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veecaswell's review against another edition
5.0
An incrediblely diverse selection of travellers that is a great primer in travel and women. Highly recommend.
lindseysparks's review against another edition
5.0
This is a lovely book of travel essays by women from the 1700s to about the 1970s. Many of the women were traveling alone during times when traveling wasn't very easy and certainly wasn't something many women did o their own, and they were traveling to places all over the world. The majority of the essays are about Africa, Asia and the Middle East. There were a few about traveling to colonial America and one about traveling to the wilds of Ohio written by Anthony Trollope's mother that was hilarious. Many of the women faced sexism along the way and had to fight to go certain places. The defied expectations. I ended up with a long list of books to read from these ladies. And have the itch to travel.
fourtriplezed's review
3.0
A very competent chronology of women’s travel writing is presented by Virago. Typically of books such as these some excepts hold the attention better than others as there is something for everyone or anyone interested in the diverse but seemingly niche travel writings of women through the ages.
First published in 1994 and edited by Mary Morris I was a little slow to take in comments she made in her Introduction. On rereading, after finishing the last except proper, she at one point writes “Women, I feel, move through the world differently than men. The constraint’s and perils, the perceptions and complex emotions women journey with are different than men. The fear of rape for example….” “….or just crossing the street at night, most dramatically effects the way they move around the world.” Further examples were given and with that the editor has a point. The more I thought about what I had read the more I realised that many of the excerpts did indeed include the writer letting the reader know their fears in certain situations. My lack of thoughtfulness on this subject on my read through of this compendium does me no favours.
The Introduction also made comment that this was a collection that looked to show past and recent examples of feminist literature. I had to admit that as a male reader I also felt bereft of understanding this when reading through but gained an understanding when reading the Intro after.
I did find myself more attracted to the later day writers than the early years, I have to admit, but I am unable to give a reason why. Maybe there was less writing on their surrounds and more sophisticated commentary on their happenings? I don’t know and I feel ham-fisted trying to explain it. An example is that is an excerpt from Annie Dillard’s book A stone to Talk that blew me away with the brilliance of the prose and observation. A few earlier writers just plodded along but that is probably unfair on my part. Just maybe I should have taken more notice of that introduction.
Be that as it may, as inarticulate as my musings are, this is a good book for those who may have an interest in women’s travel writing over the ages. Recommended to those with that interest.
First published in 1994 and edited by Mary Morris I was a little slow to take in comments she made in her Introduction. On rereading, after finishing the last except proper, she at one point writes “Women, I feel, move through the world differently than men. The constraint’s and perils, the perceptions and complex emotions women journey with are different than men. The fear of rape for example….” “….or just crossing the street at night, most dramatically effects the way they move around the world.” Further examples were given and with that the editor has a point. The more I thought about what I had read the more I realised that many of the excerpts did indeed include the writer letting the reader know their fears in certain situations. My lack of thoughtfulness on this subject on my read through of this compendium does me no favours.
The Introduction also made comment that this was a collection that looked to show past and recent examples of feminist literature. I had to admit that as a male reader I also felt bereft of understanding this when reading through but gained an understanding when reading the Intro after.
I did find myself more attracted to the later day writers than the early years, I have to admit, but I am unable to give a reason why. Maybe there was less writing on their surrounds and more sophisticated commentary on their happenings? I don’t know and I feel ham-fisted trying to explain it. An example is that is an excerpt from Annie Dillard’s book A stone to Talk that blew me away with the brilliance of the prose and observation. A few earlier writers just plodded along but that is probably unfair on my part. Just maybe I should have taken more notice of that introduction.
Be that as it may, as inarticulate as my musings are, this is a good book for those who may have an interest in women’s travel writing over the ages. Recommended to those with that interest.
hilsaa's review
3.0
The editing of this book drove me crazy. This collection of various women's writing is presented in vaguely chronological order, but there are no dates as to when any of the pieces were written or published! Why would you not have the dates of the publication we're about to read? Or the location, for that matter, as the writings are from locations across the globe. Not having a date or location stated upfront made it difficult to quickly figure out where and when each piece was written. This became increasingly frustrating the more I read.
