Writers exploring the world

 

Mint condition. Rare book. PB. 384pp. Not available from Booktopia. $25 including postage anywhere in Australia. 

Featuring the work of more than 28 writers from upwards of 20 countries, this collection transports us to the frontiers of twenty-first century literature.

In these pages, some of the most accomplished writers in world literature&;among them Edwidge Danticat, Ha Jin, Cynthia Ozick, Javier Marias, and Nobel laureates Wole Soyinka, Günter Grass, Czeslaw Milosz, Wislawa Szymborska, and Naguib Mahfouz&;have stepped forward to introduce us to dazzling literary talents virtually unknown to readers of English. Most of their work&;short stories, poems, essays, and excerpts from novels&;appears here in English for the first time.

The Chilean writer Ariel Dorfman introduces us to a story of extraordinary poise and spiritual intelligence by the Argentinian writer Juan Forn. The Romanian writer Norman Manea shares with us the sexy, sinister, and thrillingly avant garde fiction of his homeland&;s leading female novelist. The Indian writer Amit Chaudhuri spotlights the Bengali writer Parashuram, whose hilarious comedy of manners imagines what might have happened if Britain had been colonized by Bengal. And Roberto Calasso writes admiringly of his fellow Italian Giorgio Manganelli, whose piece celebrates the Indian city of Madurai.

Every piece here&;be it from the Americas, Africa, Europe, the Middle East, South Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, or the Caribbean&;is a discovery, a colorful thread in a global weave of literary exchange.

Edited by Samantha Schnee, Alane Salierno Mason, and Dedi Felman

Anxious travel

 

Mint condition. PB. Rare book. 280 pp. Amazon sells for over $50. Our price $30 including postage anywhere in Australia.

Journalist-about-town Phil Brown has travelled widely but always reluctantly. Whether pursuing a tailor-made suit in the back alleys of Hong Kong, souvenir hunting in Ubud or dodging potholes on the road to Kathmandu, he shoulders a veritable kitbag of travel phobias.

With his more adventurous wife Sandra, Phil worries his way around the world, seeking the comfort of cable TV and 24-hour room service. Against his better judgment, he tackles the rainswept peaks of Scotland, the icy alienation of the Rockies and even the high Himalayas.

Travels through Russia

 

PB. Mint condition. 352pp. $25 including postage anywhere in Australia.

The Road of Bones is the story of Russia's greatest road. For over 200 years, the route of the Vladimirka Road has been at the centre of the nation's history, having witnessed everything from the first human footsteps to the rise of Putin and his oil-rich oligarchy. Tsars, wars, famine and wealth: all have crossed and travelled this road, but no-one has ever told its story.

In pursuit of the sights, sounds and voices both past and present, Jeremy Poolman travels the Vladimirka. Both epic and intimate, The Road of Bones is a record of his travels - but much more. It looks into the hearts and reveals the histories of those whose lives have been changed by what is known by many as simply The Greatest of Roads.

This is a book about life and about death and about the strength of will it takes to celebrate the former while living in the shadow of the latter. Anecdotal and epic, The Road of Bones follows the author's journey along this road, into the past and back again. The book takes as its compass both the voices of history and those of today and draws a map of the cities and steppes of the Russian people's battered but ultimately indefatigable spirit.

Rare classic on Indian travels

 

Mint condition. Rare book. 320pp. $25 including postage anywhere in Australia.

From an award-winning author whose books have all become modern classics, "Indian Balm" is written beautifully - witty, poetic, informed, full of colour and insight. It is a fascinating journey through past and present India, explaining a region far off the beaten track. 

"Indian Balm" is the captivating account of a journey Paul Hyland made along the little-known course of the sacred Godavari river in Southern India: a pilgrimage through both his past and India's present. It is the story of the search for his ancestors, missionaries and traders, who settled in the region generations ago and of their Balm - a wonder cure for all sorts of ailments and afflictions. It is also a fascinating and enlightening journey through India today. 

Wading through the country's contradictions and irritations, its ugliness and its beauty, Hyland encounters both the exotic and the commonplace. He meets snake charmers and sadhus, bogi men and horn dancers, witnesses ancient rituals and observes the most simple aspects of daily life. Indian Balm is an extraordinary and, above all, unique journey - vivid, intimate and revealing - travel writing at its colourful best.

A Scotsman writes humorously about his dog

 

Mint condition. HB. 204 pp. $20 including postage anywhere in Australia.

It seems now like a different me, the years I spent with Martin, a Doberman dog, and before he came, another me; and it is a new me now, once again, writing this. I would have been dead long ago had I continued to live the way I had before he came.

I think someone would have murdered me, given how I drank and the dives that I drank in and that I was an aggressive, angry man. I had no money and no friends. I didn’t care, I couldn’t have. 

Thomas Healy was a drunk, a fighter, sometimes a writer, often unemployed, no stranger to the police. His life was going nowhere but downhill. Then one day he bought a pup—a Doberman. He called him Martin. 

Gradually man and dog became unshakable allies, the closest of comrades, the best of friends. They took long walks together, they vacationed together, they even went to church together. Martin, in more ways than one, saved Thomas Healy’s life. 

Written with unadulterated candor and profound love, this soulful memoir gets at the heart of the intense bond between people and dogs.

Stories from the Stolen Generation

 

Very good condition. 198pp. $15 including postage anywhere in Australia.

Phillip Adams on India

 

Excellent condition. 222 pages. $20 including postage anywhere in Australia.

A West Australian explores the world

 

Rare book. Mint condition. 182pp. $20 including postage anywhere in Australia.

Scourfield is former travel editor of the West Australian newspaper.

From his most recent, travels, Stephen Scourfield brings together some of his most fascinating journeys and encounters in the book Travel Etcetera. From the giant tortoises of Mauritius to the carbon ledgers of India and mai tais of Hawaii. From the temples of Bangkok to the frigid history of the Yukon. The book looks at the world in a personal and often amused way. It is a literary journey that interprets the very nature of travel.