1 comments about Memoirs of Hector Berlioz, Member of the French Institute, Including His Travels in Italy, Germany, Russia, and England, 1803-1865..

1. Berlioz fans probably know that the composer was also a music reviewer and that he wrote famous memoirs. But readers may be surprized to find how well he was able to depict even some small moments from his life. He is very focused on his feelings and is a master of conveying them. A true romantic. Read the chapter about the re-burial of his first wife and be amazed. Reality is often more fascinating than fiction!

1 comments about First Russia, Then Tibet (Travel Library).

1. I first dismissed Robert Byron's book ''First Russia, then Tibet" because it came across as an anti-Soviet diatribe. I picked it up again because a good friend, whose opinion I respect, said that it was good. On a second reading Byron was less prejudiced than I had at first thought, and I realized that what I had thought was right-wing blinkers was in fact a fine aesthetic sensitivity. He also understands that one of the most important things for a travel writer is to observe people and not just places. He describes Russia shortly after Lenin's death.

   I thought at first that he was there as a political observer but I was a lot more sympathetic when it became clear that he was really interested in the art and architecture. You end up with an interesting picture of Russia just after Lenin's death, and just before Stalin's crackdown.

   The second two thirds of the book are more interesting, though. He recounts the first commercial flight from Britain to India, which takes all of a week. He then retells a short journey into Tibet, something as forbidden then as it is now.

   What really stands out is how he describes how everyone looks and lives, be they a Maharajah or Tibetan peasant. You can literally feel and smell the rigors of travel in a place that has not progressed much beyond medieval technology. He does not judge anyone although he is ultimately very sympathetic to the Tibetans' rejection of the modern world. You get the sense that he could have been very scathing about the attitude of the British colonials to the locals, but instead chooses to say nice things about those colonizers who did make the effort to meet the natives on their own terms.

   One note: the description of a dinner at the governor's house in Darjeeling is one of the funniest passages that I have ever read. Byron's deadpan style is perfect to describe a minor incident in a place where nothing ever happens. It reminds me of the game of cricket in "England, their England". His descriptions of his travel companions, and the fact that they are often more reluctant than he, are gently witty, and turned back on himself.

   I would recommend this to people who liked "A short walk in the Hindu Kush", or who read Peter Hopkirk's books on exploration and espionage in Central Asia in the last century.

No comments about I visit the Soviets;: The provincial lady looks at Russia,.

No comments about Russian Lessons: A Burned-Out Businesswoman Finds Herself in Postmodernist Moscow.

2 comments about Witness to Disintegration: Provincial Life in the Last Year of the USSR.

1. An incredibly witty, lighthearted look at life of Dr. Walter Hixson, in Kazan in the former USSR. Dr. Hixson, a history Professor at the University of Akron, Ohio, spent 10 months living "native" in Kazan and writes about his life there. This book is full of anecdotes, giving the reader a true look through "western" eyes at life in the east. This book is an easy read, hard to put down and one you just don't want to finish....much like Dr. Hixson's lectures on U.S. History!



2. The author shares his experiences of living in provincial USSR prior to the country's collapse. His writings use enough color and detail to help you explore the country along side him. Even when the author describes the living conditions of the Soviet people, you are left feeling that his impressions are real, personal and honest; yet never over-dramatized.

   Whether the reader is interested in the USSR or not (I was not particularly), you will enjoy the adventure. I was particularly impressed how open the Soviet people were and how welcoming of strangers. I suspect that a visitor to the US would not enjoy such hospitality.

No comments about Travels from St. Petersburgh in Russia, to various parts of Asia: Illustrated with maps.

No comments about Travels in Russia, Tartary and Turkey; Incidents of Travel in Greece, Turkey, Russia and Poland; Incidents of Travel in Egypt, Arabia Petrea and the Holy Land; Travels in the East.

No comments about Travels in Greece and Russia; with an excursion to Crete. Household edition.

No comments about The real Siberia,: Together with an account of a dash through Manchuria,.

No comments about Caviar for breakfast;: An American woman's adventures in Russia.