Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Sep 14, 2018
May 23, 2018
SBPL Coffee Break - Vanessa Christman (Episode 2)
This week we were joined by Vanessa Christman, Assistant Director of the Santa Barbara Public Library System.
Mentioned In This Episode:
Poetry at the Library:
santabarbaraca.evanced.info/signup/Even…=2018/05/06
Trail Talk:
santabarbaraca.evanced.info/signup/Even…=2018/05/17
Black Panther:
santabarbaraca.evanced.info/signup/Even…=2018/05/17
Italy Travel:
www.hoopladigital.com/search?page=1&…ope=Everything
Ecco Guide to Italian WIne:
www.hoopladigital.com/title/11918229
My Italian Bulldozer:
blackgold.overdrive.com/media/2989427
Basque Restaurants Bakersfield:
www.visitbakersfield.com/visitors/res…ield-basque/
Last Gentleman & Second Coming (Hoopla):
www.hoopladigital.com/title/11560220
Second Coming:
www.blackgold.org/polaris/search/t…1033.0.0.1&pos=6
Lucy Knisley:
www.blackgold.org/polaris/search/s…ge=0&searchid=10
French Milk:
www.blackgold.org/polaris/search/t…1033.0.0.1&pos=8
You Can Never Find a Rickshaw When It Monsoons:
www.blackgold.org/polaris/search/t…1033.0.0.1&pos=1
What are your picks?
Jul 4, 2017
Mar 1, 2017
Jan 1, 2016
This is your life, Harriet Chance! - Jonathan Evison
Booklist Reviews
With a tip of the hat to the 1950s game show This Is Your Life, Evison's droll portrait of 78-year-old Harriet Chance homes in on key incidents in the widow's life. As Harriet sets off on an Alaskan cruise, she is visited by the ghost of her dead husband, Bernard (their conversations are a comedic highlight), who held some dark secrets that, once revealed, inspire Harriet to seriously reevaluate her life. It turns out that she has some secrets of her own, which seriously impacted her relationship with her children, especially her deeply depressed daughter, who is still struggling with addiction and who unexpectedly shows up on the boat midway through the cruise. Whether describing Harriet's epic battle with a crab-leg dinner after imbibing too much wine or her tentative attempts to reach rapprochement with her daughter, Evison always depicts her with a great deal of compassion and a keen eye for the humorous detail. Both uplifting and melancholy, funny and thought-provoking, this entertaining read speaks directly to the importance of acceptance and healing. Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews.
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Oct 1, 2014
Turn Right at Machu Picchu - Mark Adams
Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time - Adams, MarkSummary: Traces the author's recreation of Hiram Bingham III's discovery of the ancient citadel, Machu Picchu, in the Andes Mountains of Peru, describing his struggles with rudimentary survival tools and his experiences at the sides of local guides.
Booklist Reviews
This year is the centenary of Hiram Bingham's finding of Machu Picchu, which the Indiana Jones prototype touted as the final Andean redoubt of the Inca. After an editorial career spent sending travel writers to remote corners of the earth, Adams decided to assign himself the adventure of retracing Bingham's steps. Wryly recounting his learning curve of roughing it and getting along with his guide, crusty Australian John Leivers, Adams brings an amusing mixture of credulity and skepticism to his multistrand accounting of Machu Picchu––its contemporary look as a crowded tourist attraction; Bingham's theories about the terraced, mountaintop citadel; and subsequent ideas about the ruins fervently advanced by amateur and credentialed archaeologists alike. Weighing Bingham's accounts to figure out exactly what he had achieved (if not exactly "discovering" Machu Picchu, Bingham sensationally publicized it), Adams fronts the history with entertaining descriptions of his badinage with Leivers about Bingham-associated sites. Retaining its mysterious aura, Machu Picchu will no doubt prove as alluring to modern readers as it did to Bingham. A well-embroidered portrayal.
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Sep 1, 2014
A Year in Provence - Peter Mayle
A Year in Provence - Mayle, PeterSummary: The author describes his experiences when he and his wife moved to a two-hundred-year-old French farmhouse, and shares his observations on the people and culture of Provence.
