World Travelers
In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson (919.4 Bryso)
In Bill Bryson's (
A Walk in the Woods) latest offering, which chronicles his exploration of Australia, he introduces us to a town that went without electricity until the early 1990s, a former high-ranking politician who hawks his own autobiography to passersby, an assortment of coffee shops and restaurants (Bryson is particularly fond of meal breaks), a type of giant worm, and the world's most poisonous creature, the box jellyfish. It is sheer delight to sink into his prose, especially his hysterical, enlightening and sometimes moving descriptions of people and places we've never even imagined.
In Patagonia by Bruce Chatwin (918.2 Chatw)
In Patagonia is an exquisite account of Chatwin's journey through "the uttermost part of the earth," that stretch of land at the southern tip of South America where bandits were once made welcome and Charles Darwin formed part of his "survival of the fittest" theory. Chatwin's evocative descriptions, notes on the odd history of the region and enchanting anecdotes make
In Patagonia an exhilarating look at a place that still retains the exotic mystery of a far-off, unseen land.
A Journey North by Adrienne Hall (917.404 Hall)
The adventure of hiking the Appalachian Trail has already been described in many guidebooks, inspirational accounts and humorous stories. Hall (
Backpacking: A Woman's Guide) has managed to combine all three of those genres into one excellent narrative that depicts her experience of hiking the trail with her boyfriend from Georgia to Maine and also discusses the trail's historical background as well as the issues it currently faces. Although Hall may get up on the environmental soapbox a little too often, her narrative keeps the reader turning the pages. Entertaining, well written and informative, this book will appeal both to those contemplating a hike of the trail and to armchair travelers.
River Horse by William Least Heat-Moon (917.3 Heat) William Least Heat-Moon sets off aboard a small boat named Nikawa (river horse in Osage) from the Atlantic at New York Harbor in hopes of entering the Pacific near Astoria, Oregon. He and his companion, Pilotis, struggle to cover some 5,000 watery miles, often following in the wakes of our most famous explorers, from Henry Hudson to Lewis and Clark. En route, the voyagers confront massive floods, dangerous weather and their own doubts about whether they can complete the trip. But the hard days yield incomparable pleasures: generous strangers, landscapes untouched since Sacajawea saw them, riverscapes flowing with a lively past, and the growing belief that efforts to protect our lands and waters are beginning to pay off.
Breaking the Limit: One Woman's Motorcycle Journey Through North America by Karen Larsen (917.304 Larse)Larsen has penned a moving, beautifully rendered chronicle of her life-changing, solo cross-country motorcycle trip across America, during which she discovered the land, its people and herself.
Sand in My Bra and Other Misadventures: Funny Women Write From the Road ed. by Jennifer L. Leo (910.4 Sand)Travel isn't always what we dream it will be, but oh, the stories that follow. Share in the hilarious, bizarre and unforgettable misadventures of 29 women whose trips went comically awry. From Australia to Zambia, up Nepal's mountains and along Mexico's beaches, the true stories in this collection will make you laugh, groan and sympathize with these travelers who took a trip on the lighter side.
Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes (945 May)
In this memoir of her buying, renovating and living in an abandoned villa in Tuscany, Frances Mayes reveals the sensual pleasure she found living in rural Italy and the generous spirit she brought with her. Cooking, gardening, tiling and painting are never chores, but skills to be learned, arts to be practiced and, above all, to be enjoyed. At the same time Mayes brings a literary and intellectual mind to bear on the experience, adding depth to this account of her enticing rural idyll. Continued in
Bella Tuscany: The Sweet Life in Italy and In Tuscany.
French Lessons: Adventures with Knife, Fork and Corkscrew by Peter Mayle (394.1 Mayle)
In this latest book, part travelogue, part guide to cuisine, Mayle, the author of A Year in Provence leaves his beloved Provence behind and sets out to experience gastronomic pleasures available at food festivals and celebrations throughout France. The always curious and friendly Mayle befriends colorful locals at such events as a frog's-leg festival in Vitel, where "thigh tasting" is regarded as a reverent act. Mayle's wry, colorful and playful prose effectively conveys just how seriously the French take their food.
