Eric Newby, The Big Red Train Ride

I was bought The Big Red Train Ride for Christmas by my sister because I had mentioned that one of the holidays I wanted to plan for myself was a trip across Russian and China on the Trans-Siberian express which is the longest train-journey in the world - about 16 nights (although trips can be longer or shorter depending on stops).

This book was recently republished but was actually first released in 1977 and follow's the author's experience of taking the journey in what was still the middle of the cold war.

It's a odd book to describe as most people have come to expect travel guides to be either light-hearted and informative (like Bryson) or serious and thought-provoking (like Theroux). This sits somewhere in the middle. Not quite humorous and lighthearted enough to be a really run read but neither is it an expose of the everyman experience of living in the communist USSR which could have been really interesting as not many people got to see the country in those times.

You do get some sense of life and the people but only ever through the eyes of a Daily Telegraph reading Brit abroad which makes his subjects rather one-dimensional.

It's an easy enough read but those looking for either pure fun or serious education should look to other books.