Friday Explorations Read Aloud: "A Time of Gifts" by Patrick Lee Fermor, Read Aloud by Joseph Coté

Every Friday, at 11:00 am, on the library’s KZbin Channel and Facebook Page, the library will stream a brand new recording of local thespian, Joseph Coté reading aloud selections from a wide variety of fascinating and entertaining books of fiction and non-fiction.
For April 26, Coté will read aloud from Patrick Lee Fermor’s book A Time of Gifts: On Foot to Constantinople: From the Hook of Holland to the Middle Danube.
Summary: This beloved account about an intrepid young Englishman on the first leg of his walk from London to Constantinople is simply one of the best works of travel literature ever written.
At the age of eighteen, Patrick Leigh Fermor set off from the heart of London on an epic journey-to walk to Constantinople.
A Time of Gifts is the rich account of his adventures as far as Hungary, after which Between the Woods and the Water continues the story to the Iron Gates that divide the Carpathian and Balkan mountains.
Acclaimed for its sweep and intelligence, Leigh Fermor’s book explores a remarkable moment in time. Hitler has just come to power but war is still ahead, as he walks through a Europe soon to be forever changed-through the Lowlands to Mitteleuropa, to Teutonic and Slav heartlands, through the baroque remains of the Holy Roman Empire; up the Rhine, and down to the Danube.
At once a memoir of coming-of-age, an account of a journey, and a dazzling exposition of the English language, A Time of Gifts is also a portrait of a continent already showing ominous signs of the holocaust to come.
The book has been hailed by writer Daniel Beattie as a classic of travel writing; Scottish historian, photographer and critic, William Dalrymple, called it a “sublime masterpiece”.
Thoughts to share? Book ideas to suggest?
Leave a comment below or contact Joseph at [e-mail]

[@marypladsen5231]

Thank you. There is a fasciation to Germany. Do you know of William Manchester's *Arms of Krupp*?

[@josephcote3939]

You're welcome. Yes indeed, Mr. Fermor seemed to relish his travels through Germany en route to Budpest and on to Constantinople. (A little ironic is the eventual post-war connection between Turkey and Germany with so many Turks emigrating to Germany for a brighter future.) ... I am not familiar with Mr Manchester's "Arms of Krupp" but am intrigued by the plot as outlined here for other curious viewers/readers: "The book presents readable and often humorous descriptions of the Krupp family and its businesses from the Thirty Years' War to the Kaisers, the Weimar Republic, the Nazis, the American occupation, and finally the Bonn government. The book describes how the family and its business received generally favorable treatment from the government, culminating in a special law Lex Krupp. Manchester's book describes family members in detail from the first Krupp (circa 1500) "a shrewd chandler with a keen eye for the main chance," through the family's incarnation by the sixth generation as "Essen's uncrowned kings," to the powerful weapons company that armed Germany for three major wars, and finally the dissolution of the business. Manchester biases his story; he describes every member as having some unfortunate trait, and all as somewhat malevolent." ... THANKS for your follow up.