Tag: travel

Toronto

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Charles Rawlings-Way and Natalie Karneef. Toronto: City Guide. Melbourne: Lonely Planet, 2007.

This travel guide of Toronto is mostly black and white; a no nonsense kind of guide. It doesn’t need to show off with lots of glossy photos and trivial details. Only eight pages are dedicated to artistic shots around town and, in fact, is the only section that isn’t all that informative. The contents of the guide are well organized into various activities. If you are in town on business and only have time for finding restaurants, page 91 is where you want to start. I appreciated the little blue boxes with extra tidbits of information. In the History section (p 38) you will find a box that talks about the ghosts that haunt the Elgin Theatre and Old City Hall. Sign me up! The only drawback to this guide is the map section. Instead of a fold-out map showing the entire city, the maps are page by page like an atlas. There is overlap between downtown north and downtown south so that you can make the necessary connections but it would have been easier to have the map all on one page. But, to be fair, with everyone having gps on their smartphones, I doubt a printed map really matters anymore.

Reason read: Natalie Merchant performing in Toronto in May 2015.

Book trivia: I really enjoyed the inclusion of the subway map. Very cool.

 

Rowed Trip

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Angus, Colin and Julie Angus. Rowed Trip: a Journey by Oar from Scotland to Syria. Birmingham: Menasha Ridge Press, 2009.

There are several different subject categories in which I could put Rowed Trip: adventure, boating, bicycling, travel, culture, or even marriage to name a few, because all of these subjects are covered in Colin and Julie’s account of their journey from Scotland to Syria. Everything about their trip is either informative or funny but always entertaining. To start from the beginning, Colin’s ancestors are from Scotland while Julie’s are from Syria. While studying a map (I forgot why) they realized there are various waterways the entire distance between their homeland countries. As seasoned adventure travelers they asked themselves wouldn’t it be fun to travel the entire distance by boat? Both Colin and Julie have considerable experience in this area and have written books about it. As newlyweds, married less than a year, what better way to break in a marriage?
To be fair, in actuality Rowed Trip is a misnomer. The entire trip wasn’t by oar as the subtitle suggests. There were miles traveled by ingenious bicycles and trailers as well. Due to complicated lock systems most of France was traversed by bike, to name one instance. Because Colin and Julie each take turns writing the chapters their individually personalities reveal themselves. Colin’s style of writing is more descriptive of the surroundings while Julie has more introspective emotion. Both narratives are didactic at times. It was interesting to read how they handled navigating the locks in each country (which seems to be one of their biggest challenges besides getting their trailer stolen and blown bike tires).
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed Rowed Trip and breaking with the Lust rules, I probably will research Colin and Julie’s other books not on my list.

Favorite quote: I didn’t really have a favorite quote or at least no passages jumped out at me. However, I did enjoy the couple’s efforts to navigate in countries where neither spoke the language. They lived by one of my favorite philosophies, “it is easier to ask for forgiveness than permission>”

Reason read: July is ocean month. Maybe not nationally recognized as such, but it’s one of my favorite times to be on the water.

Author(s) fact: Colin and Julie are married and each have written other books about their adventures as I have mentioned before.

Book trivia: Rowed Trip includes a smattering of photos. I think there could have been more. Or, at least, I would have liked to seen more.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” (p 191).

Black Lamb and Grey Falcon

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West, Rebecca. Black Lamb and Grey Falcon: a Journey Through Yugoslavia. New York: Penguin Books, 1982.

I have to say it otherwise it’s the elephant in the room. Black Lamb and Grey Falcon is a huge book. Over 1,100 pages long. Actually, it’s 1,181 if you include the index and bibliography. Craziness. Okay, now that I’ve gotten that out of the way… Despite the length Black Lamb and Grey Falcon was, for the most part, a pleasure to read. I have to admit I didn’t finish it. I ran out of steam halfway through. However, West has a great conversational tone to her writing which levels out the dryness of the subject. Anyone who can insert the phrase “political cantankerousness” when discussing the battle of the Mohacs in 1526 is okay in my book.

Quote I liked, “He is perpetually drunk on what comes out of his mouth, not what goes into it” (p 41).

Reason read: If you are in the mood to visit the Balkans, July is supposedly the best time to go.

Author fact: Rebecca West was born Cicily Isabel Fairfield which I think is a beautiful name. According to the author bio in Black Lamb she was in a romantic relationship with H.G. Wells for ten years. Interesting.

