remember finishing this while stuck in LAX waiting room due to delay or canceled flight - exceedingly annoyed because I had no other reading material ( )

A colorful account of a woman's travel from England through Egypt, India, Iraq, Iran, and back home through Russia and Europe. It is pretty impressive that a unaccompanied woman traveled through the Middle East at that time. Wonderful imagery of the travels and sights and people. Even the barren desert seems welcoming. If the authors name was not given it would be impossible to determine that it was written by a woman (until the closing pages when a customs agent proposes marriage). ( )

I read this a few months ago, so, it's hard to write about it now. I do remember that I loved it. Not only is it one of my favorite genres, vintage travel, but it impressed me as one of the most beautifully written travelogues I've read.

It really made me want to read more of Vita Sackville-Wes's work. I haven't done so yet, but her work is defnitely on my radar. ( )

In 1926 Vita Sackville-West travelled to visit her husband, Harold Nicolson, who was a diplomat posted to Teheran in 1925. On this extensive journey, she travelled via Egypt, India, Iraq, Persia, and returned via Russia and Poland. Throughout the expedition she recorded her thoughts and impressions. The published notes became well-known not only as an excellent travel description, but as a personal memoir and contemplative account of the journey. Her initial impression of the amazingly beautiful Persia, now known as Iran, is remarkably vivid. It is interesting to read about the way travel used to be, especially in the elegant, evocative style of Sackville-West: a truly enjoyable experience.

Excerpt - on approaching the pyramids in Egypt:
"I had formed no image of the burial ground of the Pharaohs. Indeed, it seemed incredible that within a few moments I should behold it with my eyes, and know for the rest of my life thereafter exactly what it looked like. Then it would seem equally incredible that I should not always have known. These small but stinging reflections kept me lingering; I was loth to part with my ignorance; I reproached myself with having wasted so many years in not speculating on this royal sepulchre. Never again would that delight be within my reach; for the pleasures of the imagination I was about to exchange the dreary fact of knowledge."

This edition has an introduction by Sackville-West's son, Nigel Nicolson. He has included many personal details about the trip as well as photographs that were omitted from the original work published in 1926. ( )