TO THE HOLY SHRINES AND CAN-CANS, CATS & CITIES OF ASH.

SOURCE: Received from a friend (thanks Jim).

READ FOR:  

• What's In A Name? 2017: To The Holy Shrines for the 'Book With A Building In The Title' category, Can-Cans, Cats & Cities Of Ash the 'Book In Which At Least Two Words Share The Same First Letter' category
• Mountain TBR Reading Challenge 2017: Eleven and twelve books of 24.

Today I bring you two books  from the Penguin Books Great Journeys series of which there are twenty, all of them extracts from longer works. Today I bring you the following books, the synopsis of which can be found by clicking on the relevant book title...

TO THE HOLY SHRINES by SIR RICHARD BURTON.

FIRST SENTENCE {TO ALEXANDRIA}: On the evening of April 3, 1853, I  left London for Southampton.

MEMORABLE MOMENT {PAGE 44}: The men swaggered, the women minced their steps, rolled their eyes, and were eternally arranging, and coquetting with their head-veils. The little boys strutting about foully abused any one of their number who might have a richer suit than his neighbour. And the little girls ogled every one in the ecstasy of conceit, and glanced contemptuously at other girls their rivals.

MY THOUGHTS: Using a sample of extracts from Personal Narrative Of A Pilgrimage To Al-Madinah And Mecca by Richard Burton (no, not that Richard Burton, the Victorian explorer, spy and sexologist Sir Richard Francis Burton), To The Holy Shrines chronicles the author's time in Egypt in which he dons the robe of a Muslim pilgrim. 

An OK read but, whether it was the style of writing (imagine a wordy Boy's Own prose) OR that I was expecting more of an adventure involving a journey to the Holy Shrines (instead of which I got more of an account of the buffoonish behaviour of the characters the author encountered) OR that it was merely an extract from a much longer book, the ending of this, the shorter version, rather uninspiring, alas, one that didn't particularly appeal to my taste. 

Read on-line here.

Now this is more like it, I did enjoy ...



CAN-CANS, CATS & CITIES OF ASH by MARK TWAIN.

FIRST SENTENCE {THE AZORES}: Taking it 'by and large', as the sailors say, we had a pleasant ten days' run from New York to the Azores islands - not a fast run, for the distance is only twenty-four hundred miles - but a right pleasant one, in the main.

MEMORABLE MOMENT {PAGE 21}: Tangier has been mentioned in history for three thousand years. And it was a town, though a queer one, when Hercules, clad in his lion-skin, landed here, four thousand years ago. In these streets he met Anitus, the king of the country, and brained him with his club, which was the fashion among gentleman in those days. 

MY THOUGHTS:  Through 1850's Azores, Morocco, France, Italy and Greece. The author's estimation of the 'American abroad' fascinating. 

Like other books in the series this is less travelogue and more, well, an observation of the tourist abroad. However, unlike other books in the series, witty, his writing simple and yet dramatic, I actually found myself rather liking this collection of anecdotes, a collection of excerpts from the author's first major work, The Innocents Abroad.

Read a copy on-line here.