Thursday, September 04, 2014

Ten top books about trains

Andrew Martin is the author of numerous articles, and books of both fiction and non-fiction, including Underground, Overground: a Passenger's History of the Tube and Belles & Whistles: Five Journeys Through Time on Britain's Trains. One of his top ten books about trains, as shared at the Guardian:
La Bête Humaine by Émile Zola (1890)

A hysterical tale of psychosis and sexual jealousy – forces symbolised by the presence of some extremely dangerous trains: the participants all live or work along the line between Paris and Le Havre. There are superb descriptions of St Lazare station at night: lamps along a platform like "smoky stars"; engines emitting "a general panting, whistle blows like the piercing screams of women being ravished". One critic wrote: "Too many trains and too many crimes." To some of us, that is a recommendation.
Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue