What's your favorite travel "read(s)?"
Feb 23rd, 2006, 09:29 AM
#42
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One more...(I love travel writing). Balkan Ghosts by Robert D. Kaplan. While somewhat controversial, I first read it as an assignment in college and found it very interesting. I re-read every few years, along with his other books.
This enthralling and often chilling political travelogue fully deciphers the Balkans' ancient passions and intractable hatreds for outsiders. For as Kaplan travels among the vibrantly-adorned churches and soul-destroying slums of the former Yugoslavia, Albania, Romania, Bulgaria, and Greece, he allows us to see the region's history as a time warp in which Slobodan Milosevic becomes the reincarnation of a fourteenth-century Serbian martyr; Nicolae Ceaucescu is called "Drac," or "the Devil"; and the one-time Soviet Union turns out to be a continuation of the Ottoman Empire.
This enthralling and often chilling political travelogue fully deciphers the Balkans' ancient passions and intractable hatreds for outsiders. For as Kaplan travels among the vibrantly-adorned churches and soul-destroying slums of the former Yugoslavia, Albania, Romania, Bulgaria, and Greece, he allows us to see the region's history as a time warp in which Slobodan Milosevic becomes the reincarnation of a fourteenth-century Serbian martyr; Nicolae Ceaucescu is called "Drac," or "the Devil"; and the one-time Soviet Union turns out to be a continuation of the Ottoman Empire.
Feb 27th, 2006, 07:38 AM
#47
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Another I enjoyed immensely was 'A Red-Haired Girl Came Through the Bog', or something like that -- an Irish travelogue with a bit of mysticism thrown in. (she believes the wee folk met her on the burren, and she traded an necklace she loved for a bracelet)
Feb 27th, 2006, 08:00 AM
#48
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Neither of these books are on Europe, but I thoroughly enjoyed "The Sex Lives of Cannibals" by Maarten Troost. It's about living on the small island nation of Kirabati in the South Pacific for two years, and "An Embarrassment of Mangoes" by Ann Vanderhoof, about a Canadian and her husband who bought a sailboat and spent two years sailing the Caribbean. The latter includes some wonderful recipes she collected from different countries! The Pina Colada cheeseake is to die for!
May 5th, 2006, 10:22 AM
#53
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What wonderful recommendations!
Guy18: Glad you brought up A Castle in the Backyard (perils and pleasures of a summer home in France for a pair of UWisconsin profs). We're hoping to host the authors for a Book&Author presentation later this year.
Keep 'em coming!
Guy18: Glad you brought up A Castle in the Backyard (perils and pleasures of a summer home in France for a pair of UWisconsin profs). We're hoping to host the authors for a Book&Author presentation later this year.
Keep 'em coming!
May 6th, 2006, 05:30 AM
#54
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I have a horrible feeling that a wee bit of cut and paste I was doing has just posted. Oh, blast.
I would also like to know how I missed this. Can someone enlighten me? Has it been in a parallel forum?
Let me address the question asked,a nd stay off fiction; although I have to say, I LOVE reading fiction about the places I visit; as well as reading travel books.
I'm fond of Bill Bryson. Many of his books have been serialised on BBc radio and the guy who reads them is better thanthe original. So, most of his (there are clearly a few which have been produced to meet a deadline and fail the quality test)
Annie Hawes has written 2 sequels to Extra Virgin which are as good as the original
Chris Stewart has wriiten a sequel to "Lemons" which is les good that the original, but still good.
Carol Drinkwater has 2 sequels which are more biography than travel, but still worth reading
I hate Paul Theroux's writing. He hated Aberdeen and I return the compliment
Susan Loomis has a sequel to Rue tatin called Tarte Tatin, which is lovely but more about life than travel.
I would commend Stanfords. I have been tying to get my local branch of Waterstones to lay out the travel books by country for years; and they just won't play.
Deep France by Celia Brayfield is set in the Bearn in France and is super.
the Dark Heart of Italy is a bit scary
I would also like to know how I missed this. Can someone enlighten me? Has it been in a parallel forum?
Let me address the question asked,a nd stay off fiction; although I have to say, I LOVE reading fiction about the places I visit; as well as reading travel books.