Publishers Weekly Reviews
The author describes his first 12 months in Provence, after he and his wife have abandoned England for an 18th-century farmhouse in the Luberon Mountains. Throwing themselves into the life of this rural region, they master the local customs, gain partial understanding of their neighbors' patois, overcome the frustrations of French bureaucracy, and learn to deal with workmen who operate on the idiosyncratic Provencal sense of time. In nimble prose, Mayle, columnist for GQ , captures the humorous aspects of visits to markets, vineyards and goat races, and hunting for mushrooms. Even donating blood is an occasion for fun. The Provencal cuisine is Mayle's leitmotif, however. He opens with an account of a memorable New Year's lunch, ends with an appreciation of an impromptu Christmas dinner, and describes just about every meal eaten during the months in between. His adventures, gastronomic and otherwise, are thoroughly entertaining.
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Jul 1, 2014
The Caliph's House - Tahir Shah
The Caliph's House - Shah, TahirSummary: An English travel writer and author of Sorcerer's Apprentice describes his and his family's experiences after purchasing a rundown palace in the Moroccan city of Casablanca, as they work to renovate the house, exorcise the jinns--mischievous invisible spirits--haunting the structure, and cope with the house's human guardians. (Baker & Taylor)
Booklist Reviews
Afghan writer Shah uproots his family from the comforts of London and moves to Casablanca. There he purchases not just any house but the abandoned residence of the caliph. Undeterred by suicide bombers, jinns, and innumerable job applicants, Shah installs his family in the decrepit house and begins to restore its walls, its gardens, and its fountains. Reconstructing the house immerses Shah in Moroccan everyday life. He has to deal with plagues of rats, swarms of bees, and the ever-threatening prospect of organized crime. Shah's picture of Moroccan society, its deeply held Islamic faith, its primitive superstition, and its raucous economy makes for endlessly fascinating reading. Particularly telling is his encounter with the realities of Ramadan, which seems to bring out both the best and worst in people's characters. Shah is cautious not to judge a society different from Western expectations, and he never makes fun of the odd characters who pepper his narrative. Shah's own heritage as both Afghan and Briton blesses him with a unique and penetrating point of view.
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May 1, 2014
Trains and lovers - Alexander McCall-Smith
Summary: In the words of Alexander McCall Smith: 'You feel the rocking of the train, you hear the sound of its wheels on the rails; you are in the world rather than suspended somewhere above it. And sometimes there are conversations to be had, which is what the overarching story in this collection is all about. It is a simple device: people brought together entertain one another with tales of what happened to them on trains. It takes place on a journey I frequently make myself and know well, the journey between Edinburgh and London. It is best read on a train, preferably that one.'
Booklist Reviews
The latest from McCall Smith, Scotland's contemporary answer to Anthony Trollope, is a stand-alone novel, set on the train from Edinburgh to London. Unfortunately, the novel is a rare misfire for McCall Smith, the architect of the "everyone brings problems to one place" frame used to such wonderful effect in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series and in the elegantly interlocking stories in the 44 Scotland Street and Corduroy Mansions series. The frame here has four people in one train compartment: three men (from Scotland, the U.S., and England) and one woman (from Western Australia) settle in to tell each other tales of their past loves. It would take a derrick to suspend this I beam of disbelief, beginning with the startling fact that these twenty-first-century travelers occupy the entire journey by taking turns talking—there's not an iPad in sight. Those who expect the sort of assignations promised by the cover art will be disappointed; there's not even any flirting. Still, if readers can ignore the screeching narrative wheels, there are the usual rewards to reading McCall Smith, including his deft descriptions of landscape and the physical characteristics of his characters—and, of course, his wise and witty reflections on love and luck. Copyright 2012 Booklist Reviews.
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Apr 1, 2014
Uganada be kidding me - Chelsea Handler
Summary: Presents a collection of humorous essays about the talk show host's life and loves and the state of the world.
