First, I love travel lit, so when Shakespeare & Co (an English-language bookstore in Paris) had a huge sale on travel lit last year, I was stoked! A couple books I picked up were really good, but I could never get into one by Dervla Murphy. Concerning her bike trek from Ireland to India, *From Dublin to Delhi* is now in my give-away book pile. First, she took the train through most of Europe, and got truck and bus rides through Turkey, Iran, and Afghanistan--yet she still sells this journey as a "bike ride" thorugh Europe and western Asia. Whatever.
I read it long enough for her to travel through Iran and Afghanistan (in the 1960's), but I just couldn't take her patronizing tone anymore. She actually used the term "Noble Savage" in all seriousness, and thinks that Russian communism is the best thing for Afghanistan. She moans about "progress" as she waxes eloquent about the kindness of Afghan villagers and the magnificence of the scenery.
Maybe if "progress" had come, the world wouldn't have lost the Bamian Buddhas to the fanaticism of those same villagers.
Notice the tiny little person at the bottom. One of these Buddhas stood 120 ft. high, the other 175 feet. They lasted more than 1000 years, until the Taliban blew them up in 2000.
I'm an idealist as well, and I sympathize with her desire to see the Afghans' kindness continue. However, as she gones on and on (and on and on) about how Muslims are so much kinder and more hospitable than Westerners/Christians, she remains unimpressed with the plight of women and the prevalence of violence. She doesn't deny it, she just doesn't think it's relevant to her ideals.
I have another book by her about her travels through the Balkans, but I'll only give it a cursory glance before throwing it in the same pile.
Mary Queen of Scots, by Antonia Fraser, was on my list to the left (unlike the Murphy books), and it now lies in the same give-away pile. I like history, and I think the Hnry VIII-Elizabeth I-Mary Queen of Scots era is really interesting, but this book went into WAY too much detail. I think I'd like to read a 250-300 page book on her, but this 650 p. behemoth was just too much info.
I hope that next time I'll have a book to recommend, but not this time...
1 comment:
Hi, Annie! Good for you--not wasting time finishing a book that isn't worth your time. I've only read two on your list. Thomas Friedman's book "From Beirut to Jerusalem" is a must read for me. It gives such a good framework for understanding the region. "The Bookseller of Kabul" is interesting, and since you are interested in the area it is worth your while.
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