{"product_id":"spanish-steps","title":"Spanish Steps","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Moore, Tim\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eBrand:\u003c\/b\u003e VINTAGE\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding:\u003c\/b\u003e paperback\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNumber Of Pages:\u003c\/b\u003e 336\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eRelease Date:\u003c\/b\u003e 11-07-2005\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eDetails:\u003c\/b\u003e Product Description      \u003cbr\u003e\nLudicrous, heart-warming and improbably inspirational, Spanish Steps is the story of what happens when a rather silly man tries to walk all the way across a very large country, with a very large animal who doesn't really want to.Being larger than a cat, the donkey is the kind of animal Tim Moore is slightly scared of. Yet intrigued by epic accounts of a pilgrimage undertaken by one in three medieval Europeans, and committed to historical authenticity, he finds himself leading a Pyrenean ass named Shinto into Spain, headed for Santiago de Compostela.Over 500 miles of extreme weather and agonising bestial sloth, it becomes memorably apparent that for the multinational band of eccentrics who keep the Santiagan flame alive, the pilgrimage has evolved from a purely devotional undertaking into a mobile therapist's couch.'Hailed as the new Bill Bryson, he is in fact a writer of considerably more substance and the jokes come thick and fast' Irish Times\u003cbr\u003e\n      Review      \u003cbr\u003e\nHe is a rare comic talent ―\u003cbr\u003e\nThe Times\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\nA very funny writer, oozing with comic ideas ―\u003cbr\u003e\nDaily Mail\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\nAn absolutely cracking idea for a book; it's got history, eccentric characters, personal growth - and plenty of really good jokes ―\u003cbr\u003e\nTime Out\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\nOne of the classier writers of the humorous travel book... A very entertaining read ―\u003cbr\u003e\nObserver\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\nAt last, a travel book that makes you think but also makes you laugh out loud ―\u003cbr\u003e\nGuardian\u003cbr\u003e\n      About the Author      \u003cbr\u003e\nTim Moore’s writing has appeared in the\u003cbr\u003e\nDaily Telegraph, the Observer, the Sunday Times and\u003cbr\u003e\n Esquire. He is the author of\u003cbr\u003e\nGironimo!,\u003cbr\u003e\nFrench Revolutions, Do Not Pass Go, Spanish Steps,\u003cbr\u003e\nNul Points,\u003cbr\u003e\nI Believe In Yesterday and\u003cbr\u003e\nYou Are Awful (But I Like You). He lives in London.\u003cbr\u003e\n      Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.      \u003cbr\u003e\nOne\u003cbr\u003e\nIt’s 500 miles from St Jean Pied-de-Port on the French side of the Pyrenees to Santiago de Compostela near the northwestern coast of Spanish Galicia. From the dawn of the last millennium until its final quarter, countless millions walked this route as the final leg of an epic hike from their own dusty thresholds, partly to stretch their legs in one of Europe’s most scenically appealing regions, and partly for remission of accumulated sins and a consequently more benign afterlife. Their goal was the cathedral in which were housed the crumbly mortal remains of Santiago, the patron saint of Spain: St James, as anyone who recalls Judith Keppel’s progress towards the first top prize on\u003cbr\u003e\nWho Wants to Be a Millionaire? will be aware.\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\nThe fourth apostle recruited by Jesus, James was hardly an obvious choice for a thousand-year personality cult: so volubly stroppy his fellow fishermen nicknamed him and his similarly ill-tempered brother John ‘sons of thunder’, so petulantly arrogant he demanded to be placed at the Son of God’s right-hand side in paradise. When he was dispatched westwards by his doomed master on an evangelical mission, these attributes helped ensure that by the time James wound up on the lefthand tip of the Roman Empire, in north-west Spain, he had somehow managed to attract just seven disciples. That mouth clearly did him no favours after his return to the Holy Land: in AD 44 he became the first of the apostles to experience the afterlife, beheaded on the orders of Herod Agrippa.\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\nStill, a martyr is a martyr, and after being sneaked out of Jerusalem, James’s body was taken by sea to Galicia, terminus of his inefficient prophetic crusade. If I reveal that this voyage was made in an unmanned vessel hewn from solid marble, you will begin to understand that we are now on a voyage of our own: a journey beyond the shores of Factland, now gingerly skirting the Cape of Myth, now steaming gaily through the Straits of Arrant Cobblers. (Precisely where this figurative journey of ours set sail is a matter beyond sensitive debate, though for contextual ends I’ll point out the lack of even biblical back-up for James’s previous visit to Spain.)\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\nWashed up on the \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eEAN:\u003c\/b\u003e 8601300074139\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePackage Dimensions:\u003c\/b\u003e 7.8 x 5.0 x 1.0 inches\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguages:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"VINTAGE","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50105399968048,"sku":"Trans_9780099471943","price":1104.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0690\/9968\/4144\/files\/71jIGovRz9L.jpg?v=1756731349","url":"https:\/\/www.retailmaharaj.com\/bn\/products\/spanish-steps","provider":"Retail Maharaj","version":"1.0","type":"link"}