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Armchair Travel December 2022 |
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| Africa Is Not a Country: Notes on a Bright Continent by Dipo FaloyinWhat it is: a lively, thought-provoking look at Africa, home to 54 countries, 1.4 billion people, and over 2,000 languages.
Why you might like it: Though this isn't a traditional travelogue, acclaimed journalist Dipo Faloyin presents a needed corrective about the continent and its past, present, and future.
Don't miss: his views on Lagos (where he grew up), a look at democracy via 10 dictatorships, details about the African Cup of Nations rivalries, and the debate over which country makes the best jollof rice. |
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| My Travels with Mrs. Kennedy by Clint Hill with Lisa McCubbin HillTreasure trove: Going through old belongings, retired Secret Service agent Clint Hill found photos, diaries, and other items from his time protecting Jacqueline Kennedy.
Locations include: Virginia, France, Mexico, India, Italy, Greece, and South America.
Read these next: The author's earlier memoir, Mrs. Kennedy and Me, or Jackie's Girl by Nancy McKeon, who as an Irish teen became Jackie's live-in assistant, working and traveling with her in the years following John F. Kennedy's death. |
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| Solito: A Memoir by Javier ZamoraWhat it is: poet Javier Zamora's moving story about his 3,000-mile journey from El Salvador to the United States in 1999 when he was nine years old.
What happened: The planned two-week trip took two months, and Zamora faced dangerous boat trips, desert treks, and more. But though he was traveling unaccompanied alongside a group of strangers, he found a makeshift family who helped him survive.
Want a taste? "Trip. My parents started using that word about a year ago -- 'one day, you'll take a trip to be with us. Like an adventure.'" |
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| Wandering in Strange Lands: A Daughter of the Great Migration Reclaims Her Roots by Morgan JerkinsWhat it's about: Bestselling author Morgan Jerkins, who lives in New York and was raised in New Jersey, traveled to Georgia, South Carolina, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and California for insight as she thoughtfully explored how the Great Migration affected families, especially her own.
Read this next: For more on the Great Migration, which saw millions of African Americans leave the South between 1916 and 1970, pick up Isabel Wilkerson's award-winning history The Warmth of Other Suns; for another book combining family, travelogue, and modern African American history, try Candacy Taylor's Overground Railroad. |
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| Two Trees Make a Forest: In Search of My Family's Past Among Taiwan's Mountains... by Jessica J. LeeWhat it is: a meditative, lyrical mixture of travelogue, history, and memoir, by a British Canadian Taiwanese author fascinated by language and nature, who explored Taiwan, guided by the writings of her maternal grandfather, who'd been a Flying Tiger before immigrating to Canada.
Want a taste? "Born into conflict at the junction of two volcanic arcs, Taiwan is an unstable landmass in perpetual confrontation."
Reviewers say: "poignant and beautifully written" (Library Journal). |
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| The Hundred-Year Walk: An Armenian Odyssey by Dawn Anahid MacKeenEscape: During and after World War I, over one million Armenians were killed by the Ottoman government in one of the first modern genocides. Stepan Miskjian survived, walking 1,000 miles across Turkey and Syria.
In his footsteps: Using Miskjian's journals as a guide, his American granddaughter, journalist Dawn Anahid MacKeen, retraced his path and learned about her grandfather, herself, her roots, and the Middle East.
Read this next: Meline Toumani's There Was and There Was Not, which describes the Armenian American writer's move to Istanbul, Turkey, to try to understand the genocide she heard about every day growing up. |
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| House of Stone: A Memoir of Home, Family, and a Lost Middle East by Anthony ShadidWhat it's about: After Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist Anthony Shadid visited his great-grandfather's abandoned house in southern Lebanon, he moved there to restore it, pondering his failed marriage and dealing with contractors as armed conflict loomed nearby.
Why you might like it: This thoughtful, evocative memoir explores renovation projects, family, war, and the meaning of home.
About the author: Just before the 2012 publication of this memoir, which was a National Book Award finalist, the talented Shadid died while reporting in Syria. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Cumberland County Library System
System Headquarters Office400 Bent Creek Blvd, Suite 150
Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania 17050
(888) 697-0371, ext. 6175www.cumberlandcountylibraries.org/ |
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