Themed Read August 2022: Books About Journeys - Fact or Fiction

Welcome to our August 2022 Themed Read.

This thread is going up a little early to give everyone who wants to join in the chance to have their books lined up and ready to read.

Our theme this month is BOOKS ABOUT JOURNEYS - FACT OR FICTION

Our first thought was that this would be a month to read Virago Travellers. This series wasn’t numbered but here is the most complete list that we could find:

A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains by Isabella L. Bird
China to Me by Emily Hahn
The Cruel Way by Ella Maillart
Death's Other Kingdom by Gamel Woolsey
The Desert and the Sown: The Syrian Adventures of the Female Lawrence of Arabia by Gertrude Bell
Farewell Spain by Kate O'Brien
The Gobi Desert by Mildred Cable
High Albania by M. E. Durham
In The Vine Country by E. OE. Somerville
Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan by Isabella L. Bird
Letters from Egypt by Lucie Duff Gordon
The London Journal of Flora Tristan by Flora Tristan
My Journey to Lhasa by Alexandra David-Néel
North-west by North by Dora Birtles
The Passionate Nomad: The Diary of Isabelle Eberhardt by Isabelle Eberhardt
Peregrinations of a Pariah by Flora Tristan
Roughing it in the Bush by Susanna Moodie
Station Life in New Zealand by Lady Barker
Through Connemara in a Governess Cart by E. OE. Somerville
Travels in West Africa by Mary Kingsley. 1982.
Unbeaten Tracks in Japan by Isabella L. Bird
Untrodden Peaks and Unfrequented Valleys: A Midsummer Ramble in the Dolomites by Amelia B. Edwards
Up the Country; Letters From India by Emily Eden
The Virago Book of Women Travellers by Mary Morris
West with the Night by Beryl Markham
Yangtze Valley and Beyond by Isabella L. Bird. 1985.

If you are reading for Women in Translation month, the books by Flora Tristan, Alexandra David-Néel, Isabelle Eberhardt and Ella Maillart are translations.

That was fact, and now fiction:

There are many books on the VMC list that you could read this month. For example:

The True Heart by Sylvia Townsend Warner (#3)
The Holiday by Stevie Smith (#7)
Two Serious Ladies by Jane Bowles (#10)
The Lacquer Lady by F. Tennyson Jesse (#12)
Four Frightened People by E. Arnot Robertson (#84)
Mandoa, Mandoa! by Winifred Holtby (#88)
Trooper to the Southern Cross by Angela Thirkell (#171)
No Signposts in the Sea by Vita Sackville-West (#175)
Travel Light by Naomi Mitchison (#176)
The Birds Fall Down by Rebecca West (#235)
Summer Will Show by Sylvia Townsend Warner (#257)
The Pastor’s Wife by Elizabeth von Arnim (#258)
The Overlanders by Dora Birtles (#271)
The Caravaners by Elizabeth von Arnim (#314)
Peking Picnic by Ann Bridge (#330)
Illyrian Spring by Ann Bridge (#348)
The King of a Rainy Country by Brigid Brophy (#353)
The Adventures of Elizabeth in Rugen by Elizabeth von Arnim (#360)
A Woman of my Age by Nina Bawden (#366)
Christopher and Columbus by Elizabeth von Arnim (#395)

So, where will you be travelling by book this August?

I have been saving a journey to Italy for this month with The Enchanted April.

>2 NinieB: I loved that book, and am in the mood for some Elizabeth von Arnim, so I think I'll read The Adventures of Elizabeth in Rugen.

>3 lauralkeet: That's encouraging! I've heard so many good things about Enchanted April--really looking forward to it.

>1 BeyondEdenRock: Some great ideas there Jane - off to rummage amongst my Virago shelves!!

Really hoping to get a Virago Traveller in!

I've chosen to begin with The king of a rainy country, which is proving to be a quick and compelling read. I love it so far!

I’ve read The Cruel Way by Ella Maillart which was excellent!

I read Sylvia Townsend Warner's The True Heart which was wonderful. I might've liked it better than Lolly Willowes 🤷‍♀️

I just started The Adventures of Elizabeth in Rugen. I enjoyed Penelope Mortimer's introduction, much of which was devoted to vonArnim's life and marriages, and how they influenced her writing. I skipped over the bits discussing plot points in the novel.

I loved King of a rainy country! It's light and humorous, perfectly conjuring up the seedier side of life in 1950s London. And scenes where Susan and Neale are escorting a group of American tourists through Italy are a hoot!

Now I've started My journey to Lhasa.