Book trivia: Even though this is considered a travel book there are no maps, illustrations or photographs. Nothing of the sort.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in two different chapters. First, in “Balkan Specters” (p 34) and again in “Lady Travelers” (p 143).

April Foolish Games

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March was all about running. I seemed to be obsessed with a certain 10k and added four extra books about running to the list. Now, April is almost here and I have turned my attention to a certain 60 mile walk I have at the end of next month (my 6th year participating in Just ‘Cause!!). The only difference is, this time I won’t be adding any books about walking or breast cancer to my list. After five years of doing this 60 mile walk I think I have it down. Reading is a different story all together (pun totally intended).
Here are the many, many books that are on the list for this April:

  1. Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin*
  2. Careless Love by Peter Gurlnink…yes, I’m STILL reading this!
  3. House of Morgan by Ron Chernow -This, you might remember, was planned for April 2013 and I selfishly decided to put it off a year. Such a coincidence since I read another Chernow last February.
  4. Leopard Hunts in the Darkness by Wilbur Smith ~ the last Ballantyne book of the series
  5. Rose Cafe by John Hanson Mitchell
  6. War Within and Without by Anne Morrow Lindbergh ~ this finishes my reading of Lindbergh’s diaries.
  7. Winners and Losers by Martin Quigley (maybe. This book is not in ly library system so I had to place an interlibrary loan)
  8. “Aftermath” ~ a poem by Siegfried Sassoon
  9. “Romance” ~ a poem by W.J. Turner

Here is the rest of year eight:

  1. Andorra by Peter Cameron (November)
  2. Any Four Women Can Rob the Bank of Italy by Ann Cornelisen (November)
  3. Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler (July)
  4. Art Student’s War by Brad Leithauser (May)
  5. Baltimore Blues by Laura Lippman (September)
  6. Beaufort by Ron Leshem* (November)
  7. Beirut Blues by Hanan al-Shaykh (August)
  8. Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks* (June)
  9. Black Lamb and Gray Falcon by Rebecca West (July)
  10. Bluebird Canyon by Dan McCall (September)
  11. Call It Sleep by Henry Roth (May)
  12. Captain Sir Richard Burton by Edward Rice (October)
  13. Caroline’s Daughters by Alice Adams (August)
  14. Cradle of Gold by Christopher Heaney (November)
  15. Culture of Disbelief by Stephen Carter (October)
  16. Dancer with Bruised Knees by Lynne McFall (June)
  17. Dark Sun by Richard Rhodes (July)
  18. Earthly Possessions by Anne Tyler (June)
  19. Eye of the World by Robert Jordan* (October)
  20. Faith Fox by Jane Gardam* (July)
  21. First Man by Albert Camus (June)
  22. Fordlandia by Greg Gandin (August)
  23. Gesture Life by Chang-rae Lee (August)
  24. Grass Dancer by Susan Power (November)
  25. Hall of a Thousand Columns by Tim Mackintosh-Smith (July)
  26. History Man by Malcolm Bradbury (September)
  27. In a Strange City by Laura Lippman (October)
  28. Inside Passage by Michael Modselewski (June)
  29. Inspector Ghote Breaks an Egg by H.R.F. Keating (May)
  30. Jewel in the Crown by Paul Scott* (May)
  31. Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges (August)
  32. Long Way From Home by Frederick Busch (August)
  33. Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan (May)
  34. Raw Silk by Janet Burroway (September)
  35. Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro* (August)
  36. Rose of Martinique by Andrea Stuart (June)
  37. Thousand Ways to Please a Husband by Weaver/LeCron (September)
  38. You Get What You Pay For by Larry Beinhart (November)

*Planned as audio books

FINISHED:

