Reading in Reykjavík

Full title : Swahili for the Broken-Hearted - Cape Town to Cairo by Any Means Possible I read two of Peter Moore's travelogues last year. The first, Vroom With a View: In search of Italy's dolce vita on a '61 Vespa , I read as preparation for a trip I took to Italy in September of that year, and the second, The Wrong Way Home - London to Sidney the Hard Way , I read as a consequence of enjoying the first. Both were fun reads and I gave both the same 3,5 stars in my reading log, although I seem to recall feeling that there was a little bit too much drinking in The Wrong Way Home for my taste. In Swahili for the Broken-Hearted , Moore travels overland up the coast of east Africa from Cape Town to Cairo, mainly on public transport and by catching rides. He visits some of the obligatory tourist places on the way, like Victoria Falls and Zanzibar, and stays in accommodations ranging from fairly luxurious lodges to backpacker hostels to cheap flops; meeting a variety of peo...

Genre : Travel. Themes : Travel, religion, magic, people, Benin, West Africa, friendship. Reading challenge : What's in a Name 2016 Challenge book no. : 5/6, a book with a country in the title. Writer Annie Caulfield travelled to Benin with the specific intention of writing a travel book, or so it seems from what she writes in the book. She describes her travels around the country by taxi, visiting vodou practitioners and religious sites, tribal leaders and interesting people and places with her driver, Isidore, as an active participant. He became her friend and seems to have had a hand in finding people and things of interest for her to visit. The outcome is a fascinating and often funny book about a country that is little known or spoken of outside of West Africa. It was interesting to read this book and compare it with the last book I read about Africa, Blood River . These books were published at an interval of about 5 years and there is such a difference between them. ...

Originally published in October and November 2004, in 2 parts. Book 37 in my first 52 books challenge. (I reworked no. 36 and posted it here ). Author: Evelyn Waugh Year published: 1960 Pages: 160 Genre: Travel, non-fiction Where got: National library This is the second time I cheat and read an author I’ve read before. Early on in the challenge I reviewed a novel by Waugh, and now I’m reading one of his non-fiction books. I had decided to read Eric Newby’s A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush as the travel book of the challenge, but then I came across this one. Because I have read very few travel books about Africa, I decided it would be in better keeping with my mission statement. The Story: This is Waugh’s journal of his two month’s stay in Africa in 1959. He escaped the English winter, feeling rather decrepit, and returned feeling much better after a sojourn under the African sun. Hating air travel, he took the long route, first by train to Italy and then by ship to Tanganyika (now ...