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A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush
A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush | Eric Newby
10 posts | 7 read | 10 to read
It was 1956, and Eric Newby was earning an improbable living in the chaotic family business of London haute couture. Pining for adventure, Newby sent his friend Hugh Carless the now-famous cable - CAN YOU TRAVEL NURISTAN JUNE? - setting in motion a legendary journey from Mayfair to Afghanistan, and the mountains of the Hindu Kush, north-east of Kabul. Inexperienced and ill prepared (their preparations involved nothing more than some tips from a Welsh waitress), the amateurish rogues embark on a month of adventure and hardship in one of the most beautiful wildernesses on earth - a journey that adventurers with more experience and sense may never have undertaken. With good humour, sharp wit and keen observation, the charming narrative style of A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush would soon crystallise Newby's reputation as one of the greatest travel writers of all time.One of the greatest travel classics from one of Britain's best-loved travel writers, this edition includes new photographs, an epilogue from Newby's travelling companion, Hugh Carless, and a prologue from one of Newby's greatest proponents, Evelyn Waugh.
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TheEllieMo
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Read this one for my book club. It feels like a book very much of its time.

#NovemberNarrative
#Hike
@Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Eggs Well done 👍🏼 2y
26 likes1 comment
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Blueberry
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Susanita Great choice! I loved this book. 2y
58 likes3 stack adds1 comment
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rockpools
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Pickpick

1956. Newby leaves his parent‘s fashion business and sets off to explore Nuristan, a remote region of #Afghanistan, with his old friend Hugh. They are, it turns out, hopelessly unprepared!

I enjoyed the humour. Newby pokes fun constantly at himself & particularly at Hugh. I was delighted when Wanda, his wife, decided to travel with them for the start. And it was lovely to get a glimpse of the country in peacetime, rather than during conflict.

rockpools Of course it is a book of it‘s time and an adventure story - I‘d have like to spend more time with the people of the region, but that wasn‘t the point. At times the descriptions were 😐. I‘d also have been seriously miffed if strangers had wandered into my house, or nicked all of my mulberries. Also, much dysentery.

The 50-yr anniversary epilogue by Hugh brought the book up to date, and bumped it from a so-so to a pick.
4y
rockpools I enjoyed the writing style, and look forward to reading Newby and Wanda‘s story (tagged below).

#readingasia2021 #nonfiction2021 (free space) @Librarybelle @BarbaraBB @Riveted_Reader_Melissa
4y
See All 9 Comments
BarbaraBB Ooh this sounds good! 4y
Librarybelle This sounds really good! 4y
Soubhiville Sounds fun! 4y
rockpools @BarbaraBB @Librarybelle It‘s quite fun. It has (obviously) some of the dated attitudes, expectations and insensitivities you‘d imagine from 2 British chaps off adventuring in the 1950s. And there‘s a lot of mountain climbing! But I‘ll definitely read more by him. 4y
rockpools @Soubhiville Eek - our comments overlapped. A few provisos ☝️ 4y
63 likes2 stack adds9 comments
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rockpools
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Giving this a go for my next audiobook.

I‘ve never read Eric Newby before, & I‘m not sure what to expect. 1956. Two well-heeled British chaps drop everything & head off on an adventure.

We haven‘t left London yet, so plenty of potential for it to go icky, but so far it‘s v funny - I‘m getting The Good Life vibes, but 20 yrs earlier. And Wanda (Mrs Newby) has declared she‘s dropping the kids at her mother‘s & travelling with them. Go Wanda!!

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Kristelh
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#riotgrams #day4, #travelsandadventures Two I still need to get to.

11 likes2 stack adds
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DaniRa
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#currentlyreading can you tell I am stuck on travel books? 😜 I can't help it, I love feeling like I'm traveling through the story of another..since I still have another 40 days until my next trip🌴

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DaniRa
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#riotgrams #whereiread this is more comfy than it looks but I seem to spend many hours in this chair which I have dubbed "The Reading Chair" I know, clever right!??

Moray_Reads Beautiful! 8y
DaniRa @Moray_Reads thank you😊it's my favorite spot to be 8y
elkeOriginal Gorgeous! 8y
29 likes3 comments
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DaniRa
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#feistyfeb #tbr Mount TBR is way to large but here some short term goals 😌

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Grrlbrarian
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I just got these delivered via inter library loan, surely one of modern life's deepest pleasures. I'm going on not one, but TWO great adventures. Better pack my pocket handkerchief and plenty of second breakfast! 😍🏞

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Mndasu
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I am actually excited for a 3-4 hour wait. I came prepared. Time to crack open my next book club selection... A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush by Eric Newby. #SparkleMotionBookClub #currentlyreading