  1. After the Dance by Edwidge Danticat
  2. Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow*
  3. Angels Weep by Wilbur Smith
  4. Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro
  5. Benjamin Franklin: an American Life by Walter Isaacson
  6. Bring Me a Unicorn by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  7. Cabin Fever by Elizabeth Jolley
  8. Civil Action by Jonathan Harr
  9. Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan*
  10. Eighth Day by Thornton Wilder
  11. Falcon Flies by Wilbur Smith*
  12. Feast of Love by Charles Baxter
  13. Flower and the Nettle by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  14. Georges’ Wife by Elizabeth Jolley – This finishes the Vera Wright Trilogy
  15. Hour of Gold, Hour of Lead by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  16. Illumination Night by Alice Hoffman – This is something I tried to listen to as an audio two years ago. The cds were so scratched I gave up.
  17. It Looked Like Forever by Mark Harris
  18. Last Train to Memphis by Peter Guralink
  19. Life in the Air Ocean by Sylvia Foley
  20. Men of Men by Wilbur Smith
  21. Now Read This II by Nancy Pearl
  22. Ocean of Words by Ha Jin
  23. Palladian Days by Sally Gable*
  24. Professor and the Housekeeper by Yoko Ogawa
  25. Racing Weight by Matt Fitzgerald
  26. Run or Die by Kilian Jornet
  27. Running for Mortals by John Bingham
  28. Sword at Sunset by Rosemary Sutcliff

I found my second “impossible to find” book. Power Without Glory by Frank Hardy. Several libraries across the country own it but are unwilling to share it. It was wildly popular in Australia in the 1950s, but not so anymore…to the point that no one will lend it without changing a fee. Bummer.

In Patagonia

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Chatwin, Bruce. In Patagonia. New York: Penguin Books, 1977.

Chatwin’s In Patagonia has been called a masterpiece. It’s short, but a masterpiece nonetheless. This is not your typical travel book. Chatwin doesn’t linger over landscape and sights to see. Instead, he focuses on the historical and follows in the footsteps of legendary characters like Butch Cassidy. He journeys through Patagonia with a thirst for all that Patagonia is rumored to be, past and present. Don’t expect to have a clear picture of Patagonia in your head when you are finished. You won’t know the best restaurant or the biggest tourist attraction, but you will have captured the nostalgic and the profound instead. My only regret is there are only a quiet collection of photographs that don’t quite add up to the narrative.

Quotes I liked, “She still had the tatters of an extraordinary beauty” (p 61) and “Never kick the woman you love” (p 299). Great advice, if you ask me!

Reason read: According to a couple of travel sites, December is the best time to visit Patagonia. Hence, the December read.

Book trivia: Introduction was written by Nicholas Shakespeare who also wrote a biography of Chatwin.

Author Fact: Bruce Chatwin died at 48 years old of AIDS.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter simply called “Patagonia” (p 173). Also, in More Book Lust in the chapter called “True Adventures” (p 223).

Christmas List

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It’s weird to start all over again. This list of finished books is tiny. It looks pathetic compared to the lists I have been working with in the last seven to eight months. But, but. But! It’s only one month’s worth of reading. Oh well. Here is the list of books read so far (December):
FINISHED:

  1. Civil Action by Jonathan Harr
  2. Eighth Day by Thornton Wilder
  3. Falcon Flies by Wilbur Smith (audio book)
  4. Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa
  5. In Patagonia by Bruce Chatwin
  6. It Looked Like Forever by Mark Harris
  7. Sword at Sunset by Rosemary Sutcliff

UPCOMING FOR JANUARY:

  1. Benjamin Franklin by Walter Isaacson –  in honor of Franklin’s birthday
  2. Feast of Love by Charles Baxter (audio) – in honor of when Michigan became a state
  3. Last Train to Memphis by Peter Guralink – in honor of Elvis’s birth month
  4. Men of Men by Wilbur Smith – to continue the series started in December

Panther Soup

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Gimlette, John. Panther Soup: Travels Through Europe in War and Peace. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2008.

John Gimlette is a travel writer with a flair for the historical with a bit of humor thrown in along the way. In Panther Soup Gimlette decides to retrace the European footsteps of the U.S. Army of 1944. He chooses to take Putnam Flint, a veteran of the tank destroyer battalion, “The Panthers” as his guide. Together, along with Flint’s son, they travel Flint’s path through France into Germany, starting with the seedy city of Marseille. This sets the tone for the entire travel adventure. Marseille had been described as “lethally weird,” and “a freak show for the chronically unhygienic” (p 26). Having Flint along as a guide allows Gimlette to dip into history and provide commentary on the regions as Flint experienced them in 1944.

Too many quotes, but here are a few of my favorites: “He remembered…a huge vat of Tunisian wine that it’s taken his comrades a week to drink. It was only when they had reached the bottom that they had found a dead New Zealander pickling in the dregs” (p 73), “The more you paid, the less you got; or at least you got a bigger piece of nothing” (p 92), “Clearly, to live a la Bouruinonne is to enjoy a life of red wine and cream, and to die aged forty-two under someone else’s wife” (p 100), and one more, “Over at the Beat Hotel, meanwhile, they’d written little that made any sense at all” (p 177).

