| Click on Title or Image for details and user reviews. Follow such "New(7) Used(2) from £9.99" links right below the shopping cart to see a list of offers from various sellers (example). |
|
|
Spanish Steps |  | Author: Tim Moore
Publisher: Random House Audiobooks
Category: Book
List Price: £12.99
Buy New: £12.42
as of 29/7/2010 14:23 MDT details
You Save: £0.57 (4%)
New (5) Used (3) from £4.03
Seller: idpublishing
Rating:  18 reviews
Sales Rank: 285668
Format: Audiobook
Media: Audio CD
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 4.9 x 0.9
ISBN: 185686958X
Dewey Decimal Number: 910
EAN: 9781856869584
ASIN: 185686958X
Publication Date: August 26, 2004
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
| |
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
| |
| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
If Tim Moore's Spanish Steps is a prime example of a new kind of travel writing--sardonically funny, quirkily observed and full of bizarre detail--that's good news for readers; if Bill Bryson has forged a whole new genre, who can complain if other writers plough similar fields? Particularly if they do it with as much gusto as Tim Moore. In fact, Moore is actually a rather more penetrating writer than the better-known Bryson, and this tale of a foolhardy pilgrimage with a recalcitrant donkey makes some salient points in between the healthy crop of stinging one-liners. Moore had been fascinated by stories he'd heard of pilgrimages which many Europeans had taken through sultry and unwelcoming Spanish terrain to Santiago de Compostela. The sub-title says it all: "One Man and his Ass on the Pilgrim Way to Santiago"--and Moore's treacherous donkey is as much a character as the bizarre dramatis personae the author encounters. Everything is against him: weather that saps his resolve at every step of the way, impossible dormitories (some of the funniest sections of the book), eccentric fellow travellers, and an animal that, if it could speak, would be constantly asking "is this journey really necessary?" Amid the acres of scary impediments that fall into Moore's path, a whole host of detail crowds in that makes Spain come to vivid life: we're given a seat-of-the-pants experience quite as memorable (and occasionally painful) as the author's. The descriptions are priceless: Unexpected confrontation with full-frontal, Pilsner-bellied German nudity was an occupational hazard in any refugio bathroom… (the man's) wrinkled pilgrim parts now rested on the rim of the sink I was waiting to clean my teeth in… But many serious points are made--always lightly--about a million subjects (not least the lessons of history) in the delightful pages of Spanish Steps. --Barry Forshaw
|
| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 18
Quite readable, often laugh-out-loud funny, slightly rude June 28, 2010
skiffybrummie (England)
As other reviews suggest Tim Moore owes a lot to father of the scatalogically comic travelogue Bill Bryson. He also treads worryingly close at the heels of crowbar-in-a-comedy-gimmick fellow traveller Tony Hawks. Fortunately Hawks's publisher seems to have run out of incongruous objects he can drag to cool-challenged parts of Europe, and Bryson seems to have put away childish things to chase the foccacia and feta crowd with pompous know-it-all almanacs, leaving Moore at the head of the field.
This isn't his best book - for my money, that's French Revolutions - and I found the opening chapters a mild chore. The only advice I can give is to persevere. The balance between info-dump and narrative quickly settles down and there's rarely a chapter without something splutteringly funny
The basic comedy idea is that a clever, worldly, modern Englishman has an experience more readily associated with less clever and worldly people, walking a milennium-old pilgrim route. Comedy travelogue regulars will already have encountered a dry run in one of Pete McCarthy's books. For full comic effect Tim Moore throws in a Hawks-ish gimmick - his rucksack is being carried by a donkey (or "donk", or for the benefit of patronised Germans everywhere "monkey").
Newcomers beware that Tim Moore is a three-earring middle class groovy media dad. His personal mythology comes off the rack, hinting he didn't pay attention at school and using his own vague youthful indiscretions to excuse some misbehaviour-lite by his own kids. His humour is often smugly ironic, so his comedy viewpoint can be slightly detached. He's inclined to the soft-target, so there are recurring motifs about Shirley Maclaine and Germans who ask about his "monkey". He's also schoolboy rude, as in the German who asks "have you tried the rear approach with your monkey?"
The thing is, I laughed, a lot.
There are a few real bullseye strikes, as with the early section about a donkey familiarisation seminar. He slyly and subtly points out that the £13-million-a-year Donkey Sanctuary charity owns three-quarters of UK "donks" and clearly exists less to rescue and protect the animals so much as support the more-middle-class-than-he Phillidas and Joccastas it employs. He then tackles a living donkey for the first time, with inevitable belly-laugh results.
There's real travelogue and occasionally clumsily dumped historical information, mainly or ostensibly gained from guidebooks along the way. As with French Revolutions (although to a lesser extent) there seems to be a genuine personal connection with the experience and some of the non-German pilgrims he meets along the way. American weirdo Baroness Munchaussen isn't treated too kindly, but still one of my personal favourites ("So ... how did you disarm the, um, hi-jacker...?")
