A Winter in Arabia

I had never heard of Freya Stark when I purchased this, but it was a great book. I had to adjust to the pace, because it really is an old fashioned account of the pace and culture of travel in the 30s, but it's a wonderful insider's account of passing through a Muslim society before cultures were all "opened up" to one another. When you get into it, it's easy to appreciate the details that are included and the slower pace, and pulls the reader back to a time when people appreciated simple things and took the most care with such pastimes as handwritten letters and travel journals. The focus is on the personalities and day to day activities of the travelers and Ms. Stark's ingenuity and finesse in navigating the social challenges of being a British woman abroad, alone, before that was expected. Very interesting.

A travel memoir written in the late 1930s - and 1000 years ago. It's a beautifully written, gentle book of a harsh land and its tribal peoples. Stark, is both poet and pragmatist. More musings and personal interactions than places and things, the book is a pleasure to read and savor. I wonder if the history of the Middle East wouldn't be improved had the colonial powers been guided by her sympathetic but unblinking understanding of Arab village and bedouin cultures.

This is what travel writing should be. One travels to see places and meet people. Ms. Stark's descriptions of places and travel thereto are always informed and interesting. The encounters with people are the little jewels studding her books, though. She brings a worldly but sympathetic attitude to her encounters with everyone she meets, from potentates to brigands. Read it.