Borders Up! - Vitali Vitaliev

Described as "Eastern Europe through the bottom of a glass", "Borders Up!" is a travelogue about Eastern Europe, using the region's fondness for booze as its main theme. Vitaliev, a former investigative journalist in the USSR, was hounded out of his native country by the KGB and has since become a journalist in the West. He also has several other travel books to his name, and if they're as entertaining as "Borders Up!" then they're well worth seeking out. Vitaliev divides his travels into Beer Lands, Spirit Lands and Wine Lands, and manages to get heartily pissed in each, meeting a mixture of locals, tourist ...

This book is an alcoholic tour around Eastern Europe highlighting the importance of oblivion in the lives of the citizens of the former soviet bloc. Vitali speaks from personal experience (both as a Russian and as an alcoholic) so we get the authentic taste of the vodka/beer/radiator fluid in our mouths. Although the book seems overly long with some repetition it is on occasion gripping, humorous and witty in the style made popular by his friend Bill Bryson. This book however differs from Bills wining recipe. It is more dark and meaningful than the inoffensive comic pap often served up by other travel writers in this genre and deals with serious issues. Yet it is always ...