Booklist Reviews
*Starred Review* Here's all you really need to know about Chelsea Handler, straight from the girl herself: "It is not lost on me that my life has become ridiculous." Handler, star of her own late-night TV show, Chelsea Lately, and best-selling author of three previous titles, including Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea (2008), takes readers on her travels; each adventure can only be described as a total shit show. Absurdity reigns, from a safari in Africa, where the only ones getting penetrated (her favorite word) are the hundreds of baboons at the lodge, to the Bahamas, where after eight days in Africa without a bowel movement, Handler finally lets loose into an innocent kayak. The U.S. is not left unscathed, either. At most times, Handler is surrounded by her friends—let's face it, she wouldn't survive on her own—and Chunk, a half-German, half-Asian dog that she believes to be the reincarnation of her dead mother. As long as someone can make a decent margarita, and there's Xanax on hand, Handler is just fine—although the same can't be said for the people she encounters. The final chapters really have nothing to do with travel and feel less connected to the rest of the book; in Handler's defense, she was probably drunk by this point in the writing process. But if you're one of the millions who enjoy Handler's sarcastic, self-deprecating humor (and her tendency to be pantless), then you may just pee yourself laughing as she humiliates herself from Montenegro to Telluride. Unfortunately—really unfortunately—photos weren't available at the time of review, but based on the shenanigans described, they have a ton of potential. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Who's not watching Chelsea Lately at 11/10c? Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews.
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Mar 1, 2014
The roads to Santiago - Derry Brabbs
Summary: Brabbs traces the four main routes within France leading to Santiago de Compostella, the third most important pilgrimage destination for medieval travelers. His photographs of the journeys are breathtaking, showing the tiny towns and grand cathedrals where the pilgrims took, and still take, shelter. In many towns of France and Spain the scallop symbol of St. James can still be found at wayside inns and hostels. Brabbs has written an informative and lively text to accompany his photos. This not only gives the background of the pilgrimage sites and the purpose behind the journey, but also describes the personal reactions of one who followed the same path as thousands over the centuries. Today there are more than religious reasons for making a pilgrimage to Compostella, but, as Brabbs shows so beautifully, anyone who follows the old roads there cannot avoid being affected by the journey.
Derry Brabbs is regarded as one of England's finest photographers within the sphere of heritage and landscape, with over 20 illustrated books to his credit. His stunning color photographs for the worldwide best-seller James Herriot's Yorkshire contributed to its success. He is the author of several beautifully photographed titles celebrating England's landscape and architectural legacy. His other titles for Frances Lincoln include The River Thames, Hadrian's Wall, A Year in the Life of Rutland, A Year in the Life of the Welsh Marches and Coast to Coast with Wainwright.
- (Mbi Pub Co)
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Feb 1, 2014
On the trail of Genghis Khan - Tim Cope
Summary: Undertaking a journey not successfully completed since the days of Genghis Khan, a professional adventurer recounts his travels by horseback across the entire length of the Eurasian steppe, a 6,000-mile, three-year-long trip.
Booklist Reviews
An adventurer who has sailed down Siberia's Yenesei River, among other quests, Cope mounted a horse in Mongolia in 2004 and set out for the opposite end of the Eurasian steppe, Hungary. This was the vast sphere conquered by the Mongol Empire in the 1200s, the historical memory of which accompanied Cope as surely as did his contemporary education in nomadic living. Embarking without much prior experience in things equestrian but gifted with foreign-language skills, Cope proceeded across exceedingly challenging if not downright dangerous landscapes of deserts, mountains, and plains. At many points, Cope's journey seemed sure to be thwarted by wolves, thieves, or bureaucrats, but three years later, Cope, his steeds, and his dog, Tigon, arrived triumphantly in Hungary. Within this theme of difficulties met and mastered, the people Cope met on the way become vividly characterized as jocular or menacing, helpful or hindering in the narrative's large stock of intercultural encounters. (Cope is Australian.) Weaving acute observation, honest introspection, and a sense of history, Cope crafts a marvelously perceptive travelogue of an audacious odyssey. Copyright 2013 Booklist Reviews.