Reason read: The Panthers traveled from Northern France in October 1944.

Author fact: Gimlette won the Shiva Naipaul Memorial Prize and the Wanderlust Travel Writing Award AND practices law (according to the back flap of Panther Soup.)

Book trivia: In addition to photographs, Panther Soup has delightful illustrations and informative maps.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Explaining Europe: the Grand Tour” (p 82).

Points Unknown

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Points Unknown: A Century of Great Exploration. Edited by David Roberts. New York: W.W. Norton, 2000.

This is a thrilling anthology of all the early adventurers right up to modern daredevils. These are the men and women who more than dared, they did. Dared to be first and were, dared to be more than the average traveler and were. Taken straight from diaries, journals, letters, and books written by the explorers themselves there was little David Roberts needed to add to the collection. He let the expeditions come alive through the words of the men and women experiencing them. But, don’t think Roberts sat back and let this book happen without a little craftiness. He had enough sense to cut short the narratives right when the story was about to get interesting. He leaves you with cliff hangers (literally). Did they get out alive? Did they find their friends? You find yourself asking “What happened next?!” and jotting down the original story title just so you can go back and get the rest of the adventure in its entirety.
An aside – Robert Falcon Scott (don’t you just love that dramatic name?) reported temperatures at -27 degrees Fahrenheit at the South Pole. Betram Thomas, traversing the Sahara, complains about the night temps falling to 40 degrees Fahrenheit, “I found it necessary to sleep in all my clothes plus three blankets” (p 87).

Favorite lines, “Humility was the first jungle skill I acquired” (p 280), “Exploding bat shit I was prepared for” (p 380), and “He seems to be a man who has long since lost the need to prove things to anyone” (p 474).

Reason read: June is adventure month. This is the nonfiction selection for the occasion.
Author Editor fact: DAvid Roberts also writes.

Book trivia: There are absolutely no photographs in this book. Such a shame.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Adventure By the Book” (p 9).

“Road and the End”

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Sandburg, Carl. Complete Poems. “The Road and the End.” New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc. 1950. p 43.

I see a solitary traveler planning to face whatever comes his way on his journey. He has anticipation of the road ahead and the hours spent going down it. I say anticipation…for he hasn’t left yet. “I SHALL” indicates a plan to do so. The capitalization indicates a determination; a desire to convince someone (maybe himself?) he will eventually leave. It’s a nod to nature. Perfect timing for the changing seasons and hopefully, the warmer weather.

I took this poem personally as I have been slow to start training for my 60 mile cancer walk at the end of May. The apathy I was feeling spread into neglecting my favorite charity event. For the first time in five years I haven’t walked down my road of training the way that I should be by now…to say nothing of the fund raising (which sucks, by the way).

Favorite line, “in the silence of the morning.” Can anyone guess why?

Reason read: April is National Poetry Month…as I’ve said before.

Author fact: Carl Sandburg died two years before my birth. He is the second Chicago poet I’ve read this month.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Travelers Tales in Verse” (p 237).

Descending the Dragon

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Bowermaster, Jon. Descending the Dragon: My Journey Down the Coast of Vietnam. Washington D.C.: National Geographic, 2008.

I knew that I would learn fascinating things when I read Descending the Dragon. I didn’t expect to learn details like the city of Hanoi had a french designer or that none of the buildings could be higher than Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum. And speaking of Ho Chi Minh, visitors can traipse past his embalmed body today despite the fact he died 44 years ago. His body is re-embalmed every 2-3 years. Freaky.
This is the journey of traveler Jon Bowermaster. He is used to traversing the globe solo, on assignment for National Geographic and The New York Times (to name a few). The adventure in Descending the Dragon is unlike any other. Bowermaster and a small team of four take to kayaking down Vietnam’s northern coastline. Seeing Vietnam from the water was a completely different experience for Bowermaster. He gained a much different perspective of the fishing communities and beach dwellers than if he had approached them from land. As much as he would have liked to have traveled the entire coast by water government restrictions forced him and his crew to travel by land on occasion. Probably the most poignant moment in the book was when Bowermaster was visiting a pagoda and met a monk who desperately wanted to tell him something but couldn’t out of fear of betraying the government. Later Bowermaster is told, “Be careful what you use of our words, our faces – because, if the government gets wind of even a small complaint made by us, you will be gone from here and you will have no idea what happens to us” (p 129). It is a land of beautiful contradictions.

