About this title: Fired by his childhood fascination with trains, Paul Theroux set out one day with the intention of boarding every train that chugged into view from Victoria Station to Tokyo Central, and to return via the Trans-Siberian Express. An odyssey of fun and adventure full of people, places and asides.
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Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Acceptable. Shows definite wear, and perhaps considerable marking on inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Edition: First Edition, 2nd Printing
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Ballantine Books, New York, NY
Date Published: 1976
Description: Very Good in None as Issued jacket. Text/New w/faint margin discoloration. Illustrated soft cover/VG; showing trace soiling and slight slant to spine. Faint creasing to upper corner of fEP & title page from poor shelving. Travel precedes text. Best known work, and rightfully so, of American writer, novelist and travel writer Paul Theroux (1941-). A marvellous excursion by rail, commencing from London to Tokyo, boarding only eastbound trains. Then, facing west, still by rail, return aboard The ... read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Date Published: 1977
ISBN-13:9780140042351ISBN:0140042350
Description: Good. PAPERBACK BOOK-GOOD OVERALL CONDITION-TRUSTED DEVON (UK) BASED SELLER-IN STOCK-SENT WITHIN 1 WORKING DAY-AVAILABLE BY EMAIL FOR QUERIES-NO QUIBBLE REFUND IF NOT COMPLETELY SATISFIED- read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Date Published: 1977
ISBN-13:9780140042351ISBN:0140042350
Description: Good. **SHIPPED FROM UK** We believe you will be completely satisfied with our quick and reliable service. All orders are dispatched as swiftly as possible! Buy with confidence! read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Date Published: 1977
ISBN-13:9780140042351ISBN:0140042350
Description: Good. This book is in GOOD overall condition. It shows signs of having been read and has general light wear to the cover, spine and pages. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Picador
Date Published: 1994
ISBN-13:9780330338165ISBN:0330338161
Description: Good. Hardback complete with dustcover, unclipped. slight tear to front and at top of spine; some shelf wear to ends of spine; rest All in good condition; read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Hamish Hamilton Ltd
Date Published: 1975
ISBN-13:9780241891865ISBN:0241891868
Description: Good. Ex library **SHIPPED FROM UK** We believe you will be completely satisfied with our quick and reliable service. All orders are dispatched as swiftly as possible! Buy with confidence! read more
Edition: Ex-Lib
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston
Date Published: 1975
Description: Near Very Good in Near Very Good jacket. 6.5"x9" This hard cover book has a color illustrated cover with white lettering on the front and spine of the dj. A book about a railroad and train and it's travel in Asia. Mapped innerboards. 342 pages. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780141038841ISBN:0141038845
Description: Very Good. * BOOKS DISPATCHED WITHIN 24 HOURS * SATISFACTION GUARANTEED * ALL QUESTIONS ANSWERED PROMPTLY * SHIPPED FROM UK * USA DELIVERY IN 3-5 DAYS * SHIPPED FROM UK: USA & EUROPE SPECIALISTS DELIVERY IN 3-5 DAYS. read more
"Drop whatever you are doing. Run to your local bookstore. Head to the travel section and pick up The Great Railway Bazaar. If they don't have it, scream at the person behind the counter for being insolent and then go to another store.
Paul Theroux autographed my copy at a recent conference I attended. I didn't know much of him before the conference, so I didn't really know enough to ask him anything. Now I wish I had bought him a beer (or 12) and asked him: How could you leave your wife and kids for four months to travel by rail through Europe and Asia? When did you decide this wouldn't inspire a book of fiction but a non-fiction travel book? What did your wife think about you kissing that girl on the Trans-Siberian Railway? Have you ever ridden a train since?
This book is spell-binding, maybe the best travel book I've ever read."
"Having only read "Dark Star Safari" before this, I assumed Paul Theroux was an extremely gifted writer with a keen sense of observation who had become a sardonic old man. Reading this book, I can say with confidence he's always been that way. Therefore his mentorship by and falling out with V.S. Naipaul both seem all the more logical. As he might say himself, if this review doesn't put you off, read this book! But keep in mind that his revisiting of the same travels ("Ghost Train to the Eastern Star") can comfortably be read without having read this, and is even better!"
"I definitely enjoyed this book, but I can't say that I loved it. Largely, I believe this is because of the different world views of the author and I, the eternal optimist. Theroux's writing is clever, concise and easy to devour, but in this travel book, he is bounded by his negativity. I've read a bit about the author's life and his departure for this trip eventually contributed to his divorce and the trip itself is clearly colored in anxiety, despite his efforts to mask it (particularly at the end - wow!). However, it is also fairly even-handed for a travel piece - he tries to point out the good and the bad of the country through which he is travelling. Overal - enjoyable, funny, but a bit too harsh for me at times. It could provide a good alternative viewpoint if you'll be taking a similar journey (I'll be travelling on a couple of the same trains in September, and although it's a bit out-dated, I'm sure some of the knowledge will come in handy)."
"One of the all-time greats of the travel literature genre, and now a kind of history book too. I recently re-read it and it seemed like it was about a time long-passed (and I guess over 30 years ago is a time long-passed!) So if you've never read this book, read it for that reason, and read it also for the sheer pleasure of a truly great book."
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