Tag Archives: Russia

The Meanest Road Trip–Siberia


Destination: Siberia, Russia

Book: White Fever by Jacek Hug0-Bader, translated from Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones (published in Polish in 2009, but NEW in English translation, 2012)

Despite the fact that Jacek Hugo-Bader writes the kind of travelogue that makes you feel that you’re right there with him, and have met a constellation of interesting (if sometimes revolting) people, White Fever: A Journey to the Frozen Heart of Siberia, definitely did not tempt me to follow in his footsteps. Continue reading The Meanest Road Trip–Siberia

Beyond the Corridor: Prussia

Destination: Germany and the Historic East Prussia

Book:  Forgotten Land: Journeys Among the Ghosts of East Prussia by Max Egremont, (2011) published by Picador

Review by Martin Davies

When I began learning German at the age of thirteen, there was a particular wall map which dominated the classroom of our eccentric master, ‘Herr’ Holgate. It showed the nation’s main cities, roads and railways, of course, plus the lay of the land in standard tints – green, brown, yellow and purple. Continue reading Beyond the Corridor: Prussia

Chernobyl in Your Travel Plans?

Chernobyl: Wolves Eat Dogs
Destination: Russia

Book: Wolves Eat Dogs, an Arkady Renko Novel by Martin Cruz Smith (2004)

Here is a fitting horror story for Halloween in the 21st century. Death by radiation poisoning. Life in a dead zone.

Martin Cruz Smith
Martin Cruz Smith

When we were fortunate enough to meet Martin Cruz Smith last March, and accompany him around Tucson during the Tucson Festival of Books, I asked him many questions, and he entertained me with honest and illuminating and some very very funny anecdotes and opinions. Continue reading Chernobyl in Your Travel Plans?