The photography of Rob Howard is spectacular. While the Vietnamese loved to have their photo taken and were ready for him with a pose Jon was able to catch them in candid portraits. None of the images look contrived or staged. Howard has a fascinating website detailing his work.

Reason read: In celebration of my birthday because Vietnam has always fascinated me. Yay.

Author fact: Jon Bowermaster has his own website (of course). He sells his kayak adventures on dvd and posts blogs about really cool things (like fracking).

Book trivia: As I mentioned earlier, the photography for Descending the Dragon was by Rob Howard. Spend some time on his freaking amazing website. I could have spent all day clicking around it.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Water, Water Everywhere” (p 274).

January ’13 was…

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When I look back on January 2013 I have a sense of relief. All things considered this month was better than the last. In the grand scheme of things January treated me kind. No major meltdowns. No minor catastrophes to speak of. I started training for Just ‘Cause in the quiet way. Four to five miles a day and I didn’t stress about the numbers. If I didn’t make five or even four I didn’t have a hissy fit or beat myself or moi up. I cut me & myself some slack; gave us a break. I know that as the months wear on this won’t always be the case, but for now it was nice to go easy on me, myself & moi. The running was a different matter. Just as relaxed a schedule but not so easy going on. The run is a little over six weeks away and I’ve done next to nil in order to train. New Guinea has been awesome in that I’m working on speed intervals on level five. Let me repeat that. Level five. Nothing to write home about. I used to operate at level nine. Enough said. On with the books! I am pretty proud of the list.

  • Lives of the Painters, Architects and Sculptors by Giorgio Vasari ~ in honor of National Art Month way back in October. This finally completes the series!
  • Ancient Athens on 5 Drachmas a Day by Philip Matyszak ~ in honor of Female Domination Day in Greece.
  • Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray ~ in honor of January being the first month I read something from the first chapter of a Lust book. I admit I didn’t finish this one.
  • Of Human Bondage by William Somerset Maugham ~ in honor of Maugham’s birth month. I also didn’t finish this one.
  • Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet by Eleanor Cameron ~ Happy new year. Read something to make me happy.
  • Idle Days in Patagonia by W. H. Hudson ~ in honor of January being the best time to visit Patagonia.
  • The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll ~ in honor of Lewis birth and death month.
  • Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson ~ in honor of the month all Creatures Great and Small aired.
  • Tatiana by Dorothy Jones ~ in honor of January being the month Alaska became a state.

On audio I listened to:

  • Final Solution by Michael Chabon ~ in honor of January being Adopt a Rescued Bird month.
  • No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith ~ in honor of Female Mystery Month
  • City of Thieves by David Benioff ~ last minute add-on. This was addicting!

For the Early Review program with LibraryThing:

  • Gold Coast Madam by Rose Laws (started in Dec)
  • Her by Christa Parravani

For Fun:

  • Leave Your Sleep the poetry book for children by Natalie Merchant

Resolutions and Pulse Checks

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So. January is over. Another month gone by. Another dozen or so books read. I’m frustrating myself because I keep adding books to the list. Like I mentioned earlier these additions come from another list created before this one. *Sigh* I am up to 95 titles (from the 81 I originally started with) and “down” (meaning read) 35. Such an odd exchange, but there it is. Tomorrow I will post the month of January in detail.

