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Armchair Travel December 2019
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Mud and stars : travels in Russia with Pushkin, Tolstoy, and other geniuses of the Golden Age
by Sara Wheeler
What it is: A timely, lighthearted tour of contemporary Russia draws on the regional tributes of Golden Age writers, from Pushkin to Tolstoy, to explore the country’s sociopolitical history outside of its major cities.
Did you know? Mud and Stars was listed as one of the Smithsonian's Best Travel Books of the Year!
Other books by this author: Check out Terra Incognita: Travels in Antarctica and The Magnetic North.
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Wild life : dispatches from a childhood of baboons and button-downs
by Keena Roberts
What it's about: A Harvard-educated public health policy researcher traces the story of her coming-of-age in two worlds, including the Botswana island camp where her primatologist parents worked and a treacherously elite Philadelphia private school.
Book Buzz: "A riveting account of a swashbuckling, lion-dodging, tough-as-nails childhood and also a perceptive examination of how the geographical and cultural fault lines within one person shift and rupture over time. I couldn't put Wild Life down-this book left me hungry for awe."― Maggie Shipstead, New York Times bestselling author of Seating Arrangements and Astonish Me
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Stealing green mangoes : two brothers, two fates, one Indian childhood
by Sunil Dutta
What it's about: An Indian refugee-turned-LAPD terrorism expert describes his complicated relationship with his brother, a fugitive and terrorist who the author sought to understand in the wake of a terminal cancer diagnosis.
Where will you travel? Dutta takes us from his family home in Rajasthan to America, to France, to the streets of southeastern Los Angeles.
Book Buzz: "Dutta’s story is both unimaginable and utterly American…. An overall cracking-good read.” - Booklist
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| On the Plain of Snakes: A Mexican Journey by Paul TherouxWhat happened: Erudite 70-something travel writer Paul Theroux drove the entire length of the U.S.-Mexico border alone, crossing over the border multiple times; he also visited Mexico City, Oaxaca, Chiapas, and other areas.
Why you should read it: Theroux saw the border situation up close, met locals, witnessed the monarch butterfly migration, visited historic locations, taught writing, and learned about drug cartels and corruption.
Read this next: Richard Grant's God's Middle Finger, about his trip through the Sierra Madres; or, for a penetrating look at both U.S. borders, try Stephanie Elizondo Griest's All the Agents and Saints. |
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Crusaders : an epic history of the wars for the holy lands
by Dan Jones
What it's about: The best-selling author of The Templars presents a wide-ranging, narrative history of the Crusades that examines 8th-century Christian-Muslim relations from the perspectives of diverse people on all sides of the wars.
What's inside: This includes illustrations and maps!
Where will this journey take us? He widens the geographical focus to regions such as Spain, North Africa, southern France, and the Baltic states.
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| The Emperor Far Away: Travels at the Edge of China by David EimerWhat it's about: British journalist David Eimer, who'd lived in China for years, traveled the country's edges, including the Islamic area of Xinjiang province and the forbidden zone of Tibet, speaking with the often overlooked ethnic groups who face social and political discrimination from the Han Chinese majority.
Did you know? China borders 14 countries and has 55 officially recognized ethnic minorities.
Why you might like it: Eimer provides a unique view of an unfamiliar China in this compelling, vibrant book. |
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| Northland: A 4,000-Mile Journey Along America's Forgotten Border by Porter FoxWhat it is: a beautifully written, reflective look at the border region between the United States and Canada, which traces the area's rich history (including Native Americans' roles) and draws on three years of exploration from Maine to Washington via car, canoe, foot, and freighter.
Did you know? "Before September 11, 2001, half of the 119 border crossings between the U.S. and Canada were unguarded at night."
Read this next: For more on the U.S.-Canadian border, pick up Brian Castner's Disappointment River. |
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North on the wing : travels with the songbird migration of spring
by Bruce McP Beehler
What it is: The story of an ornithologist's journey to trace the spring migration of songbirds from the southern border of the United States through the heartland and into Canada.
Where will this journey take you? Beehler followed woodland warblers and other Neotropical songbird species from the southern border of Texas, where the birds first arrive after their winter sojourns in South America and the Caribbean, northward through the Mississippi drainage to its headwaters in Minnesota and onward to their nesting grounds in the north woods of Ontario.
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| The Marches: A Borderland Journey Between England and Scotland by Rory StewartWhat it's about: Rory Stewart has written about Iraq (Prince of Marshes) and Afghanistan (The Places In Between), but this journey is more intimate: it's the landscape of his homeland, the border between England and Scotland, and he walked it with his 89-year-old Scottish father.
What's inside: family stories as well as thoughtful musings on the plants, animals, conflicts, people (from Romans to modern-day locals), and more that have shaped this stunning area.
Read this next: Max Adams' In the Land of Giants, another richly detailed book that engagingly mixes British history and travel. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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