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Fresh Air Fiend

By: Paul Theroux
Narrated by: Norman Dietz
Length: 22 hrs and 46 mins
4 out of 5 stars (22 ratings)

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Paul Theroux's latest collection of essays leads the listener through a dazzling array of sights, characters, and experiences. Travel essays take us to Ecuador, Zimbabwe, and Hawaii, to name a few. Gems of literary criticism reveal fascinating depth in the work of Henry David Thoreau, Graham Greene, Joseph Conrad, and Hunter Thompson. And in a series of breathtakingly personal profiles, we take a helicopter ride with Elizabeth Taylor, go surfing with Oliver Sacks, eavesdrop on the day-to-day life of a Manhattan dominatrix, and explore New York with Robin Williams.  

  • 4 out of 5 stars

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  • The Lower River

  • By: Paul Theroux
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A titan of American letters, Paul Theroux wowed audiences and critics with his modern classic The Mosquito Coast. Its captivating thematic cousin, The Lower River, stars Ellis Hock, a man whose dreams of world travel and humanitarianism in the Peace Corps were dashed when he returned home to assume control of his family's business. Now with his wife having left and his life stagnant, Ellis makes the fateful decision to travel back to the small African village he once called home. Yet the happiness and fulfillment he seeks remain elusive.

  • 5 out of 5 stars

  • Great

  • By ginger on 08-11-18
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  • Mother Land

  • By: Paul Theroux
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To those in her Cape Cod town, Mother is an exemplar of piety, frugality, and hard work. To her husband and seven children, she is the selfish, petty tyrant of Mother Land. She excels at playing her offspring against each other. Her favorite, Angela, died in childbirth; only Angela really understands her, she tells the others. The others include the officious lawyer, Fred; the uproarious professor, Floyd; a pair of inseparable sisters whose devotion to Mother has consumed their lives; and JP, the narrator, a successful writer whose work she disparages.

  • 5 out of 5 stars

  • The Inner Dynamics of a Large Massachusetts Family

  • By jon orourke on 10-21-18
Kowloon Tong audiobook cover art

  • Kowloon Tong

  • A Novel of Hong Kong
  • By: Paul Theroux
  • Narrated by: David Dukes
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  • Overall
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Neville "Bunt" Mullard and his mother, Betty, see Hong Kong as part of Great Britain; a cozy, monotonous, beguilingly pleasant part, in which the family business has afforded them a comfortable living. They can see China from their living room, but they have never been there. Certainly they have never been forced to think about the impending "Chinese take-away" until mainland businessman Mr. Hugo offers them a tidy sum for their textile factory. Bunt refuses him out of hand, but it soon emerges that this well-spoken gentleman is different from the Hong Kong Chinese....

Ghost Train to the Eastern Star audiobook cover art

  • Ghost Train to the Eastern Star

  • By: Paul Theroux
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In Ghost Train to the Eastern Star, Paul Theroux retraces the steps he took thirty years ago in his classic The Great Railway Bazaar. From the Eurostar in London, he once again sets out on a journey to the East, travelling overland through Eastern Europe, India and Asia. Infused with the changes that have shaped the exterior landscape and enriched with developments to his own perceptions and psychology, Ghost Train to the Eastern Star is an absorbing and beautifully written follow-up to The Great Railway Bazaar.

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  • ghost train to the eastern star

  • By roger w patton on 07-22-09
Sunrise With Seamonsters audiobook cover art

  • Sunrise With Seamonsters

  • Book 2
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Part Two: 1979-1984 includes: The Orient Express; Rudyard Kipling; Railways of the Raj; Graham Greene's Traveling Companion; and Sunrise with Seamonsters.

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Publisher's Summary

In Fresh Air Fiend, Theroux's pen serves him well with astute, lively pieces that stray far beyond simple "travel essays" and reveal his self-inflicted lifestyle of compulsive travel, writing, and alienation. In this collection--containing mostly previously published magazine pieces written over the past 15 years--there's a strong autobiographical streak, as well as historical perspectives and a sardonic view on aging. "One of the more bewildering aspects of growing older," he writes in "'Memory and Creation,'" "is that people constantly remind you of things that never happened."
©2007 Christine Feehan (P)2008 Recorded Books, LLC.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Inspirational

The banter of Theroux's love for the water and his courageous sense of adventure really grabbed me.I have often found riding kayaks relaxing and excellent exersize also.The writer and his quest to find extraordinary places that are unconventional and charecterize them with descriptive and personal information is sometimes even better than being there.His commentaries on politics are also welcoming,since his views are equally unconventional.As a man who has travel many parts of the known world he provides an intresting perspective on how the whole thing really works.The fact that he takes his time and uses ordinary transportation puts him in touch with the local peoples true lives and makes me realize that life isn't about racing head long in search of things,but stopping to savor the moments we have before us.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

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EyeWander

Excellent book for the traveler or non-traveller alike. Highly recommended.. I enjoyed the audio version more than when I read it years ago.