  1. Abide By Me by Elizabeth Strout
  2. ADDED: Adventures of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
  3. Among the Missing by Dan Chaon
  4. ADDED: Ancient Athens on 5 Drachmas a Day by Philip Matyszak
  5. Apollo: the epic journey to the moon by David West Reynolds
  6. ADDED: Apples Are From Kazakhstan by Christopher Robbins
  7. Arctic Grail by Pierre Berton (I started this last year)
  8. Ariel by Sylvia Plath
  9. At Home in the Heart of Appalachia by John O’Brien
  10. Beautiful Swimmers by William Warner
  11. Before the Knife by Carolyn Slaughter
  12. ADDED: Bellwether by Connie Willis
  13. Beneath the Lion’s Gaze by Maaza Mengist
  14. Beyond the Bogota by Gary Leech
  15. Big Mouth and Ugly Girl by Joyce Carol Oates
  16. ADDED: Billy by Albert French
  17. Brass Go-Between by Oliver Bleeck
  18. Breakfast with Scot by Michael Drowning
  19. Brush with Death by Elizabeth Duncan
  20. Burma Chronicles by Guy Delise
  21. Burning the Days by James Salter
  22. Camus, a Romance by Elizabeth Hawes
  23. Cardboard Crown by Martin Boyd
  24. Cat Who Ate Danish Modern by Lillian Jackson Braun
  25. Child that Books Built by Francis Spufford
  26. Churchill, a life by Martin Gilbert
  27. ADDED: City of Thieves by David Benioff
  28. Conspiracy and Other Stories by Jaan Kross
  29. Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
  30. Deafening by Frances Itani
  31. Death in Verona by Roy Harley Lewis
  32. ADDED: Descending the Dragon by Jon Bowermaster
  33. Diamond Classics by Mike Shannon
  34. Dining with Al-Qaeda by Hugh Pope
  35. Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
  36. Domestic Manners of the Americans by Fanny Trollope
  37. Edward Lear in Albania by Edward Lear
  38. Fanny by Edmund White
  39. Final Solution by Michael Chabon
  40. Fixer by Joe Sacco
  41. Footnotes in Gaza by Joe Sacco
  42. Full Cupboard of Life by Alexander McCall Smith
  43. Gabriel Garcia Marquez by Gerald Martin
  44. Galton Case by Ross MacDonald
  45. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos
  46. Girl in Landscape by Jonathan Lethem
  47. Going Wild by Robert Winkler
  48. Golden Spruce by John Vaillant
  49. ADDED via LibraryThing’s Early Review: Gold Coast Madam by Rose Laws
  50. Good Thief’s Guide to Paris by Chris Ewan
  51. Good Thief’s Guide to Vegas by Chris Ewan
  52. Good-bye Chunk Rice by Craig Thompson
  53. Grand Ambition by Lisa Michaels
  54. Guardians by Geoffrey Kabaservice
  55. ADDED via LibraryThing Early Review: Her by Christa P
  56. Hole in the Earth by Robert Bausch
  57. House of Morgan by Ron Chernow
  58. House on the Lagoon by Rosario Ferre
  59. ADDED: Idle Days in Patagonia by William Hudson
  60. Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer
  61. Kalahari Typing School for Men by Alexander McCall Smith
  62. Light Infantry Ball by Hamilton Basso
  63. Lives of the Painters, vol 2, 3 & 4 by Giorgio Vasari
  64. Mortality for Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith
  65. No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
  66. Nobody Knows My Name by James Baldwin
  67. Ocean of Words by Ha Jin
  68. ADDED: Of Human Bondage by William Maugham
  69. Old Friends by Tracy Kidder
  70. Panther Soup by John Grimlette
  71. ADDED: Playing for Keeps by David Halberstam (only because someone gave it to me as a gift and it’s on my list)
  72. Points Unknown edited by David Roberts
  73. Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson
  74. Return of the Dancing Master by Henning Mankell
  75. Rosalind Franklin: Dark Lady of DNA by Brenda Maddox
  76. Rose Cafe by John Hanson Mitchell
  77. Scar Tissue by Michael Ignatieff
  78. Scramble for Africa by Thomas Pakenham
  79. Southpaw by Mark Harris
  80. ADDED: Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers
  81. ADDED: Tatiana by Dorothy Jones
  82. Tattered Cloak by Nina Berberova
  83. Tea Time for the Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith
  84. Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith
  85. Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
  86. Time, Love, Memory by Jonathan Weiner
  87. Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy Sayers
  88. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackery
  89. Viceroy of Ouidah by Bruce Chatwin
  90. What you Owe Me by Bebe Moore Campbell
  91. Wholeness of a Broken Heart by Katie Singer
  92. Widow for One Year by John Irving
  93. Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
  94. ADDED: Women of the Raj by Margaret MacMillan
  95. Working Poor by David Shipler

Idle Days in Patagonia

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Hudson, W. H. Idle Days in Patagonia. London: J.M. Dent & Sons, Ltd. 1954.