Sometimes a year was mentioned off-handedly in the "intro" paragraphs by the editor. When this happened, it felt like putting together a puzzle between the date of the woman's lifetime, the year travelled and the year published. Sometimes those intro paragraphs came across as judgemental and awkward. They had no consistency throughout the book. Some of the selections of writing seemed absolutely random and without purpose. One of them was barely three pages long. The editor included parts of her own travel journal among the writings, and, of course, hers was one of the longest pieces in the book. That felt self-indulgent and only increased my frustration with this book.
I found several women whose works I want to read and I appreciate a book dedicated to female travellers. I loved travelling through time and place and reading about how world used to be and how women experienced it. With a few small and simple changes to the editing, this book would have been much more enjoyable and easier to read. As it stands, I was so frustrated with the way this was edited that I can't rate it higher than 3.5 stars.
Sometimes a year was mentioned off-handedly in the "intro" paragraphs by the editor. When this happened, it felt like putting together a puzzle between the date of the woman's lifetime, the year travelled and the year published. Sometimes those intro paragraphs came across as judgemental and awkward. They had no consistency throughout the book. Some of the selections of writing seemed absolutely random and without purpose. One of them was barely three pages long. The editor included parts of her own travel journal among the writings, and, of course, hers was one of the longest pieces in the book. That felt self-indulgent and only increased my frustration with this book.
I found several women whose works I want to read and I appreciate a book dedicated to female travellers. I loved travelling through time and place and reading about how world used to be and how women experienced it. With a few small and simple changes to the editing, this book would have been much more enjoyable and easier to read. As it stands, I was so frustrated with the way this was edited that I can't rate it higher than 3.5 stars.
ijustkindalikebooks's review
5.0
An incrediblely diverse selection of travellers that is a great primer in travel and women. Highly recommend.
balancinghistorybooks's review
4.0
I am an enormous fan of Virago, as anyone who knows even a little of my reading habits can probably discern. To my delight, I spotted The Virago Book of Women Travellers online at a ridiculously low price, and decided to treat myself (another of my favourite things in life is travelling, after all!). I had originally intended to read it over the Christmas holidays, but true to form at such busy times, I did not really get a chance to do so. I thus picked it up in February, just before a wonderful trip to The Netherlands.
The selection of extracts here is extensive and varied, and encompasses an incredible scope of geographical locations. Societally and historically it is most interesting, and some extracts - Beryl Markham's about elephant hunting, for instance - are very of their time (thankfully so, in this case!). Some of my favourite authors were collected here - Vita Sackville-West, and Rebecca West, as well as Rose Macaulay. As ever with such collections, there were several entries which I did not quite enjoy as much as the rest, but each was undoubtedly fascinating in its own way. I very much enjoyed the 'can do' attitude which every single one of the writers had, regardless of circumstance or destination, and very much liked the way in which this singular thread bound all of them together. The chronological ordering made for a splendid reading experience.
The Virago Book of Women Travellers is a marvellous volume in which to dip here and there, to reconnect with old favourites, and to discover new writers to find, and new women to admire. I adore the idea of thematic travelogues, and there is something really rather special and inspiring about this one. It has brought some marvellous women, both in terms of personality and writing ablity, to my attention, and I can only conclude this review by saying that it is a joy for any women traveller to read.
The selection of extracts here is extensive and varied, and encompasses an incredible scope of geographical locations. Societally and historically it is most interesting, and some extracts - Beryl Markham's about elephant hunting, for instance - are very of their time (thankfully so, in this case!). Some of my favourite authors were collected here - Vita Sackville-West, and Rebecca West, as well as Rose Macaulay. As ever with such collections, there were several entries which I did not quite enjoy as much as the rest, but each was undoubtedly fascinating in its own way. I very much enjoyed the 'can do' attitude which every single one of the writers had, regardless of circumstance or destination, and very much liked the way in which this singular thread bound all of them together. The chronological ordering made for a splendid reading experience.
The Virago Book of Women Travellers is a marvellous volume in which to dip here and there, to reconnect with old favourites, and to discover new writers to find, and new women to admire. I adore the idea of thematic travelogues, and there is something really rather special and inspiring about this one. It has brought some marvellous women, both in terms of personality and writing ablity, to my attention, and I can only conclude this review by saying that it is a joy for any women traveller to read.
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