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Armchair TravelAugust 2014
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"The loneliness of the expatriate is of an odd and complicated kind, for it is inseparable from the feeling of being free, of having escaped." ~ from Adam Gopnik's Paris to the Moon
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New and Recently Released!
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| The Explorers: A Story of Fearless Outcasts, Blundering Geniuses, and... by Martin DugardWhat is the source of the Nile River? That was the question that Richard Francis Burton and John Hanning Speke set out to answer during their 1857-58 expedition to Africa. What they discovered there led them to two different theories, creating a rift between the explorers and dividing Victorian England. Using this contentious trip as a starting point and referencing many others, veteran author Martin Dugard analyzes seven character traits shared by successful explorers: curiosity, hope, passion, courage, independence, self-discipline, and perseverance. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly says "Dugard’s infusions of insight and enthusiasm carry the reader and drive his points home." |
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| Another Great Day at Sea: Life Aboard the USS George H.W. Bush by Geoff DyerAircraft carriers may seem like fascinating floating cities 5,000 people strong, but they certainly aren't tourist destinations. In fact, the closest you may get to an active one (without enlisting, anyway) is Another Great Day at Sea, where genre-defying British author Geoff Dyer writes about spending a two-week writer's residence on the USS George H.W. Bush while it is in the Persian Gulf area. In this eye-opening travelogue that's rich in social observations, Dyer -- a picky eater who's one of the oldest and tallest people there -- presents an engaging portrait of what life is like on board ship and of the various military personal (pilots, dentists, etc.) who live and work in close quarters. |
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| Margarita Wednesdays: A Memoir by Deborah Rodriguez with Ellen KayeAfter spending five years in Afghanistan and writing the bestselling Kabul Beauty School based on her experiences, American hairdresser/author Deborah Rodriguez learned that her life and that of her 26-year-old son were in imminent danger, so they packed and left Kabul in a matter of hours. First, she stayed in California, where she suffered side effects from PTSD and became a "self-imposed prisoner." A cruise to Mexico helped her find her way, and settling in the seaside village of Mazatlan, she opened a beauty shop and started Project Mariposa to help local girls attend beauty school. In this adopted home, where she hears firecrackers instead of bullets, she creates another loving family from locals and expats but never forgets her friends in Afghanistan. Fans of her first book who'd like a more personal look at Rodriguez's life will relish her inspiring latest. |
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| Carsick: John Waters Hitchhikes Across America by John WatersReady for a "rollicking, raunchy romp" (Library Journal)? Then you're ready for Carsick! Mixing in a bit of fiction before hitting the road for real (it begins with vividly imagined best-case and worst-case scenarios), 66-year-old filmmaker and cult legend John Waters -- who made Pink Flamingos, Hairspray, etc. -- traces his 2012 cross-country hitchhiking trip. With a motley group of unsuspecting drivers, including a gentle farmer (who thinks Waters is a hobo), an indie band (who tweet about the encounter), and the author's unexpected hero (who's a 20-year-old Republican politician!), he has a great time and makes it from his house in Baltimore to his apartment in San Francisco in one piece. If you'd like another witty book by a hitchhiker crossing an entire country and would like to visit Australia, pick up Tony Horwitz's One for the Road. |
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Families Moving to a New Country
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| Across Many Mountains: A Tibetan Family's Epic Journey from Oppression to Freedom by Yangzom BrauenSometimes when families move from one country to another, it's to save their lives. Part of this multi-generational tale takes place during the winter of 1959, when the Chinese persecution of Tibetans worsened. Kunsang, a Buddhist nun, and her husband, a Buddhist monk, fled Tibet just as the Dalai Lama had, hoping to make it to India. Their six-year-old and four-year-old daughters went with them on the dangerous journey through the snow-covered Himalayan mountains and on to a refugee camp. Kunsang and one daughter, Sonam, survived, and Sonam eventually met and married Martin Brauen, a Swiss student of Buddhism, and moved to Switzerland, where author Yangzom was born. In this "absorbing, multilayered account" (Kirkus Reviews) of her family, Brauen paints a vivid portrait of her family's many journeys and details cross-cultural influences in the modern history of Tibet. |
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| The Foremost Good Fortune: A Memoir by Susan ConleyFor years, the only "big C" in the Conley family's life was China -- husband Tony often talked of the country he'd backpacked through and fallen in love with; he'd even learned Mandarin. Eventually, he took a job there, and he and his young American family -- wife Susan, six-year-old Thorne, and four-year-old Aiden -- moved to Beijing. But after being there just long enough to start to feel comfortable in their strange new world, Susan found a lump in her breast. Recounting her navigation of daily life, her two sons' acclimation to a new school, and everyone's adjustment to a life that includes cancer, this memoir is "beautifully written and insightful on many levels" (Booklist). |
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| Paris to the Moon by Adam GopnikAh, Paris: the city of light, love, sinfully delicious pastries...and expatriate Americans searching for that certain je ne sais pas. Adam Gopnik, a writer for The New Yorker, had loved Paris since he was eight years old, so he was quite happy to move to the French capital with wife and son in tow and write a "Paris Journal" for the magazine. This book, consisting of previously published essays and excerpts from his diary over a five year period, describes family life Parisian-style as Gopnik finds an apartment, joins a gym, welcomes a new baby, and thoughtfully reflects on the city's mystique and allure. |
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| Running Away to Home: Our Family's Journey to Croatia... by Jennifer WilsonUnhappy with what their young family's life had become ("We worked. We drove the kids around. We shopped."), Iowa travel writer Jennifer Wilson and her architect husband consider moving to Mrkopalj, her ancestral Croatian mountain village, for a year. She's looking for home, but what she discovers on a fact-finding trip -- lots of alcohol and wild boars -- doesn't endear the town to her. Still, her family makes the move, and they experience a simpler, more primitive life, living according to local customs while reconnecting with extended family and each other. This lighthearted yet meditative look at one family's life-changing experience provides armchair travelers with a "fun-filled, revealing peek into the Croatian countryside" (Booklist). |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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West Babylon Public Library 211 Route 109 West Babylon, New York 11704 (631) 669-5445http://wbpl.us |
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