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Armchair Travel April 2020
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Explore Our Digital Library |
While the library is closed, all digital resources will remain available. Visit this link to see all the eBooks, audiobooks, magazines, videos and more that you have access to with your library card. |
Recent Releases |
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| The Adventurer's Son: A Memoir by Roman DialWhat happened: When 27-year-old Cody Dial didn't return home from a solo trip hiking in Costa Rica's Corcovado National Park in 2014, his dad, Alaskan adventurer and biology professor Roman Dial, went to look for him.
Why you should read it: This captivating, fast-paced story provides a poignant look at the choices we make, father-and-son relationships, and dealing with loss.
For fans of: Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild; Carl Hoffman's The Last Wild Men of Borneo. |
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| Pravda Ha Ha: True Travels to the End of Europe by Rory MacLeanWhat happened: Three decades after a 1989 trip across newly opened Eastern Europe (see Stalin's Nose), travel writer Rory MacLean retraced his steps in the opposite direction, visiting Russia, Estonia, Transnistria, Ukraine, Hungary, Poland, Germany, and more.
Read this next: Lisa Dickey's Bears in the Streets or Anne Garrels' Putin Country -- both look at Russia at different points in time over recent decades.
Reviewers say: "an engrossing travelogue that’s both trenchantly observant and deeply felt" (Publishers Weekly). |
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A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail
by Bill Bryson
What it's about: American travel writer Bill Bryson, who'd been living in England for years, set out to hike the Appalachian Trail with an old friend. The two out-of-shape 40-somethings thought they'd walk the entire 2,100 miles to Maine before winter -- but reality soon hit. Nature descriptions and a history of the storied trail combine with the pair's amusing experiences and their encounters with other hikers.
The movie: In 2015, Robert Redford and Nick Nolte dramatized the duo's nature adventure on the big screen.
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| Overground Railroad: The Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in America by Candacy TaylorWhat happened: When Candacy Taylor learned about the Green Book -- a travel guide for African Americans published from the 1930s-1960s that listed safe places to eat and stay -- she sought more details, eventually driving nearly 40,000 miles across the modern U.S. to see what's changed.
Don't miss: both new and old photographs; vintage advertisements.
Read this next: Gretchen Sorin's recent book Driving While Black, which also explores the history of African Americans and road trips but without the travelogue aspect. |
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All Strangers Are Kin: Adventures in Arabic and the Arab World
by Zora O'Neill
Having studied Arabic as a college student, personable travel and food writer Zora O'Neill decided at age 39 to revisit the language, but this time, to focus on the colloquial instead of the formal version. Visiting Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, and Morocco, she studied and tested out her skills, but was hindered by different areas having different dialects. Nevertheless, she engaged with people she met -- eating, visiting, and sometimes staying with them -- as she pondered the complex language and the relationship between culture and communication.
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An Age of License: A Travelogue
by Lucy Knisley
Broken-hearted, young author and illustrator Lucy Knisley took advantage of every chance she could get to travel in 2011, even if it meant doing so alone. In graphic novel format, she wonderfully depicts her life during this confusing time, when she visited France with relatives, Norway while promoting her work, and several other places, including Sweden, where she had a romantic fling. Foodies and cat lovers will especially appreciate this charming morsel since meals and felines are given lots of attention.
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| Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore by Elizabeth RushWhat it is: An evocative, award-winning exploration of the effects of rising coastal waters that's supported by smart, detailed reporting and moving interviews with scientists and locals.
Locations include: Rhode Island, Maine, New York, Florida, Louisiana, California, and Oregon.
Reviewers say: "Rush captures nature with precise words that almost amount to poetry" (The New York Times); "this book deserves to be read by all" (Publishers Weekly). |
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| Chesapeake Requiem: A Year with the Watermen of Vanishing Tangier Island by Earl SwiftWhat it's about: For months, author Earl Swift visited Virginia's small Tangier Island, located in the Chesapeake Bay and home to a close-knit crabbing community of about 500 people.
Why you should listen to it: In lyrical prose, Swift presents a fascinating history of the island while describing the devastating effects of rising sea levels on the islanders’ already endangered way of life.
Want a taste? "Here live people so isolated for so long that they have their own style of speech, a singsong brogue of old words and phrases." |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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