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Armchair Travel August 2019
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| The Buried: An Archaeology of the Egyptian Revolution by Peter HesslerWhat it is: a keenly observed look at Egypt during and after the Arab Spring through the lens of both the past and the present featuring can't-miss interactions with a wide variety of people, including a thoughtful garbage collector and a gay translator.
About the author: Between 2011-2016, The New Yorker journalist Peter Hessler lived in Egypt with his wife and young twin daughters and learned Egyptian Arabic. Hessler has also lived in China and written several acclaimed books about the country, including River Town. |
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Off the Rails: A Train Trip Through Life
by Beppe Severgnini
What it is: a delightful, often wryly humorous journey with Italian journalist Beppe Severgnini (author of Ciao, America!), who shares a collection of travel stories focused on railway trips.
Trips include: his 1986 honeymoon on the Trans-Siberian railway, a trip across the Untied States with his teenage son, a railway journey across Australia, and various travels with a German journalist where they discussed their countries' different mindsets regarding travel.
For fans of: train travelogues like Tom Zoellner's Train, Tim Park's Italian Ways, or Paul Theroux's Ghost Train to the Eastern Star.
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| Monsieur Mediocre: One American Learns the High Art of Being Everyday French by John von SothenStarring: John von Sothen, an American writer for French Vanity Fair who married a Frenchwoman and has lived and raised his family in a Parisian apartment near the Gare du Nord for the past 15 years.
What it is: a witty, fresh essay collection that lovingly upends rose-colored stereotypes of the City of Light.
Don't miss: the author's memories of growing up in D.C. with his parents (a broadcast journalist and an artist); the family's Parisian staycations. |
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| Jungle of Stone: The Extraordinary Journey of John L. Stephens and Frederick... by William CarlsenWhat it's about: Author William Carlsen explored the Yucatan jungle, retracing the steps of U.S. ambassador to Central America John L. Stephens and British architect Frederick Catherwood, who, in 1839, uncovered amazing 2,000-year-old Mayan ruins that forced a rethinking of recorded history.
Don't miss: how Carlsen skillfully brings Stephens' and Catherwood's personalities to life while recounting their adventures. |
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| Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster by Jon KrakauerWhat it's about: Researching the commercialization of Mt. Everest in 1996, Jon Krakauer set out with a guide and other groups to trek to the summit. When a snowstorm hit, several people died, including two of the best mountaineers in the world.
What it is: a harrowing and evocative firsthand account of the events.
Read this next: The Climb, by Anatoli Boukreev and G. Weston DeWalt, which offers a competing viewpoint of the tragedy; or the soon-to-be-released essay collection Classic Krakauer, out in October. |
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| Pirate Hunters: Treasure, Obsession, and the Search for a Legendary Pirate Ship by Robert KursonStarring: dedicated treasure hunters John Mattera and John Chatterton as well as legendary technology-averse hunter Tracy Bowden.
What happens: Author Robert Kurson (whose Shadow Divers also features Chatterton) compellingly traces the men's high-stakes quest to find the Golden Fleece, a sunken ship that once belonged to notorious English sea captain-turned-pirate Joseph Bannister.
For fans of: Stephan Talty's Empire of Blue Water, pirates, nautical history, and swashbuckling tales of derring-do. |
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| In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette by Hampton SidesWhat it's about: the ill-fated 1879 expedition of the USS Jeannette, led by U.S. naval officer and explorer George Washington De Long, who was looking for a passage to the North Pole via the Bering Strait.
What's inside: a dramatic account -- informed by letters, diaries, expedition records, and news reports -- of what happened when the ship became trapped in pack ice for two years.
Read this next: Paul Watson's Ice Ghosts, which details the history of and contemporary search for shipwrecks from an 1845 Arctic expedition. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Carrollton Public Library 1700 Keller Springs Road, Carrollton Texas 75006 4220 North Josey Lane, Carrollton Texas 75010 |
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