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Armchair Travel December 2018
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| We Fed an Island: The True Story of Rebuilding Puerto Rico, One Meal at a Time by José Andrés with Richard WolffeWhat happened: Four days after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, acclaimed Spanish American chef José Andrés went to there to feed the hungry, fighting red tape and a broken system to do so.
Why you should read it: It offers a moving, eye-opening look at a part of the United States that's often forgotten and a portrait of a tourist destination in crisis.
Author buzz: Andrés is a James Beard Award winner, a Michelin-starred chef, and founder of World Central Kitchen, a nonprofit fighting hunger. |
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Always Another Country
by Sisonke Msimang
An intimate story of exile and homecoming by the South African author whose TED Talk touched millions. Confidential and reflective, Always Another Country is a search for belonging and identity: a warm and intimate story that will move many readers.
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How to Live in Space: Everything You Need to Know for the Not-so-distant Future
by Colin Stuart
."An amusing and informative illustrated guide to life beyond our own planet that covers everything from training for and living in space to the future of space travel and tourism. Infographics and full-color illustrations help How to Live in Space to answer your burning questions, including: How do you sleep in microgravity? How do you grow food without water? Will your muscles waste away out there? How do you protect yourself from radiation? This is a light-hearted yet informative guide to a life far from terra firma.
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| Even Darkness Sings: From Auschwitz to Hiroshima, Finding Hope in the Saddest... by Thomas H. CookWhat it is: a lyrical, reflective memoir of the travels of crime novelist Thomas H. Cook, his wife, and their daughter to some of the saddest places on Earth, along with short histories of the troubled spots.
Places visited include: Auschwitz, Hiroshima, Verdun, Lourdes, Ghana, Spain, the Golden Gate Bridge, and Ground Zero.
First line: "I have come to thank dark places for the light they bring to life." |
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Dreadful Places
by Aaron Mahnke
Filled with evocative illustrations, this eerie tour of lurid landmarks and doomed destinations is just the ticket to take armchair travelers with a taste for the macabre to places they never thought they’d visit in their wildest, scariest dreams.
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The Best American Travel Writing 2018
by Cheryl Strayed
Everyone travels for different reasons, but whatever those reasons are, one thing is certain: they come back with stories. Each year, the best of those stories are collected in The Best American Travel Writing, curated by one of the top writers in the field, and each year they “open a window onto the strange, seedy, and beautiful world, offering readers glimpses into places that many will never see or experience except through the eyes and words of these writers” (Kirkus). This far-ranging collection of top notch travel writing is, quite simply, the genre’s gold standard.
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Gardenlust: A Botanical Tour of the World's Best New Gardens
by Christopher Woods
A renowned gardening authority explores the world's most beautiful gardens in an illustrated guide to over 50 locations in the Americas, Europe, Africa, Australia and Asia including the Geelong Botanic Gardens, Sunnylands Center and Gardens and the Golden Rock Inn.
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The White Darkness
by David Grann
The #1 New York Times best-selling author of Killers of the Flower Moon traces the South Pole expedition of a decorated British special forces officer, an admirer and descendant of Ernest Shackleton's expedition, who in 2015 risked his life to walk across Antarctica alone.
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| Hiking with Nietzsche: On Becoming Who You Are by John KaagWhat it is: a combination of an accessible introduction to Friedrich Nietzsche and a contemplative travel memoir that traces John Kaag's travels following Nietzsche's footsteps in the Swiss Alps, both at age 19 and then 17 years later with his family in tow.
Want a taste? "At nineteen, on the summit of Corvatsch, I had no idea how dull the world could sometimes be." |
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Lonely Planet Amazing Train Journeys
by Lonely Planet Publications
Experience 60 of the world’s greatest and most unforgettable train journeys, from classic long-distance trips like Western Canada’s Rocky Mountaineer and Darwin to Adelaide’s The Ghan, to little-known gems on regular commuting lines. Amazing Train Journeys is the culmination of asking more than 200 travel writers for their absolute favourites.
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The Bucket List: 1,000 Adventures Big and Small: Animals, Birds, Fish, Nature
by Kath Stathers
The most complete life list yet to the world's best places to see wildlife-both on and off the beaten path-from bird watching in the Costa Rican cloud forest and floating among the corals in the Maldives to volunteering at wild animal rescue groups or caring for injured endangered rhinos in South Africa.
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| The Man Who Walked Backward: An American Dreamer's Search for Meaning in... by Ben MontgomeryWhat it is: the intriguing story of Depression-era Texan banker Plennie Wingo, who, after losing everything (partially due to his selling alcohol during Prohibition), decided to earn money from sponsors (which didn't work out so well) and by selling postcards (which did) by walking the world...backward.
Don't miss: his stint in a Turkish jail; tea with a queen.
About the author: Ben Montgomery, who was a Pulitzer finalist for news reporting, also wrote the delightful Grandma Gatewood's Walk as well as The Leper Spy. |
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Journeys of a Lifetime: 500 of the World's Greatest Trips
by National Geographic Society
Featuring 120 new destinations, this best-selling inspirational travel guide reveals 500 celebrated and lesser-known destinations around the globe, from ocean cruises in Antarctica to horse treks in the Andes. Completely revised and updated for its 10th anniversary.
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Love and Marriage...and Travel
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| When in French: Love in a Second Language by Lauren CollinsWhat happened: Lauren Collins, an American New Yorker writer living in London, fell in love and married a Frenchman, moving to Geneva, Switzerland to be with him.
What it is: a funny, full-bodied, and romantic chronicle of her amusing adventures in a new land and her attempts to communicate in a new tongue.
Reviewers say: This is "a thoughtful, beautifully written meditation on the art of language and intimacy" (The New York Times). |
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| Ruthless River: Love & Survival by Raft on the Amazon's Relentless Madre de Dios by Holly FitzGeraldWhat happened: A dream honeymoon traveling around the world turned into a nightmare for Holly FitzGerald and her new husband when their plane crashed in a South American jungle in 1973. They survived, and retrofitted a raft in order to float down the Madre de Dios river to civilization, but a storm put them off course, stalling them in swampy, piranha-infested waters.
Why you might like it: Peppered with hard-won insights about life and love, this harrowing survival tale is unputdownable. |
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| Eve of a Hundred Midnights: The Star-Crossed Love Story of Two World War II... by Bill LascherWhat it is: a swiftly paced dual biography inspired by the writings and photographs of American journalists Mel and Annalee Jacoby.
What happened: The couple married shortly before the attack on Pearl Harbor and worked in China until just before the Japanese invasion (getting out in the nick of time), then moved from location to location chronicling the events of World War II.
Read it for: a timeless love story full of danger as well as fascinating depictions of the Pacific theater during the war. |
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| My Berlin Kitchen: Adventures in Love & Life by Luisa WeissStarring: Chef Luisa Weiss, who was born in 1977 West Berlin to an American father and an Italian mother who soon divorced, making her a frequent international flyer at a young age.
What happened: After years of living in cities around the world, Weiss left behind a stable job and her boyfriend to move back home to Berlin...where she reconnected with the man who later became her husband.
Author buzz: Still living in Germany, Weiss writes the award-winning blog The Wednesday Chef. |
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Never be without a book you love! |
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