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Armchair Travel December 2020
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| A Measure of Belonging: Twenty-One Writers of Color on the New American South by Cinelle Barnes (editor)What it is: a collection of wide-ranging essays about belonging written by people of color who have lived or are living in the Southern United States.
Writers include: Kiese Laymon; Toni Jensen; Soniah Kamal; Joy Priest; Natalia Sylvester; Regina Bradley; Aruni Kashyap; Ivelisse Rodriguez.
Reviewers say: "A sweet Southern sampling" (Kirkus Reviews); "a clear and nuanced picture of the contemporary south, delivered with humor, sass, and pride" (Booklist). |
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Matrimony, Inc. : From Personal Ads to Swiping Right, a Story of America looking for love by Fran BeaumanHave you ever used a dating app or website? Then you have more in common than you know with lonely homesteaders in 18th century New England. At once heartwarming and heartbreaking, Matrimony, Inc. reveals the unifying thread that weaves its way through not just marriage and relationships over the centuries, but American social history itself: advertising for love.
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Chasing Chopin : a Musical Journey Across Three Centuries, Four Countries, and a half-Dozen Revolutions by Annik LaFargeThe Frédéric Chopin Annik LaFarge presents here is not the melancholy, sickly, romantic figure so often portrayed. The artist she discovered is, instead, a purely independent spirit: an innovator who created a new musical language, an autodidact who became a spiritually generous, trailblazing teacher, a stalwart patriot during a time of revolution and exile. In Chasing Chopin she follows in his footsteps during the three years, 1837-1840, when he composed his iconic "Funeral March"-dum dum da dum-using its composition story to illuminate the key themes of his life.
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Spirit Run : A 6,000-mile Marathon Through North America's Stolen Land by Noe AlvarezAt nineteen, Alvarez learned about a Native American/First Nations movement called the Peace and Dignity Journeys, epic marathons meant to renew cultural connections across North America. He dropped out of school and joined a group of native runners, all fleeing difficult beginnings.
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| The Deepest South of All: True Stories from Natchez, Mississippi by Richard GrantWhat it is: a mix of history and travelogue that presents a fascinating portrait of Natchez, Mississippi, tracing the city's past and present and its remarkable contradictions.
Read it for: intriguing stories about locals, including a 19th-century enslaved West African prince and modern-day feuding garden club members.
Why you might like it: vibrant writing; eye-opening history; the examination of racism through the lens of one town. |
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America's National Historic Trails : In the Footsteps of History by Karen BergerFrom the battlefields of the American Revolution to trails blazed by indigenous peoples and pioneers, lands explored by Lewis and Clark, and roads traveled by civil rights marchers, this book documents the history, beauty, and significance of America's 19 national trails.
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Clanlands : Whisky, Warfare, and a Scottish Adventure Like No Other by Sam Heughan"From their faithful camper van to boats, kayaks, bicycles, and motorbikes, join stars of Outlander Sam and Graham on a road trip with a difference, as two Scotsmen explore a land of raw beauty, poetry, feuding, music, history, and warfare. Unlikely friends Sam and Graham begin their journey in the heart of Scotland at Glencoe and travel from there all the way to Inverness and Culloden battlefield, where along the way they experience adventure and a cast of highland characters. In this story of friendship, finding themselves, and whisky, they discover the complexity, rich history and culture of their native country"
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| Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness by Edward AbbeyWhat it is: a classic account, first published in 1968, of author Edward Abbey's experiences, observations, and reflections as a seasonal park ranger in 1950s Arches National Monument in Utah, including a trip by boat down Glen Canyon.
Want a taste? "The ravens cry out in husky voices, blue-black wings flapping against the golden sky."
Read this next: for a newer contemplative look at the desert, try Ben Ehrenreich's Desert Notebooks; for another lyrical look at national parks, pick up Terry Tempest Williams' The Hour of the Land. |
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| Upstream: Selected Essays by Mary OliverWhat's inside: a lyrical collection of essays by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Mary Oliver, who died in 2019, that describes her lifelong wanderings in nature and how it inspired her creatively.
Why you might like it: Oliver contemplates artistic labor, observation, and great thinkers and writers of the past.
Want a taste? "I could not be a poet without the natural world. Someone else could. But not me. For me the door to the woods is the door to the temple." |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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