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Armchair Travel August 2018
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Our towns : a 100,000-mile journey into the heart of America
by James M Fallows
"A unique, revelatory portrait of small-town America: the activities, changes, and events that shape this mostly unseen part of our national landscape, and the issues and concerns that matter to the ordinary Americans who make these towns their home. For the last five years, James and Deborah Fallows have been traveling across America in a single-prop airplane, visiting small cities and meeting civic leaders, factory workers, recent immigrants, and young entrepreneurs, seeking to take the pulse and discern the outlook of an America that is unreported and unobserved by the national media. Attending town meetings, breakfasts at local coffee shops, and events at local libraries, they have listened to the challenges and problems that define American lives today. Our Towns is the story of their journey--an account of their visits to twenty-one cities and towns: the individuals they met, the stories they heard, and their portrait of the many different faces of the American future"
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| My Twenty-Five Years in Provence: Reflections on Then and Now by Peter MayleWhat it is: the final charming travelogue by beloved British purveyor of Provençal life Peter Mayle, who died earlier this year.
For fans of: Provence, Peter Mayle's earlier atmospheric books, "ex-pats in foreign lands" stories, and travelogues overflowing with cafes and mouthwatering meals.
Try this next: David McAninch's Duck Season, about his family's year in Gascony, or if you like mystery novels, grab Martin Walker's evocative Bruno, Chief of Police novels, set in a French village. |
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Tip of the Iceberg: My 3,000-mile Journey Around Wild Alaska, the Last Great...
by Mark Adams
What it's about: Mark Adams, author of Turn Right at Machu Picchu, traveled via road, ferry, foot, and canoe around coastal Alaska, retracing the 1899 Harriman expedition (whose members included naturalist John Muir and photographer Edward Curtis). While doing so, he encountered a much-changed land, fascinating people, and wild animals.
Who it's for: fans of Bill Bryson, as well as anyone who likes personable tour guides and amusing, artful blends of history and travel.
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| Kings of the Yukon: One Summer Paddling Across the Far North by Adam WeymouthWhat it is: Adam Weymouth's lyrical look at his four-month, 2,000 mile trip down the Yukon River via canoe, following the path of migrating king salmon. As he traveled across Canada and Alaska, he visited indigenous peoples and river communities, met Alaskan reality TV stars, learned about salmon, and pondered people's relationships with nature.
For fans of: Brian Castner's Disappointment River or Mark Adams' Tip of the Iceberg. |
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| An Odyssey: A Father, a Son, and an Epic by Daniel MendelsohnWhat it's about: Daniel Mendelsohn taught a course on Homer's The Odyssey at Bard College -- and his 81-year-old mathematician father took it (and didn't think Odysseus was such a hero). Afterwards, the two took a ten-day Mediterranean cruise retracing Odysseus's voyage.
Read it for: the engaging combination of memoir, travelogue, and literary guide that coalesces into a poignant look at fathers and sons.
Reviewers say: "sharply intelligent and deeply felt" (Kirkus Reviews); "a small gem of seminar-room slapstick" (Publishers Weekly). |
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| Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar NafisiStarring: Azar Nafisi, who left Iran at 13 to study overseas and returned home with a Ph.D years later to a changing land where religious fundamentalists ruled and women now had to wear head scarves.
What it's about: Leaving college instruction in 1995, Nafisi secretly taught banned Western Literature (Lolita, The Great Gatsby, Pride and Prejudice, and more) to a group of seven young women for two years.
For fans of: classic novels, Iranian history, and thought-provoking, moving memoirs. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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