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Armchair Travel February 2018
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The Complete Guide to Winter Camping
by Kevin Callan
Complete Guide to Winter Camping covers nearly every aspect of snow and ice fun and safety. Advice on setting up shelter to choosing a sleep system and warm clothing, gives readers the knowledge to outfit themselves properly to enjoy winter. And with chapters on how to track animals, check ice thickness, operate a snowmobile and catch a fish while ice fishing, the Happy Camper ensures you'll have a good time once you're all bundled up!
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Ice Diaries : An Antarctic Memoir
by Jean McNeil
What do we stand to lose in a world without ice? A decade ago, novelist and short story writer Jean McNeil spent a year as writer in residence with the British Antarctic Survey, and four months on the world's most enigmatic continent--Antarctica. Access to the Antarctic remains largely reserved for scientists, and it is the only piece of earth which is nobody's country. Ice Diaries is the story of McNeil's years spent in ice, not only in the Antarctic but her subsequent travels in Greenland, Iceland and Svalbard, culminating in a strange event in Cape Town, South Africa, where she journeyed to make what was to be her final trip to the southernmost continent. In the spirit of the diaries of Antarctic explorers Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton, McNeil mixes travelogue, popular science and memoir to examine the history of our fascination with ice.
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My (Part-Time) Paris Life: How Running Away Brought Me Home
by Lisa Anselmo
Manhattan creative director Lisa Anselmo was very close to her strong-willed mother -- like, codependent-close. So when her mother passed away, Anselmo was devastated and adrift. Searching for a reason to get out of bed in the morning, she started researching Paris homes for sale, just for fun. Before too many months had passed, and despite being someone who plays it safe, she had bought a Paris apartment, where she planned to live for part of each year. Describing her new life in Paris (and all the joys and troubles of home ownership in an unfamiliar place) as well as her search for a happy life, this memoir offers readers who enjoy soul-searching books an engaging Parisian get-away.
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Bleaker House: Chasing My Novel to the End of the World
by Nell Stevens
After 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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| A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill BrysonWhat 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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| Out of Africa by Isak DinesenWhat it's about: When Kenya was known as British East Africa, Dane Karen Blixen (whose pseudonym was Isak Dinesen) lived and worked on a family coffee plantation located at the foot of the Ngong Hills. Her classic memoir lyrically captures her time there from 1913-1931, describing the alluring landscape, the local people, the deaths of close friends, and the eventual failure of the farm.
The movie: The award-winning 1985 film adaptation of Out of Africa, which also drew from other Dinesen writings, focused on Blixen's romance with a British aristocrat and starred Meryl Streep and Robert Redford. |
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| Into the Wild by Jon KrakauerWhat it's about: Bestselling author Jon Krakauer pieces together the dramatic -- and tragic -- story of Chris McCandless, an intelligent young man who embarked on a solo journey into the wilds of Alaska with no map and virtually no supplies.
The movie: Originally published in 1996, Into the Wild was adapted as a film in 2007 by Sean Penn and starred Emile Hirsch; Chris' sister, Carine McCandless, consulted on the movie and later wrote a book, The Wild Truth, about her and her brother's abusive childhood. |
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| Under the Tuscan Sun: At Home in Italy by Frances MayesWhat it's about: First published in 1986, this delightful book chronicles poet Frances Mayes' purchase of a Tuscan villa in need of refurbishing. Relating experiences from her new Italian life, Mayes describes spending time with her neighbors, dealing with repairs, and dining on delicious foods (recipes are included!).
The movie: The 2003 Under the Tuscan Sun movie is quite different from the book but features luminous scenery and a compelling Diane Lane as Mayes. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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