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Thank you for coming to Hattiesburg : one comedian's tour of not-quite-the-biggest cities in the world
by Todd Barry
From the veteran comedian and actor from The Wrestler and Louie comes a hilarious book of travel essays from his time on tour through secondary markets in the US, Canada, and Israel. "Hello. It's Todd Barry. Yes, the massively famous comedian. I have billions of fans all over the world, so I do my fair share of touring. While I love doing shows in the big cities (New York, Philadelphia), I also enjoy a good secondary market (Ithaca, Bethlehem). Performing in these smaller places can be great because not all entertainers stop there on tour; they don't expect to see you. They're appreciative. They say things like "Thank you for coming to Hattiesburg" as much as they say "Nice show." And almost every town has their version of a hipster coffee shop, so I can get in my comfort zone. My original plan was to book one secondary market show in all fifty states, in about a year, but that idea was funnier than anything in my act. So, instead of all fifty states in a year, my agent booked multiple shows in a lot of states, plus Israel and Canada. Thank You For Coming to Hattiesburg is part tour diary, part travel guide, and part memoir (Yes, memoir. Just like the thing presidents and former child stars get to write). Follow me on my journey of small clubs, and the occasional big amphitheater. I'd love to tell you more, but I need to go book a flight to Evansville, Indiana."
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Magnetic city : a walking companion to New York
by Justin Davidson
For nearly a decade, Pulitzer prize-winning critic Justin Davidson has explained New York, the city, to his readers at New York, the magazine. He has visited new and preserved buildings, explored neighborhoods in mid-transformation; interviewed architects, developers, and urban thinkers; and tracked the city's constant change. Now, he distills those experiences into Magnetic City, an ambler's guide to New York--the city around us, the one that's lost, and the one that's still to come. Essayistic in form, historical in scope, and filled with references to literature, music, art, and architecture, Magnetic City offers first-time visitors and lifelong residents a new way to see New York.
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| Walking to Listen: 4,000 Miles Across America, One Story at a Time by Andrew ForsthoefelAt a time when the United States feels pretty divided, Walking to Listen offers a bit of hope. A recent college grad in 2011, Andrew Forsthoefel set out with a full backpack, planning to walk from Pennsylvania to Georgia and across the country to the Pacific Ocean. Wearing a "walking to listen" sign and pondering the words of poets Walt Whitman, Rainer Maria Rilke, and Kahlil Gibran, Forsthoefel found "teachers" of all types along the way and learned about trust, fear, kindness, loneliness, and more along his thought-provoking, inspiring journey. |
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My holiday in North Korea : the funniest / worst place on Earth
by Wendy E. Simmons
Most people want out of North Korea. Wendy Simmons wanted in. In My Holiday in North Korea: The Funniest/Worst Place on Earth, Wendy shares a glimpse of North Korea as it's never been seen before. Even though it's the scariest place on Earth, somehow Wendy forgot to check her sense of humor at the border. But Wendy's initial amusement and bewilderment soon turned to frustration and growing paranoia. Before long, she learned the essential conundrum of "tourism" in North Korea: Travel is truly a love affair. But, just like love, it's a two-way street. And North Korea deprives you of all this. They want you to fall in love with the singular vision of the country they're willing to show you and nothing more. Through poignant, laugh-out-loud essays and 92 never-before-published color photographs of North Korea, Wendy chronicles one of the strangest vacations ever. Along the way, she bares all while undergoing an inner journey as convoluted as the country itself.
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| Bleaker House: Chasing My Novel to the End of the World by Nell StevensAfter finishing up her MFA, British writer Nell Stevens won a fellowship that allowed her to go anywhere to write for several months. Eschewing well-known spots, she picked Bleaker Island. Part of the Falkland Islands located off the Patagonian coast of South America, the sparsely populated island features inhospitable wind, lots of snow, and not many people. Stevens thought this would keep writing distractions at bay, but what she discovered is that three months of solitude provided its own challenges. |
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| Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets by Svetlana Aleksievich; translated by Bela ShayevichThough it's too late to travel to the Soviet Union, which broke up in 1991, you can still visit via this moving oral history collection that provides an eye-opening look at the (pre- and post-) Soviet soul. Sharing the stories of a wide variety of people from across the vast country -- ranging from before the end of communism to the beginnings of the new Russia and the rise of Putin -- 2015 Nobel Prize winner Svetlana Aleksievich provides a thorough, fascinating look at war, freedom, family, and more, giving voice to those who've seen so much upheaval. For further reading, pick up Anne Garrels' Putin Country. |
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Midnight in Siberia: A Train Journey into the Heart of Russia
by David Greene
David Greene, the co-host of NPR's Morning Edition, spent several years based in Russia. In his new book, he describes his eye-opening travels along the Trans-Siberian Railroad. Traveling third class from Moscow to Vladivostok, he meets ordinary but fascinating people -- from singing babushkas to entrepreneurial teens -- and shares food and time with them. Using this trip as a lens, he also discusses the challenges faced by 21st-century Russia. For another entertaining look at this storied place, try Ian Frazier's acclaimed Travels in Siberia.
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Black Dragon River : A Journey Down the Amur River at the Borderlands of Empires
by Dominic Ziegler
Black Dragon River recounts a personal journey down one of Asia's great rivers. The world's ninth largest river, the Amur serves as a large part of the border between Russia and China. As a crossroads for the great empires of Asia, this area offers Economist journalist Dominic Ziegler a lens with which to examine the societies at Europe's only borderland with East Asia. Part travel writing, part history, it reveals how the long shared history on the Amur has conditioned the way China and Russia behave toward each other.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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