Long Way Round: Chasing Shadows Across the World by Ewan McGregor (910.4 MCGRE)
Poring over a map one day, Ewan McGregor; film star and bike nut; noticed it was possible to ride all the way around the world, with just one short hop across the Bering Strait. So he called Charley Boorman, his best friend, fellow actor and bike nut. From London to New York, Ewan and Charley rode their BMWs through Europe, the Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Russia, across the Pacific to Alaska, then down through Canada and America. Exhaustion, injury and accidents tested their strength, as did treacherous roads and weather. They were pursued by paparazzi in Kazakhstan, courted by men with guns in the Ukraine, and served bulls' testicles for supper by Mongolian nomads. Yet despite the many obstacles, they managed to ride more than 20,000 miles in four months. As they traveled, they documented their trip, taking photos and writing diaries.
My Kind of Place: Travel Stories from a Woman Who's Been Everywhere by Susan Orlean (910.4 Orlea)
Orlean (The Orchid Thief) hasn't so much been everywhere as she's been everywhere no one else has thought to go. In this collection, she focuses not on cities but on singular locales and events. She zooms in on an African music shop in Paris, a grocery store in Queens and a fertility blessing ceremony in Bhutan. Belying the book's bland title, Orlean's essays are rich in color, metaphor and crafty language. Orlean's subtle humor infuses her writing as she uncovers strange beauties: a taxidermy convention is "a surreal carnality, but all conveyed with the usual trade show earnestness and hucksterism, with no irony and no acknowledgment that having buckets of bear noses for sale was anything out of the ordinary."
Adventure Capitalists: The Ultimate Investor's Road Trip by Jim Rogers (910.4 Roger)
The author of Investment Biker is back from the ultimate road trip: a three-year drive around the world that would ultimately set the Guinness record for the longest continuous car journey. In Adventure Capitalist, investor Jim Rogers, dubbed "the Indiana Jones of finance" by Time magazine, proves that the best way to profit from the global situation is to see the world mile by mile. Rogers and his fiancee, Paige Parker, began the "Millennium Adventure" on January 1, 1999, from Iceland. They traveled through 116 countries, including many where most have rarely ventured, such as Saudi Arabia, Myanmar, Angola, Sudan, Congo, Colombia and East Timor. They drove through war zones, deserts, jungles, epidemics and blizzards. They had many narrow escapes. They camped with nomads and camels in the western Sahara. They ate silkworms, iguanas, snakes, termites, guinea pigs, porcupines, crocodiles and grasshoppers. Best of all, they saw the real world from the ground up – the only vantage point from which it can be truly understood – economically, politically and socially.
In Search of King Solomon's Mines by Tahir Shah (916.3 SHAH)
King Solomon, the Bible's wisest king, was possessed of extraordinary wealth. The grand temple he built in Jerusalem was covered in gold. Over the ages, many have sought to find the source of the great king's wealth – but none with so much flair, wit, or whimsy as Tahir Shah. Intrigued by a map he finds in a shop not far from the site of the temple, Shah assembles a multitude of clues to the location of Solomon's mines. From ancient texts to modern hearsay, all point across the Red Sea to Ethiopia. Shah's trail takes him on a wild ride by taxi, bus, camel and donkey to the gold-bearing corners of this storied and beautiful country. He interviews the hyena man of Harar, is hauled up on a rope to enter a remote cliff-face monastery, and stumbles upon an illegal gold mine where thousands of men, women and children dig with their hands. But the hardest leg of the journey is to the accursed mountain of Tullu Wallel, where legend says the devil keeps watch over the entrance to an ancient mine shaft.
Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell (973 Vow)
From Buffalo to Alaska, Washington to the Dry Tortugas, Sarah Vowell visits locations immortalized and influenced by the spilling of politically important blood, reporting as she goes with her trademark blend of wisecracking humor, remarkable honesty and thought-provoking criticism. We learn about the jinx that was Robert Todd Lincoln (present at the assassinations of Presidents Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley) and witness the politicking that went into the making of the Lincoln Memorial. Though the themes of loss and violence are explored, and we make detours to see how the Republican Party became the Republican Party, there are all kinds of lighter diversions along the way into the lives of the three presidents and their assassins, including mummies, show tunes, mean-spirited totem poles and a 19th-century biblical sex cult.