author would call second or third class, I guess, (lots of hippies :)and it was great - you could turn the seats around which made for long chess and card games with your neighbors, or a good stretch of the legs. I could live on a train, what with dining cars and yes, now I would be sure to have a berth. Ah, just sitting, knitting, reading, listening, and watching the scenery roll by...

Like the author, I love to get glimpses of people and then imagine what they are saying, doing, thinking.

I currently live on an island, with the closest 'getting to land' option being a ferry. I have said that I'd like to take a ferry every afternoon for my nap -- that gentle rocking motion and the soothing rumble of the engines puts me to sleep every time. Trains can be the same.

Oh -- I won't spoil it for you but he does tell you enough about his life as the story goes on for you to fill in some of the blanks on your questions.

[Isabel]

I'm about 75% of the way through this, and won't get finished before the end of the month. I'm reading it on my nook and am finding all the OCR mis-reads to be very distracting. I paid a reasonable price for this, not 99 cents, so expected better. Also wishing for maps! I wonder if the print version has? My geography of the area could use some updating. Overall, I'm glad to finally be reading it, I love the rail travel as the purpose theme but am having a difficult time reading more than a couple chapters at one go.... not sure why?

[[deleted user]]

My version of this book in print had no maps. While I loved all the characters he met along the way, it cured me of my dream of riding the Orient Express...and no way I'd ever get on the Trans Siberia...brrrr!! An enjoyable read, but a rail trip through Europe now sounds much more appealing!

[Isabel]

I was disquieted by his ending. I wanted to have come away from this book with something more than his exhaustion. Although I did like the thought/comparison of how he would have written the book had it been fiction. There is another title, he took the same basic trip 30 years later. I'll be putting that on my to-read list now!

[Zoe]

Yes, I got the impression he was a bit of a cynic and his trip seems to be meeting his not very high expectations of the world. That said, I'm really enjoying it ( still not done, slow going) and a map would have made it SO much better. Very funny at times- now I have something to recommend people who love Bill. Bryson!

[Julie]

I agree -- a map would have been most helpful! I had to keep getting up and looking for the atlas...

[Zoe]

It wasn't until he was in Japan that I really comprehended about the orient express having ended and him being on OTHER railway systems....I thought when I originally picked up the book, it was all just going to be the OEx.