Have just embarked on The Passionate Nomad by Isabelle Eberhardt - beautiful writing so far!

My review of the Maillart is now up here!

https://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2022/08/19/it-is-our-job-to-search...

I read The Caravaners by Elizabeth von Arnim, a novel written as the journal of Baron Otto von Ottringel, which details his caravan holiday with his wife and a handful of friends through southern England. Baron Otto, a German army officer, considers himself the last word in all that is aristocratic, upright, gentlemanly and moral, but who increasingly finds fault with every aspect of this camping holiday and how he is treated. His gentle wife tries to appease his displeasure as the Baron slowly but surely alienates his fellow travelers. Without servants, everyone is expected to help, and to his horror, the Baron is expected to help with the washing-up, which of course, is a woman's sphere. In fact much of the Baron's discourse here is defining exactly what a woman's "duty" is to her husband.

Much of this is funny, as well as infuriating, as apparently it is not far from the truth that von Arnim experienced herself with her German husband at the turn of the 20th century. Written in 1909, von Arnim has the Baron express (several times) how it is only natural that at some point the superior Germans will one day come and straighten out this barbaric nation of England--a scary foreshadowing of events to come.

This was clever and full of biting humor, but it did carry on a bit too long for me--the Baron just became too insufferable.

>14 kac522: I read The Adventures of Elizabeth in Rugen this month. There's a German Professor in it who I suspected might have had some of her husband's character traits. Your comments reinforce that theory. He must have been an endless source of inspiration, LOL. In the my feelings about the book were similar to yours about The Caravaners: clever, biting humor but it got old after a while.

I felt much the same when I read this one. Very funny and so clever the way she lets the Baron reveal himself but it went on for too long - I ended up wanting someone to punch him (or even punch him myself!) if that was her husband, she must have had the patience of a saint - no wonder she took to her garden for some solitude!!!

I have almost finished My Journey to Lhasa - literally I have about 4 pages left to read! It's taken me almost all month because I'm rubbish at reading non-fiction, but I've really enjoyed the book. Many of the scenes of people, places and events reminded me of my own travels in the Himalayas, with considerably more mod cons than the author was able to enjoy! Her immersion in Tibetan culture and her deep study of the region, its religion and customs, is awe-inspiring.

I'm also reading The Mandelbaum gate which is kind of about travel as the characters move between Israel and Jordan.

>17 Sakerfalcon: Sounds fascinating! Not a Traveller I have I think - there are still a few gaps! They're always such marvellous reads, though!

I didn't take part this month because life got in the way. I loved The Mandelbaum Gate Claire, but then I have a thing about that area of the world.

>18 kaggsy: It was a great read, made even better for me by having experienced some of the landscape and culture the author is travelling through. I have a number of Travellers but am terrible at getting round to reading them.

>19 lippincote: I'm really enjoying it too! I haven't read much Israeli/Middle Eastern literature, but I've been participating in the Asian reading challenge in the 75 books group this year. For the Israel month I read A tale of love and darkness by Amos Oz which was outstandingly good.

>20 Sakerfalcon: Me too - I've managed two this month which is something of a novelty!!

I had high hopes for this month but read nothing, as I have been ill and life has been conspiring against me.

>22 BeyondEdenRock: So sorry to hear that Jane - hope things improve. x

>22 BeyondEdenRock: Very sorry to hear that x

>22 BeyondEdenRock: so sorry to hear you have been ill, Jane.
Best wishes and hope you are feeling better soon.x

Here's my second read for the month - A Passionate Nomad by Isabelle Eberhardt - such a fascinating woman!

https://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2022/08/29/haunted-by-thoughts-of-...

I'm glad to have got to two Virago Travellers this month! :D

Add my commiserations, Jane.

>22 BeyondEdenRock: I hope life improves for you soon, Jane.

I finished The Mandelbaum gate and really enjoyed it. Spark has such an interesting way of constructing her stories, and she conveyed the period and place very effectively.

Thank you all.

As some of you know and some of you may not, I have motor neurone disease, which is progressive and isn't going to get any better. Being ill and having things go wrong on top of that was too much.

Some things have gone better over the last week and I am reading again, which is a very good sign.

Come choose your September book:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/343879#

Oh dear, I did try for this and AVAA - I'm STILL reading Desert of the Heart in which the heroine travels from California to Reno to get a divorce - and makes a metaphorical sexual orientation journey, too. I did start it in August ...

>30 BeyondEdenRock: That's good to hear, Jane, and glad you are reading again - always such a joy. Take care. x