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Showing posts from December, 2013

In between Mr B’s Reading Year: Broken Road: From the Iron Gates to Mount Athos by Patrick Leigh Fermor (2013)

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We managed to get our copy the evening before release at Mr B’s own bibliotherapy session   ( http://www.mrbsemporium.com/ )  and what a treat we have.  This posthumous publication has been eagerly awaited, the third section of Patrick’s year-long walk from England to Istanbul (Constantinople) made in 1935 when he was 18.   This book has been finalised by Patrick’s literary executors, Colin Thubron and Artemis Cooper, using completed sections and notes.   They have managed a potentially very difficult task wonderfully well, creating something that is genuine.   Yet again, the brilliant writing, the descriptions of people and landscapes, shines through.   The lands and people Patrick meets are just fascinating.   The book takes us from the Iron Gates on the Donau through Bulgaria, back to Romania, then down the Black Sea coast to Constantinople. Interestingly, there are only scattered notes of his stay in Istanbul – no soaring descriptions of the architecture or the bustle of city