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Armchair Travel April 2017
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| Bears in the Streets: Three Journeys Across a Changing Russia by Lisa DickeyWith Russia so much a part of recent news, some may want to know more about the world's largest country. Veteran author Lisa Dickey shines a light on that topic and on the changes to Russia that have occurred during the past two decades, detailing three journeys she took across the vast nation, in 1995 (with an American photographer), 2005 (with another photographer), and 2015 (solo). On each trip, she tried to visit the same people and places, and the result is an in-depth look at Russians (including farmers, small business owners, Jews, and others) that explores everyday life, people's social attitudes, and more. Bear in the Streets provides a rich look at an intriguing place. |
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Mountain Lines : A Journey Across the French Alps
by Jonathan Arlan
In the summer of 2015, Jonathan Arlan was nearing thirty. Restless, bored, and daydreaming of adventure, he comes across an image on the Internet one day: a map of the southeast corner of France with a single red line snaking south from Lake Geneva, through the jagged brown and white peaks of the Alps to the Mediterranean sea—a route more than four hundred miles long. He decides then and there to walk the whole trail solo. Lacking any outdoor experience, completely ignorant of mountains, sorely out of shape, and fighting last-minute nerves and bad weather, things get off to a rocky start. But Arlan eventually finds his mountain legs—along with a staggering variety of aches and pains—as he tramps a narrow thread of grass, dirt, and rock between cloud-collared, ice-capped peaks in the High Alps, through ancient hamlets built into hillsides, across sheep-dotted mountain pastures, and over countless cols on his way to the sea. In time, this simple, repetitive act of walking for hours each day in the remote beauty of the mountains becomes as exhilarating as it is exhausting. Mountain Lines is the stirring account of a month-long journey on foot through the French Alps and a passionate and intimate book laced with humor, wonder, and curiosity. In the tradition of trekking classics like A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush, The Snow Leopard, and Tracks, the book is a meditation on movement, solitude, adventure, and the magnetic power of the natural world.
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Tides : the science and spirit of the ocean
by Jonathan White
In Tides: The Science and Spirit of the Ocean, writer, sailor, and surfer Jonathan White takes readers across the globe to discover the science and spirit of ocean tides. In the Arctic, White shimmies under the ice with an Inuit elder to hunt for mussels in the dark cavities left behind at low tide; in China, he races the Silver Dragon, a twenty-five-foot tidal bore that crashes eighty miles up the Qiantang River; in France, he interviews the monks that live in the tide-wrapped monastery of Mont Saint-Michel; in Chile and Scotland, he investigates the growth of tidal power generation; and in Panama and Venice, he delves into how the threat of sea level rise is changing human culture—the very old and very new. Tides combines lyrical prose, colorful adventure travel, and provocative scientific inquiry into the elemental, mysterious paradox that keeps our planet’s waters in constant motion. Photographs, scientific figures, line drawings, and sixteen color photos dramatically illustrate this engaging, expert tour of the tides.
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| The Alps: A Human History from Hannibal to Heidi and Beyond by Stephen O'SheaThough he's afraid of heights, Stephen O'Shea decided to take a road trip across the Alps, visiting parts of France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Italy, and Slovenia. Driving a souped-up muscle car, he traveled around hairpin turns, through quaint villages, and up and down (and up and down) steep mountain roads. While lightheartedly describing his adventure, he shares information about the people and places he encountered along the way and comments on the rugged area's appearances in history and fiction (covering everyone from Hannibal and Hitler to Mary Shelley, Sherlock Holmes, and Heidi). The Alps should pique the interest of those who enjoy reading fun travelogues full of cool information (Bill Bryson fans, we're talking to you!). |
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Seeking Something More From Life
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A year in the world : journeys of a passionate traveller
by Frances Mayes
Celebrating the wonders, benefits, and experiences of travel, the best-selling author of Under the Tuscan Sun shares a collection of narrative essays in which she details her travels to Spain, Portugal, France, Britain, Turkey, Greece, southern Italy, and North Africa, interweaving personal insights with commentary on art, history, landscape, culture, and tradition. Reprint. 75,000 first printing.
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| Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl StrayedIn this "unsentimental memoir" (Kirkus Reviews, starred review), recently divorced 26-year-old Cheryl Strayed sets out on the 1,100-mile Pacific Coast Trail (PCT), walking solo from California, through Oregon, and on to Washington State. Strayed, a completely inexperienced hiker, had plenty of baggage with her, and we're not just talking about her too-heavy backpack. Though the book is centered around her time on the trail and her dealings with snakes, bears, and blisters, sections of Wild discuss the troubles that sent Strayed (back)packing, including her mother's death, the end of her marriage, and her own reckless behaviors. |
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| The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World by Eric WeinerWant more happiness in your life? Maybe you don't need a better job or to lose ten pounds -- maybe you just need a change of scenery. National Public Radio correspondent Eric Weiner traveled the globe, investigating not what happiness is, but where it is. His first stop was Rotterdam, where he consulted scientist Ruut Veenhoven, compiler of the World Database of Happiness, which ranks countries' happiness levels. From there, Weiner, a self-professed grump, visited such "happy" places as Iceland, India, Qatar, Great Britain, and America. The result? "A charming, funny and illuminating travelogue" (The Washington Post). |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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