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The unlikely pilgrimage of Harold Fry - Rachel Joyce
The unlikely pilgrimage of Harold Fry - Joyce, Rachel
Summary: Harold Fry is convinced that he must deliver a letter to an old love in order to save her, meeting various characters along the way and reminiscing about the events of his past and people he has known, as he tries to find peace and acceptance.
Booklist Reviews
*Starred Review* Spontaneity has never been Harold Fry's strong suit, especially once he retired. Just ask his long-suffering wife, Maureen. So imagine her surprise when Harold abruptly decides to walk 500 miles to the north of England in a naive attempt to save a dying woman, a colleague he once knew briefly but to whom he hadn't spoken in 20 years. It's the proverbial case of a man going out to mail a letter and never coming home. Clad only in his everyday garb, lacking a cell phone, backpack, or reliable sense of direction, Fry puts one poorly shod foot in front of the other and trudges through villages and hamlets, often relying on the kindness of strangers to keep his momentum going. To the object of his inspiration, the fading Queenie Hennessy, he writes pithy postcards, bravely exhorting her not to die. Solitary walks are perfect for imagining how one might set the world to rights, and Harold does just that, although not always with uplifting results, as he ruminates on missed opportunities and failed relationships. Accomplished BBC playwright Joyce's debut novel is a gentle and genteel charmer, brimming with British quirkiness yet quietly haunting in its poignant and wise examination of love and devotion. Sure to become a book-club favorite. Copyright 2012 Booklist Reviews.
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Jan 1, 2014
Miles away - Miles Morland
Summary: At the age of forty-five, Miles Morland resigned from his highly paid job (spent largely "shouting down a phone") as head of the London office of a leading Wall Street firm, and took a walk across France with his wife, Guislaine. Neither of them was accustomed to strolling more than the distance between a restaurant and a waiting taxi, but in France they walked 350 miles through the foothills of the Pyrenees, from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic.
The planning of the route, Miles's mania for maps and guidebooks, Guislaine's practice walks around the Serpentine and the purchasing of what they thought was the right equipment set the tone for what develops into a highly entertaining account of the pleasures and agonies of walking the best part of twenty miles a day in the heat of a southern summer.
Along the way Miles frequently looks back with relief, and often with hilarity, on the life from which he has escaped. Their leisurely progress past farmyards and along riverbanks, when their only deadline is to reach the next village in time for a long lunch in the shade of a plane tree, is in telling contrast to the extraordinary pressures of life in the City in the 1980s, pressures that had led Miles and Guislaine to get divorced - and then to remarry each other.
Miles Away is the story of a walk, a relationship and an abrupt change of lifestyle: accepting a lower standard of living in return for an improvement in the quality of life. Many people dream of doing what Miles Morland did. This book shows not only that it is possible, but that the rewards can be immeasurable. - (Blackwell North Amer)
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Oct 1, 2013
Headhunters on my doorstep - Maarten J. Troost
Summary: "The bestselling author of The Sex Lives of Cannibals recounts his latest hilarious misadventures in the South Pacific, following in the footsteps of his unlikely idol, Robert Louis Stevenson. Readers and critics alike adore J. Maarten Troost for his signature wry and witty take on the adventure memoir. Hailed by Entertainment Weekly as a "funny, candid, and down-to-earth travel companion," Troost's bestselling debut, The Sex Lives of Cannibals, is an enduring favorite about life in the South Seas. Headhunters on My Doorstep chronicles Troost's return to the South Pacific after his struggle with alcoholism and time in rehab left him numb to life. Deciding to retrace the path once traveled by the author of Treasure Island, Troost follows Robert Louis Stevenson to the Marquesas, the Tuamotus, Tahiti, the Gilberts, and Samoa, tumbling from one comic misadventure to another as he confronts his newfound sobriety. Somewhere en route from the shark-infested waters of Fakarava to the remote islands of Kiribati, Troost gradually awakens to the beauty of life and reconnects with his family and the world. Headhunters on My Doorstep is a funny yet poignant account of one man's journey to find himself that will captivate travel writing aficionados, Robert Louis Stevenson fans, and anyone who has ever lost his way"-- Provided by publisher.