 Language Baffled Me June 11, 2009
Baldev Hundal
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Read this excellent book, being an armchair traveller, but was completely baffled by the language. What could have been a lovely narration of a unique journey, turned out to be a condrum of unravelling what the author really wanted to say. It made my mind wander. No wonder the likes of Naipaul can claim that HE is the best writer in English. Why complicate something with such obtuse prose, when a simplicity of style would have made this a classic in travel literature.Spanish Steps
 Hilarious and Human May 30, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I plan to do the Camino this year, Tim Moore's accounts are totally consistent with my friend who has walked it already on the joys and challenges of the walk and myself, on for instance calling Shirley Maclaine and Paulo Coelho "Guffmeister Generals" and taking the mick out of Nike worshipping gore-tex gods. I woke my partner to be read extracts of this and I laughed out loud more than I remember to any other book, she has other feelings but can see I enjoyed it - bit like sex then this book! And I got it in a charity shop for 30p
Nick
humour but not accurate March 14, 2008
H. dowdalls (Alness)
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
Enjoyable read,but having embraced Spanish ways,Truly some of the story is exagerrated.
On reflection,I would say that this book is more fiction than fact,perhaps at times even on the verge of the "British Xenophile abroad" category.
However,Mr Moore always makes me laugh.
Viva Tim! Viva Shinto! January 20, 2008
C. A. Kyprianou (Spain)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
As most of the previous reviewers have already said, this is a light-hearted but overwhelmingly generous book about the medieval pilgrimage across the top of Spain. The walk has become popular again and Moore's descriptions, experiences, lows, highs and adventures are cleverly captured. He's very accurate at his observation of the Spanish (I know, I live here!) and he's also spot on with his attention to detail on his fellow pilgrims. A great read if your're doing/have done the Camino. A great read even if you're not!
Showing reviews 1-5 of 18
|
We display the lowest priced offers from a list of new and used items. It is clearly indicated right before the displayed price on whether the displayed item is new or used, i.e. "Buy Used: £8.00" or "Buy New: £8.00".
For more options to buy new (or used) just follow the link that looks like this "New (7) Used (2) from £9.99" right below the shopping cart. The link will not be displayed if there is no other offer.
Free UK delivery available for offers from Amazon.co.uk (terms & conditions) with indication of "Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping" (example). Offers from other sellers are subjected to delivery charge of £2.75 per book. More about free delivery, click here. |
|
|
| Browse by genre |
|
Audio CDs
Languages: Michel Thomas Language Courses, Rapid Language Courses, Courses For Children,
Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, French, Gaelic, Irish & Welsh, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Vietnamese
Biographies & Memoirs
Business, Finance & Law
Children's Books: Book & CD Gift Packs, Children's Modern, Classics, Education, Harry Potter, Language, Music
Authors: Blyton, Enid, Rowling, JK, Wynne Jones, Diana
Comedy: Comedy Classic, Contemporary Comedy, Bill Bryson, Billy Connolly, Blackadder, Dead Ringers, Fast Show, Hancock, Knowing Me, Knowing You, Monty Python, Rumpole of the Bailey, The Goon Show
Crime, Thrillers & Mystery: Child, Lee, Christie, Agatha, Cornwell, Patricia, Francis, Dick, Grisham, John, Rankin, Ian, Smith, Wilbur
|
Fiction: Literary Classics, Religious, Unabridged, Western
Health, Family & Lifestyle: Personal Growth, Relaxation & Meditation
History: BC-1500, 1501-1700, 1701-Present, This Sceptered Isle
Horror: Herbert, James, King, Stephen, Koontz, Dean
Music
Poetry & Drama
Radio Shows: Dead Ringers, Hancock, The Goon Show
Religion & Spirituality
Romance: Austen, Jane, Binchy, Maeve, Bingham, Charlotte, Collins, Jackie, Cookson, Catherine, Steel, Danielle
Science Fiction & Fantasy: Fantasy, Science Fiction, DiscWorld, Dr Who, Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, Star Wars, Tolkien
Sports, Hobbies & Games
Travel
|
|
|
|
|
|
CERTAIN CONTENT THAT APPEARS ON THIS SITE COMES FROM AMAZON EU S.à.r.l. THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED ‘AS IS’ AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE OR REMOVAL AT ANY TIME. Copyright 2006 © audiohome.co.uk, an audio books store Privacy Notice | Delivery | Customer Service | Buying Guide | Search Audiobooks Quickly | | My favourite authors: |
| In CDs: |
| Adams, Douglas |
| Bennett, Alan |
| Bryson, Bill |
| Christie, Agatha |
| Covey, Stephen R. |
| Cornwell, Patricia |
| Dahl, Roald |
| Dickens, Charles |
| Ludlum, Robert |
| Rowling, JK |
| Stevenson, Robert Louis |
| More authors... |
| |
| In cassettes: |
| Adams, Douglas |
| Bennett, Alan |
| Bryson, Bill |
| Christie, Agatha |
| Cornwell, Patricia |
| Dahl, Roald |
| Dickens, Charles |
| Ludlum, Robert |
| Rice, Anne |
| Stevenson, Robert Louis |
| More authors... |
|
|
|
|
Over 50,000 audio books, 
