Fresh from finding Dr Livingstone in the Congo, newspaperman Henry Stanley sensed an opportunity and so, in 1877, returned to the Congo to travel through its interior and map its giant river. Despite the mouth to the river having been discovered by Portuguese explorers in the 15th century, until then no outsiders had ever attempted to travel further than the coast. Following the initial routes laid out by the slavers who virtually decimated its coastal communities, Stanley accomplished his mission, opening the interior up to […]
Great Idea – Just Wish the Pictures Were in Color CBR10BINGO
CBR 10 BINGO Square: Dream Vacation (I want to go to at least half of these places. I love exploring.) (Note: I was going to go for blackout BINGO but it looks like I’ll probably be four books short. Mostly because I have no books I want to read that fit those categories, and I just want to read books I want to read. With this one, I believe it brings me up to four BINGOs.) Best for: People who enjoy books on world curiosities […]
Dreams of an Extraordinary Life.
In The Dress and the Girl by Camille Andros a young girl dreams of having an extraordinary life. While wearing her favorite dress her mother made her, she goes and enjoys the simple life of her village: watching the sunset, doing chores, picking flowers, going to school, playing and riding in wagons. One day, her family takes a special trip. They are emigrating to a new country. And while the girl and dress still play and go to school, instead of a wagon they are […]
Honestly, Anything with Ice in the Title Is Appealing Right Now
Best for: Those traveling to Iceland who want some more history beyond a couple pages in the back of the book. In a nutshell: Author Andrew Evans provides a (more than usual) in-depth history of Iceland before sharing standard guide-book fare. Worth quoting: “Iceland is the most literate country in the world and one out of every ten Icelanders will write a book in their lifetime.” “Also, don’t bring a pair of shorts just in case it gets warm. It won’t.” Why I chose it: […]
A Year in Japan
Tracy Franz’ memoir, My Year of Dirt and Water chronicles the year her husband, Koun attends intensive training in a cloistered temple to become a Zen Monk. Alone with only intermittent access to Koun during his residency, Franz is left to navigate the foreignness of an unknown culture as well as the foreignness she feels in herself. The book is structured in a set of running diary entries broken up by seasons, chronicling both the linear time of Japan’s holidays and climate, as well as […]
“There is an English dream of a warm summer evening on a branch-line train”
I’ve had this sat on my kindle for the longest time – I read Mosquito Coast (and loved it) years ago, and so thought I’d give Theroux’s travel writing a go. Sat on a beach in Portwrinkle on a glorious day, a jaunt around the British coast seemed just the ticket. Having already lived in London for years by that point, Theroux decided to travel clockwise around the British coast as a way of getting to know the country better. Starting at the bottom of […]
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