On The Shores Of The Mediterranean (2005) - Plot & Excerpts
Eric Newby and his equally intrepid wife, Wanda, start off at Naples to explore the shores of the Mediterranean over the course of about a year, moving in a clockwise direction. This is an author who does meticulous research and keeps copious notes so his tales of exploration are dense with information, a lot of it historical. If you enjoy learning about the traces left by the Trojans, Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Crusaders, Moors and various Ottoman sultans and beys, then you will be rewarded by reading lots of unexpected and sometimes horrible facts. There are sections on the campaigns in Gallipoli and the Western Desert - particularly moving to me, who had family involved. I found Google essential to following all this, particularly as there are also no maps.I would award the European chapters a 3 but, once we got towards the East (from Montenegro on) and then across North Africa, it was a 5 all the way til Gibraltar. I was particularly interested by Anatolia, of which I was entirely ignorant and now would love to visit - except that Wikipedia reports that 5 star hotels have been springing up there since 1983, when our travellers visited it. That's an engaging thing about the Newbys - they disdain travelling in comfort, so we get gruesome tales of travel by public transport and dire accommodation - all told in Newby's wonderfully dry voice.
Eric Newby is much praised by critics for his distinctive style, tireless enthusiasm and ‘insider-like’ travel stories and it’s true that he has a special point of view. Not many people are as knowledgeable and well-travelled as he is. However, I have been struggling with his book for two years now.First I sat down to read it from start to finish, but his writing was tiring and I gave up several times. I figured that the best way to get through his book was probably to pick up the relevant chapters before going on a vacation to get an insight on the places on the menu. This seemed to work for a while, because you’re less likely to overload and if you see that you only have a 20-40 pages to read, you are more likely to push through. Nevertheless, by the time we got back from our holiday in Greece and Turkey, I was sincerely glad to tuck the book away.I can see why Newby was one of the great travel writers of our times, but I miss the sense of discovery from his accounts. He knows everything about the places he goes, but he is at times annoyingly informative, sober and well-educated for my taste. I personally miss the romanticism and mysticism from his travels. His English is very uniquely classy which is distinctive, but harder to a non-native like me to read.http://mukikamu.wordpress.com/2008/10...
What do You think about On The Shores Of The Mediterranean (2005)?
Having read, "Love and War in the Apennines, I was looking forward to reading this one.This book by far took me longer to read than any other book I have ever read. The subject matter was great, but he lost me in his detail of history that just seemed to go on & on. I had to re-read many parts, because I found my mind wandering. It all just didn't connect for me. Was glad to see some other people's reviews were in agreement with me. I am always determined to finish a book that I start, just to follow through and see if it gets any better. I'm sorry to say this was one of my least favorite books, ever. I would recommend it to someone that is very in tune with World History, with all the dry details. I am actually glad to be finished with it, so I can get to enjoy reading again!
—Susie