Kirkus Reviews
Following a stint in rehab, travel writer Troost (Lost on Planet China: The Strange and True Story of One Man's Attempt to Understand the World's Most Mystifying Nation or How He Became Comfortable Eating Live Squid, 2008, etc.) chronicles his journey toward finding his new sober self while following in the tracks of Robert Louis Stevenson. For years, Troost lived the good life: "For a long while, decades even, the sun had shone on me. Life had been an effortless glide." Then, suddenly, it wasn't, and his wife dropped him at a rehab center along with an ultimatum to sober up or else. On the road to recovery, the author delved into the literature of the South Seas, particularly Stevenson's Treasure Island. His curiosity reawakened following his newfound sobriety, Troost set out on his own adventure for some of the most remote islands on Earth, including the Marquesas, the Tuamotus, Tahiti, the Gilberts and Samoa. Whether detailing the boorish behavior of other travelers, the serenity/fright experienced when snorkeling with sharks, rising sea levels or his own inadequacies, Troost's language rings true. The author candidly, humorously probes the nether regions of his addiction along with the temptations he encountered during his journey. "So now here I was," he writes, "nearly twelve months sober, alone for the first time in a faraway place, on a boatful of booze." Troost's sly wit permeates the narrative, propelling his saga out of the ranks of many recovery memoirs. The author weaves together entertaining and illuminating pop-culture touchstones, history, and cultural, culinary and literary references with personal experiences while rambling across the South Seas. A rambunctious, intimate trip well worth the armchair time. Copyright Kirkus 2013 Kirkus/BPI Communications.All rights reserved.
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Jul 1, 2013
The lost city of Z - David Grann
Summary: "After stumbling upon a hidden trove of diaries, New Yorker writer David Grann set out to solve 'the greatest exploration mystery of the twentieth century': what happened to British explorer Percy Fawcett. In 1925 Fawcett ventured into the Amazon to find an ancient civilization. For centuries Europeans believed the world's largest jungle concealed the glittering El Dorado. Thousands had died looking for it, leaving many convinced that the Amazon was truly inimical to humankind. But Fawcett had spent years building his scientific case. Captivating the imagination of millions, he embarked with his 21-year-old son, determined to prove that this ancient civilization--which he dubbed 'Z'--existed. Then he and his expedition vanished. Fawcett's fate--and the clues he left behind--became an obsession for hundreds who followed him. As Grann delved deeper into Fawcett's mystery, and the greater mystery of the Amazon, he found himself irresistibly drawn into the 'green hell.' "--From publisher description.
Booklist Reviews
Percy Fawcett, a celebrated member of the Royal Geographical Society, explored the Amazon the hard way: on foot, hacking his way through the jungle. Single-minded and exceptionally tough, he captured the imagination of a public hungry for tales of far-off adventure. His exploits were widely reported, especially when he told of his belief in a lost city—enigmatically, he called it "Z"—that would offer proof an advanced civilization had once thrived despite the region s hostile environment. In 1925, having vowed to find Z, he disappeared into the jungle and was never seen again. Grann, of the New Yorker, was no outdoorsman. But captivated by the story, he joined the ranks of the "Fawcett Freaks," determined to discover the explorer s fate. (It is estimated that more than 100 people have lost their lives trying to find out how Fawcett lost his.) He interweaves Fawcett s story with rich period detail and an account of his own trip to the receding jungle. The historical passages, peerlessly researched, are the best; the first-person parts could have been a useful way of illustrating the tale s irresistible lure—but compared to Fawcett s relentless monomania and astonishing travels, Grann s own journey pales. The device pays off in the final scene, however, when, through Grann s own eyes, we experience the thrill of discovery—and learn that Percy Fawcett just may have been right all along. Copyright Booklist Reviews 2008.
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