Global Wandering

This is such a nice read, David. You should post some more of your book. Happy to back!

Hi Mary,
That book must be gathering a lot of dust.
I'd forgotten all about it until I got an email saying you'd commented.
For some reason, I've not received any messages from Authonomy in way over a year.
Thanks for the comments, and the encouragement.
I must admit I got turned off authonomy by the reviewing system - have spent my time instead on youwriteon.com.
There you have to crit a piece to get a review in return.
Don't know whether you've checked it out, but I prefer it to Authonomy.
Having said that, now I've signed back here with a new password for the forgotten one, I'll have to take a fresh look round, including at yours.
Best of luck with the writing.
D

David

This brought back a number of great memories from my time travelling around Asia-Pacific. Japan was my favourite stopover because of its vastly differing style between countryside and city. Your easy style and humour had me laughing in shared remembrance.The whole language thing, two-way, is applicable even here in Spain. Quite often the Japanese humour does not come out in most books and I think I even played at the same 18 ar**hole course as those guys.

The only thing is the length of the chapter, but I get why you do it, although it seemed as though there were some natural breaks in there.

Definitley shelved and I'll be back for more.

Cheers

Rayo

David,
finally got here and read as far as Ryokan Must Do.
Very enjoyable, humerous, nice writing style. Really interesting snippets of information that made me smile quite a few times, and I learnt a lot! The English Bill Bryson?
All together easily enough for a shelf. Hope you get to mine before the end of the month, and looking forward to the next MAC night out. Heard you finished at 3am. I couldn't last any longer, the last strains of flu wiped me out!
Cheers,
Simon

Hi David,
Read part of this, enough to know that I shall back this - great blend of history, architecture, cultutr, traditions, and your own experiences.
Last sentence of Para 1 is absolutely beautiful.
Also loved the light humopur in phrases such as 'castle keep fathfully restored in re-inforced concrete.' / 'High speed lift....godsend for knights...'
I do have a few suggestions which would (in my opinion )improve this.
The opening sentence is rather long and cumbersome. I'd suggest starting with sentnece 2 - much more effective AND avoids a sense of repetition in 'the image was dark' - much more powerful than the 'black night...'etc
'grabbing hold.....from Korea (for the last time)' - words in brackets don't add anything and weaken writing.
'designed by Piano...' Rather than repeat 'piano' 3 times I'd suggest following this with his full name - ie (Renzo?? Piano, that is.) Or whatever his name is - I assumed it must be Renzo, but wasn't sure.
Finally, this is a very long chapter, and could benefit from being chopped into smaller chunks.
All this said, i have really enjoyed the read, onto my shelf, now.
Margaret
PS I'd value reaction to Munro's Choice (quite soon, if possible, -for obvious reasons....), thanks,
M.

Onto the watchlist for later today. I've already read the first half and enjoyed it a lot. As indeed you seemed to do.

U don't read your messages, do you? keefieboy arruba gmail punto com

Hi David, this is a great read. You really seem to get under the skin of the places you visit. And unlike as in some of Bill Bryson's travelogues, I get the impression that you actually enjoy your adventures. Your gently ironic humour sets the tone for a series of extremely readable stories.

Shelved.

David - this is undeniably enjoyable. It's a very long chapter, and I wondered whether you couldn't (just for Authonomy's sake), subdivide it, along the lines that you have done in the text. I think it would be a worthwhile exercise, as your chapter is full of gems. I always love infelicities of translation, and the Japanese seem to be in a class of their own in this ancient and delicate art. You also provide us with a huge amount of information about what a tourist can look forward to in various parts of Japan.

I felt a little deprived, knowing little or nothing of the nature of the conference you were attending, and I couldn't really picture the three women you toured with - I think that the wonderfully evocative descriptive powers you have at your disposal could be extended to give us an idea of what your companions looked like. I know that the conference really isn't the main drive of your story, but it's what took you there in the first place, and it's what contributed to the first group of experiences you recount and the three women you accompanied, so it might help just to fill that in a bit.

Steadily, the effect accumulates - the reader comes to see the Japanese not as bizarre aliens but as people as idiosyncratic culturally as we are in the West. I was most amused by your remarks about teenage girls and the contrast between Japan's relaxed attitude to their sexuality and the hysterical (and hypocritical) puritanism of the UK. I would have been interested in knowing a bit more about Japanese food - I am a foodie, but I'm also a veggie, so I'm always on the lookout for cultures which handle the vegetarian issue with aplomb.

Overall, though, this is a most engrossing and enjoyable read. I wouldn't call it a 'quick take' on a country - it comes across as more detailed and considered than that. And I wonder how many other countries will be on the agenda. It sounds like quite a piece of work.

Backed, as an engaging, personal travel memoir with an individual voice, great descriptive power and a few good smirks along the way.

Simon

Hi carol,
Thx very much for your comments. Not spent much time on the site & still trying to rattle up some readers. I seemed to have got on a couple of shelves & then fell off. No, mine is definitely not detailed diaries, which obviously sets it out on a different track from yours. My idea for Global Wandering is more a quick take on a country - not trying to make myself out as an expert ,but giving personal impressions of what somebody might find/feel if they ended up in X, Japan in the case of this chapter.People clearly like your book and it reads well. But I think if you look again you have far more 'extraneous' bits - like details of wandering round beaches, farms etc. than I have, even though you say you've cut them . P'raps it's not working, but my aim is to take often mundane events and places and build on them, so they end up with what I hope is a humorous punchline. The only 'diary' bit is that it's in sequence. I'd be interested to hear what you feel is 'extraneous'. Bests, david

Let me know when you split this down into short chapters. And maybe throw in some non-Japanese places?

Hi Heather,
Yeah, you're on my watchlist & I must read more as I love Viet Nam..
Am a bit swamped with books to read thru at the moment, given that I'm also testing out another site (YouWriteOn). That one helps more on sorting out hassles with read throughs as all participants have to crit each others' books on the way to getting listed.
You're the 2nd who's commented on the length of GW without breaks. Haven't got a reply from the other one so far.
This is the raw version of the book, so there's plenty of room for tarting up later. The idea is one trip/one chapter, altho they're not all similar lengths.
What wd you suggest? Put in some mini chapter headings every 10 pages or so- say a 3 or 4 word Xhead?.
Any suggestions gladly welcomed. BTW Osaka grew on me too, as you can see at the end.. Bests david

Hey David,
Despite its miserly contribution to the country’s premier cultural belt, I love Osaka and often found it quite attractive! We landed in Tokyo and the first thing they did was take us to Disneyland, which was a serious head-spin like your Warner Bros experience. You're right, the Japanese are damn proud of their amusement parks. Thanks for the trip down memory lane, there’s lots of great anecdotes and your writing is easy-to-read and funny. With Japan becoming almost affordable for the average tourist there’s a huge market for this kind of insider-information and naturally your market gets wider as you add more countries. You’re right though, it does take a lot of sake to understand that place! I never managed. Koya-San is gorgeous, but I must have met your tour guide at least a dozen times – there is a special screechy sound that happens when some get that microphone in hand. I left you on the bullet train going to Nara and I hope you had a great time. However, I would suggest you break down your chapters? 17,000 words is a mighty long chapter in any book, but especially online.
Cheers, Heather, Friends & Pho

Interesting read so far. I've added it to my Watchlist and will read more soon.