Books by Paul Theroux
Theroux is an American travel writer and novelist, whose best known work of travel writing is perhaps The Great Railway Bazaar (1975). He has published numerous works of fiction, some of which were made into feature films. He was awarded the 1981 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his novel The Mosquito Coast on which the 1986 movie is based.
Burma Sahib
by Paul Theroux
Travel writer Paul Theroux imagines the life of British writer George Orwell, during the period he spent as a colonial policeman in Burma (now Myanmar) in the 1920s. Orwell wrote about this period in his novel, Burmese Days, and some episodes from his essays appear in the book—though Theroux goes well beyond those to create a work of fiction. The book opens on the ship on the way out to Rangoon, with a woman spying on Orwell through a pair of binoculars as the Suez Canal recedes in the background. As a 19-year-old wearing an Eton tie, she thinks Orwell might make a good prospect for her daughter.
“This was his journey around Britain in 1982, with the Falklands war as a backdrop. He travelled around the British coast, taking trains to seaside towns. The Kingdom by the Sea is a lovely title for a book. He brought his American view to the most British part of Britain – the seaside resort. There is one wonderful riff in it, after his brain had been sufficiently addled by travel, where in two pages he creates a composite seaside resort. It’s a sustained joke with a huge amount of truth to it, and one of the most memorable and funniest passages of travel writing that I know.” Read more...
Matthew Engel, Journalist
The Lower River
by Paul Theroux
I see it rather as a book about captivity. A man whose life is up the wall goes to Africa with good intentions, and isn’t allowed to leave. He describes his marriage as a digression – his real life was in Malawi, when he was alone. That’s the other thing about travel. You are, and can be, yourself. People don’t know you, so their expectations aren’t the same. He felt captive in his job and in his marriage, and he travels back to Malawi. But then he can’t get away. That’s the nightmare of a lot of travellers. You go to a place, and then they say you can’t go. You’re stuck.
The Great Railway Bazaar
by Paul Theroux
I like the humour in the book [Following the Equator], and the roominess. He [Mark Twain] is open to a lot of new experiences, whether it’s in Hawaii or India or South Africa. He’s open to anything, and it’s that receptive mood of the book that I liked. It’s also a book which I discovered myself. I found an old copy, I read it and I asked English professors about it, who dismissed it. But it influenced me deeply, because I thought: I’d like to take a long trip, leaving London, going to Paris, taking the Orient Express, going through Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan – which became The Great Railway Bazaar. That all came from this book [Following the Equator].
“This is almost a ghost story, isn’t it? A family lost in the snowy darkness on treacherous roads in rural America, drawn in by the light of a house and shown the way home by a magical Christmas card given them by a ghostly man.” Read more...
Father Christmas, Miscellaneou
Interviews with Paul Theroux
The Best Travel Books, recommended by Paul Theroux
Travel is a leap in the dark, says Paul Theroux and one that will leave you a different person at the other end. He recommends five travel books that inspired him, from Mark Twain at sea to VS Naipaul in India
Interviews where books by Paul Theroux were recommended
The best books on Christmas, recommended by Father Christmas
Shelve your cynicism – Santa Claus does exist, and he took the time out to tell us his five favourite Christmas-time books. He’s more of a pictures than words kind of guy, and he’s been to Las Vegas.
The best books on Britishness, recommended by Matthew Engel
Britain is a bewilderingly motley nation of phlegmatic grumblers, says the author and editor Matthew Engel – a seaside resort-going, class-conscious people haunted by loss of empire, and we can’t even agree on what the country is called
The Best Travel Books recommended by Paul Theroux