I'm fond of Bill Bryson. Many of his books have been serialised on BBc radio and the guy who reads them is better thanthe original. So, most of his (there are clearly a few which have been produced to meet a deadline and fail the quality test)
Annie Hawes has written 2 sequels to Extra Virgin which are as good as the original
Chris Stewart has wriiten a sequel to "Lemons" which is les good that the original, but still good.
Carol Drinkwater has 2 sequels which are more biography than travel, but still worth reading
I hate Paul Theroux's writing. He hated Aberdeen and I return the compliment
Susan Loomis has a sequel to Rue tatin called Tarte Tatin, which is lovely but more about life than travel.
I would commend Stanfords. I have been tying to get my local branch of Waterstones to lay out the travel books by country for years; and they just won't play.
Deep France by Celia Brayfield is set in the Bearn in France and is super.
the Dark Heart of Italy is a bit scary
May 6th, 2006, 12:38 PM
#55
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Then there's Colin Thubron's "Journey through Cyprus".
Someone mentioned Patrick leigh Fermor. I've yet to read anything of his I didn't like, and I DID like the Traveller's Tree.
There are a couple of vey dated but lovely books set in the Luberon by Lady Fortescus, including prefumes of Provence, which I like.
There's French Spirit which is a house renovation book, and my favourite from last year was "The Man who married a Mountain" about the guy who lived on the top of one of the Pyrenees in the 19th century.
Other Greek ones are "A House in Corfu" by Emma Tennant; An Affair of the Heart, set just after the war, by Dilys Powell; and there are the two Isabella Dusis about Montepulciano- Vanilla Beans and Brodo being the first.
Living in a Postcard is another house one, about a Brit who bought an old convent in the South west then found it starring in the stands in the local Tabac.
And finally No Going Back about a guy who intended buying a house in France and ended up in Catalunya
Someone mentioned Patrick leigh Fermor. I've yet to read anything of his I didn't like, and I DID like the Traveller's Tree.
There are a couple of vey dated but lovely books set in the Luberon by Lady Fortescus, including prefumes of Provence, which I like.
There's French Spirit which is a house renovation book, and my favourite from last year was "The Man who married a Mountain" about the guy who lived on the top of one of the Pyrenees in the 19th century.
Other Greek ones are "A House in Corfu" by Emma Tennant; An Affair of the Heart, set just after the war, by Dilys Powell; and there are the two Isabella Dusis about Montepulciano- Vanilla Beans and Brodo being the first.
Living in a Postcard is another house one, about a Brit who bought an old convent in the South west then found it starring in the stands in the local Tabac.
And finally No Going Back about a guy who intended buying a house in France and ended up in Catalunya
May 7th, 2006, 08:30 AM
#56
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<<<<Living in a Postcard is another house one, about a Brit who bought an old convent in the South west then found it starring in the stands in the local Tabac. >>>>>
Sheila - I don't quite understand what you mean there....'splain please?
I think I have heard of this book however, but last time I looked around, it wasn't published/available in the US.
Sure enjoyed hearing your many recommendations!
Sheila - I don't quite understand what you mean there....'splain please?
I think I have heard of this book however, but last time I looked around, it wasn't published/available in the US.
Sure enjoyed hearing your many recommendations!
May 7th, 2006, 09:51 AM
#58
Books, I've recently read:
"My Life in France"-Julia Chi
"We'll always have Paris-Sex and love in the city of love"-John Baxter
"Murder in Montmartre"-Cara Black
"Murder in Clichy"-Cara Black
"We'll always have Paris-American Tourists in France sinch 1930"-Harvey Levenstein
"Time was Soft there", A Paris Sourn at Shakespeare & Co-Jeremy Mercer
"True Pleasures" a memoir of Women in Paris-Lucinda Holdforth
"Words in A French Life"-Kristin Espanasse
and now rereading "Across Paris"short stories of Marcel Ayme
"My Life in France"-Julia Chi
"We'll always have Paris-Sex and love in the city of love"-John Baxter
"Murder in Montmartre"-Cara Black
"Murder in Clichy"-Cara Black
"We'll always have Paris-American Tourists in France sinch 1930"-Harvey Levenstein
"Time was Soft there", A Paris Sourn at Shakespeare & Co-Jeremy Mercer
"True Pleasures" a memoir of Women in Paris-Lucinda Holdforth
"Words in A French Life"-Kristin Espanasse
and now rereading "Across Paris"short stories of Marcel Ayme
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zeppole
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