This book started out very strong; I could not put it down. Vivid descriptions, insightful reflections, and adventure add up for me to be a page-turner. And then midway through I got stuck with the history and culture text that seemed to go on and on. Interesting but to a point. If I don't like a...
An excerpt:We splashed over a gulley, and found the only path out of the village. Ahead of us hung a wooden bridge whose struts stood thin as sticks in the river. My heart sank. It was the only way west. I thought we might edge on to it and test its strength. Then suddenly Oman shouted 'We'll see...
It would take a thousand-word essay for me to fully capture my feelings towards Thubron's opus. Suffice to say that the nearer I got to the last page, the Iess I wanted to finish the book, and the pace of my reading slowed down significantly in the last 50 pages. I wanted to relish every word, sa...
Shadow of the Silk Road is a phenomenal book. The author, British travel writer Colin Thubron, traveled from Xian, an ancient capital of China, to Antioch in Turkey along the silk road, blending broad historical knowledge with acute observations of contemporary life.Thubron speaks Mandarin and Ru...
He watched the black streamer of the smelter stack fade beyond the engine”s bluer smoke; and as the railroad track elongated and thinned over the plain, the vast, complex burden of the town seemed to loosen and slip physically away from him. Leaning from his empty carriage, he saw the last vestig...