|
Armchair Travel February 2017
|
|
|
|
|
By the Seat of My Pants by Don George Lonely Planet knows that some of life's funniest experiences happen on the road. Whether they take the form of unexpected detours, unintended adventures, unidentifiable dinners or unforgettable encounters, they can give birth to our most found travel lessons, and our most memorable - and hilarious - travel stories. These 31 globegirdling tales that run the gamut from close-encounter safaris to loss-of-face follies, hair-raising rides to culture-leaping brides, eccentric expats to mind-boggling repasts, wrong roads taken to agreements mistaken. The collection brings together some of the world's most renowned travellers and storytellers with previously unpublished writers.
|
|
| Grape, Olive, Pig: Deep Travels through Spain's Food Culture by Matt GouldingMarried to a Spanish woman, American foodie (and friend to Anthony Bourdain) Matt Goulding has lived in Spain for over six years and knows a lot about the country and its gastronomic offerings. In this excellent book, he serves up personal stories of his life and travels, short biographies of fascinating Spanish people, tips of what to eat and drink (hint: forget Sangria), lovingly describes sensuous meals (some at famed restaurants), and presents a celebration of the culture and cuisine of every region of Spain. With mouth-watering descriptions of tapas, acorn-fed pig, paella, and more, readers are advised to have a delicious snack available to go with this evocative travelogue. Interested in Japan? He gives it a similar (though less intimate) treatment in Rice, Noodle, Fish. |
|
| The Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story by Douglas PrestonThough he's probably better known as the co-author of the suspenseful Pendergast novels, Douglas Preston also writes thrilling nonfiction. In his latest real-life adventure tale, he gives us a high-octane account of his travels in Honduras' Mosquitia area, where he's part of a team looking for evidence of the fabled Ciudad Blanca (The White City) aka The Lost City of the Monkey God -- but the group has to deal with unfriendly soldiers, parasites, jaguars, snakes, insects, and more. Fans of David Grann's Lost City of Z will surely want to check out Preston's compelling latest; those who'd like more on Mosquitia can pick up William Carlsen's fascinating Jungle of Stone, where he traces the footsteps of two 19th-century explorers, who were the first Euro-Americans to find evidence of the sophisticated Mayan civilization. |
|
| A Space Traveler's Guide to the Solar System by Mark ThompsonIf you want to travel to a really out-of-this-world locale, why not go, well, out of this world? Though we can't hop on a rocket to Mars (yet), this inviting book by Mark Thompson, a celebrated astronomer and presenter of the BBC's Stargazing Live, lets readers imagine that they are taking a galactic tour. After flight planning, travelers will move through our solar system, exploring the sun, planets, moons and asteroid belts and learning how humans might survive, navigate, and get fuel on such a trip. Fans of The Martian (Andy Weir's novel and/or the movie version of it) who want a factual, more wide-ranging look at humans in space will find this fantastic journey entertaining and enlightening. |
|
| Champagne Baby: How One Parisian Learned to Love Wine -- and Life -- the American Way by Laure DugasThere are plenty of stories about Americans in Paris, but here's a delightful tale of a Parisian in America! In this charming version of the fish-out-of-water memoir, Laure Dugas -- a young French woman who has little interest in wine even though she hails from a family of winemakers -- is offered the chance to move to New York City to represent her uncle's company. She immediately accepts...even though she knows little English and little about wine. Learning as she goes, intrepid Laure gets acclimated (even working as a waitress for a month), explores Manhattan, travels across the United States for her job, misses her quintessentially French boyfriend, learns about herself, and develops a passion for the intricacies of wine. Open and enjoy -- santé! |
|
|
The French House: An American Family, a Ruined Maison, and the Village that Restored them all by Don Wallace"Shortly after Don and Mindy Wallace move to Manhattan to jump-start their writing careers, they learn of a house for sale in a village they once visited on a tiny French island off the Brittany coast. Desperate for a life change, the Wallaces bravely (and impulsively) buy it almost sight unseen. What they find when they arrive is a ruin, and it isn't long before their lives begin to resemble it--with hilarious and heartwarming results."--Back cover
|
|
|
The Politics of Washing: Real Life in Venice by Polly ColesWith four children in tow, Coles and her husband move from the comfort of an English village to live and work in Venice. The tourist vision of a baroque city floating in ineffable beauty above the Adriatic mist gives way to the reality of conducting life, finding an apartment, getting kids to school, shopping without a car, dealing with medical emergencies, and learning to contend with cranky natives bickering endlessly in the incomprehensible local dialect over what defines a real Venetian. Her brood of energetic kids makes her stand out in a city stagnating from a swiftly declining birthrate, and the children have trouble thriving in authoritarian, eager-to-punish classrooms. Coles learns to hang laundry outdoors properly and teaches herself to row a boat only to feature in tourist photos. Anyone who has visited Venice will find this dose of reality sharply, yet lovingly, contrasts with la serenissima's fairy-tale facade.--Booklist
|
|
| Stringer: A Reporter's Journey in the Congo by Anjan SundaramWould you rather put your Yale mathematics degree to use working for Goldman Sachs or by following a new dream of being a journalist in a country few are interested in? Anjan Sundaram, who was born in India, chooses to go to the war-torn Democratic Republic of the Congo with pen in hand, but with no real job waiting. There, he has a bit of a baptism by fire when his cell phone is stolen, he has a cultural misunderstanding with the family he's renting a room from, and he encounters dangerous, disturbing situations even as he finally gets paid for his stories. In Stringer, Sundaram offers a beautifully written account of his coming of age as a journalist in one of the most troubled places in the world: "readers may be tempted to compare him to Conrad and Naipaul, but he has a strong, unique style all his own" (Kirkus Reviews). |
|
Contact your Reference at 847-720-3230 for more great titles! |
|
|
|
|
|