Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Ten of the best coach rides in literature

At the Guardian, John Mullan named ten of the most memorable coach rides in literature.

One title on the list:
Dracula by Bram Stoker

Jonathan Harker travels to deepest Transylvania. "The crazy coach rocked on its great leather springs, and swayed like a boat tossed on a stormy sea." As the mountains close in, his fellow passengers press gifts on him to "guard against the evil eye", but he doesn't quite get their terror. And why are they so keen to speed away after dropping him off?
Read about another novel on the list.

Dracula is on Rowan Somerville's top ten list of good sex in fiction, Arthur Phillips' list of six favorite books set in places that their authors never visited, and Anthony Browne's six best books list. It is one of the books on John Mullan's lists of ten of the best teeth in literature, ten of the best wolves in literature and ten of the best mirrors in literature.

--Marshal Zeringue