Coasting

I concluded the Travel section with Coasting: A Private Voyage by Jonathan Raban. It was written during the early 80s and comes from the waffly school of travel writing when the author tends to waffle on about anything in particular, in his case the Falklands, Miners Strike, Thatcher and his childhood. All well and good for but I'd rather he described more about what sounds an interesting journey by sea around Britain (he never does say where he went, when, how lomg it took etc). Raban is essentially a fiction writer so his prose is excellent, but it's not my sort of book. 5/10

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Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

My God this is a negative book, I bet Gustave Flaubert was real fun at parties. I realise the book is something of a swipe at the bourgeoisie but I don't think there was a single positive character in the book. Everyone is despicable, pathetic, self-interested and nobody comes out with any credit at all.

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Cracking the Capital

The authorities tried to ban Subterranean London: Cracking the Capital by Bradley L. Garrett so it's kind of ironic that I end up getting it from a public library having hitherto never heard of it. It's an amazing collection of photos taken beneath the streets of London, all of which were without permission and many must have been very dangerous to do. Hats off to whoeever did this, although you must be mad. It would have been nice to have had a bit more text. 8/10