In the very beginning Idle Days in Patagonia holds your attention. Hudson first grabs you with his narrow escape from drowning when the boat he was a passenger on went aground. Then after a trek through the dunes without food or water he arrives at an Englishman’s camp where he proceeds to shoot himself in the knee with a revolver. Then, if that wasn’t enough, while his companion goes to seek help he inadvertently cuddles up with a poisonous snake that has found its way into his sleeping bag. What’s even more astounding is that he is glad the Englishman isn’t there because he would have killed the “poor” creature! Because Hudson is an ornithologist he tends to go on and on about birds. Great if you are into that sort or thing. Not so much if you aren’t. Towards the end of Idle Days in Patagonia Hudson belabors certain subjects (I found his chapter on eyes to be rather dull) to the point of reader disinterest. All in all Idle Days in Patagonia was like a giant freight train that started off with a great deal of energy, but once the fuel source was depleted, rolled to a slow and painful stop.

Favorite passages, “To my mind there is nothing in life so delightful as that feeling of relief, of escape, and absolute freedom which one experiences in a vast solitude, where man has perhaps never been, and has, at any rate, left no trace of his existence” (p 7).

Reason read: December – January is the best time to visit Patagonia (I guess).

Author fact: If you have ever read The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway you know Hudson was mentioned.

BookLust twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called simply “Patagonia” (p 173).

Ancient Athens on 5 Drachmas

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Matyszak, Philip. Ancient Athens on 5 Drachmas a Day. Thames & Hudson

This is a very different guide book; definitely one like no other. For starters, don’t think you can use this in modern-day Greece. It’s a time machine of sorts. You explore ancient Athens as if you are a tourist from 2,500 years ago. In addition, it is full of humor. Where else can you learn how to say “Unhand my wife immediately, you drunken unpleasant fellow” in Greek? Matyszak calls this a “useful phrase” to know! But that’s how Matyszak’s entire “guide” is – full of humor and wit.

Goofy quotations, “If inspired toward romantic adventure, a traveller should note that Boeotian women are as famed for their beauty as Boeotian men are famed for their thick-headedness – but also that even when true, the general is not reliable guide to the particular” (p 13).

Reason read: So, there is this day in celebrated in January called “Female Domination Day.” What better time to read about Greece?

Author fact: Matyszak is a Greek historian which explains why he wrote Ancient Athens… and followed it up with Ancient Rome…

Book trivia: While Ancient Athens on 5 Drachmas a Day is really short it is packed full of really interesting facts and covers a wide array of information. I particularly liked the photographs of Greek art.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Just So Much Greek To Me” (p 120).

Jan ’13 is…

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Holy crap I am late with the list. “I’m late, I’m late” said the White Rabbit! Okay, okay! I just finished The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland so sue me.
January 2013 is another year of hope and of promise. Kisa and I are going to see Trey Anastasio at the Palace in a few weeks. I officially started training for the 5th Just ‘Cause Walk and, and. And! I am training to run a 10k in March. Yay me. But, here are the books…before I get too carried away.

  • Rabbit Hill (speaking of rabbits) by Robert Lawson in honor of when All Creatures Great & Small first aired. Get it? Creatures = rabbits. This is a kids book so I’m hoping to fly through it.
  • The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith in honor of January being Female Mystery month. I’m listening to this on cd. It’s the first one in the series so expect to see Alexander McCall Smith on my book list for the next 4 or 5 months.
  • Lives of the Painters, Sculptors Vol 4 by Giorgio Vasari ~ this (finally, finally) ends the series started in October in honor of Art Appreciation month
  • Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackery ~ in honor of the first month of the year I’m reading something from the first chapter of More Book Lust.
  • Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet by Eleanor Cameron ~ in honor of the a Happy New Year. Another kids book to lighten the mood.
  • Ancient Athens on 5 Drachmas a Day by Philip Matyszak ~ Okay, get this – Female Domination Day in Greece happens in January, hence reading something Greek.
  • Tatiana by Dorothy M. Jones ~ in honor of Alaska becoming a state in January. Mo one locally has this book in their library so I had to ILL it. It might have to come from Alaska. How fitting.
  • Final Solution by Michael Chabon ~ in honor of January being Adopt a Rescued Bird month. This is another book I will listen to in the car or while working out.

For the LibraryThing Early Review program I am just finishing up Gold Coast Madam by Rose Laws. I also received notification of a January Early Review book but as always I won’t mention it by title until it’s in my hot little hands (or in this case, cold little hands since it’s 6 degrees outside).