Pick-a-Shelf discussion

Opening up a new thread to discuss this month's books : )

I read Outlander. It was listed as a travel book, but I am not sure why except for the fact that she they traveled to Scotland for their 2nd honeymoon in the beginning of the book and later she traveled all around Scotland in the 1700's. I really enjoyed the book though and thought that it was a wonderful love story. I will definitely read the other books in the series, but not as travel books.

4 stars!

I read A Cook's Tour by Anthony Bourdain and I loved it. The premise is of a world-class chef travelling the world in search of 'the perfect meal'. I am no expert on haute cuisine or an adventurous foodie, but his descriptions makes my mouth water most of the time (save the odd worm every now and then). I give just three stars for the book, though, because even though the book is interesting, his narrative on travelling is the same Whoa This Place Is So Different From America story, which kind of gets old after a while.

I am reading If you Lived Here I Would Know Your Name by Heather Lende

No Reservations Around the World on an Empty Stomach by Anthony Bourdain. 3 stars.

I've never made it all the way through this TV show, but maybe now I'll have to make a point of watching at least one episode. Anthony Bourdain takes you around the world with thoughts and photos acquired while filming his show "No Reservations" for the Travel Channel. Since his emphasis is the food, there are a lot of photographs of food here. But he also includes many other aspects of local flavor - the people, the sites, the landscapes. I really liked that he included some places in the US. Also, if he didn't enjoy a place, he was honest about it and said why.

I read Bill Bryson's Notes from a Small Island and this actually did have me laughing and giggling out loud. Bryson is descriptive and witty and he travels around Britain and it was thoroughly enjoyable and somewhat enlightening to get an 'outsiders' view of the country I call home. I was a bit disappointed that he didn't foray further into Wales (but I an slightly biased on that point) and that he completely missed out Northern Ireland but on the whole a very well written, witty, enjoyable and yet informative book. It really made me want to get out and about with a pair of hiking boots and an OS map and see what hidden treasures I can find.

I finished reading The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova and I would give it 5 Stars.
I still would not file this book under Travel, even though there was an awful lot of travelling in the book. My personal reason behind this is because the book is fictional and focuses more on the story then the actual sites and cities they are visiting.
If you enjoy a good mystery/Thriller, or a tale about Vampires & Vlad the Impaler, then this is a book for you.
I will say this for the book though, It did make me want to visit a great many places in Europe to see the sites first hand. :0)

I read Cork Boat by John Pollack. 4 Stars
A quick and whimsical read. It is a book about a congressional speech writer who quits his job to follow his dream and build a boat completely out of corks. This project leads him to Portugal and tells all the madness that took place to complete this project. A little bit political banter and a little bit travel.
He has a nice relaxed and witty nature to the writing that made it a fun read.

this whole travel thing has got out of hand with me. I started off with The Historianthough I agree that belongs more in horror than travel, moved on to Without Reservations The Travels of an Independent Woman, Shalom Japan A Sabra's Five Years in the Land of the Rising Sun and am now reading The Lady and the Monk Four Seasons in Kyoto. So I agree; good shelf choice cos I don't usually read from this genre.

I read Weekend in Paris. A pretty fluffy chicklit read but the descriptions of the city of Paris were totally worth it.

I give the book 3 stars

I read none of the books that I listed as possibles choices. Ended up reading A Passage to India by E.M. Forster. The author used his experiences of two trips to India, one pre WW1 and one post to shape the story in every aspect, down to the finest detail. The novel centres on two visiting English women, an elderly woman whose son is a English government official in Chandrapore and a young woman she has the duty to chaperone as a potential fiance to her son, who has come to test the waters of the land that may be her future marital home. The two women want to see the Real India!
The result is not a pretty picture of India under British rule but I was convinced it was a fairly accurate one. I gave it 4 stars and really enjoyed it.

I am in the middle of Fried Eggs with Chopsticks One Woman's Hilarious Adventure into a Country and a Culture Not Her Own. This book has been surprising. It turns out that the author purposefully wanted to see the non 4 star parts of China, but her lack of knowledge of Chinese made the trip quite different than she had expected. The book is in the same bent as A Walk in The Woods, which I had read about 6 years ago, in that it is slightly funny. In addition, the author lets you experience China off the beaten path without having to travel there. I am not finished yet, but so far I give it three stars.

Japanland A Year in Search of Wa by Karin Muller

I enjoyed this book and thought it gave an interesting perspective to Japanese culture. I think that she did a nice job portraying how difficult it would for a westerner to become part of Japanese society (although at times she came off as ungrateful to her host family)and met one man (Roberto) who married a japanese girl and was adopted into the family. I learned a lot about a culture that I am not as familar with and it gave me a nice perspective to my grandparents and the culture they were raised in.

As a Travel book I think it gives someone a peek at the culture and some of the inside rules. She also gives descriptions to a lot of different festivals and smaller off the beaten road towns.

This is a companion book to the PBS documentary so I may try and find the documentary on DVD now.

3 stars

I started with Blue Latitudes Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before. It has a lot of interesting history, but it is slow reading and I don't have time for books I can't get through quickly. If I am ever lucky enough to travel to the South Pacific I will try and read it before I go. In the meanwhile, I have moved on to Tales of a Female Nomad Living at Large in the World. I am about halfway through and am enjoying it. I'll post my review when I have finished. Hopefully this weekend...April is almost over already!!

I read Tales of a Female Nomad Living at Large in the World. I just read a few reviews to make sure it wasn't just me, but something about the author's tone rubbed me the wrong way. She seems rather self-centered and pushy. She is often unprepared and impulsive and lucky that such "serendipitous" situations come her way. That being said, I did enjoy the story of her journey. I think all of us would like to figure out a way to be come unencumbered by all of our "stuff" and be able to explore other cultures. I give it three stars because even though I thought it could have been better written, it still provided a good description of life on the road and made me want to visit all the places she lived. Especially Bali!

Like Sam, I read Notes from a Small Island for this month. I started out listening to the audio version, but I never seemed to make the time to listen to it. I switched to the print version the other day to make sure I'd finish it before May. I did enjoy it - Bryson is always humorous - and it made me want to travel to Britain even more than I had before. The only problem I had with this book was that it took me too long to finish. I think this has more to do with my desire to read page-turners right now than there being a problem with the book itself.

I'm still planning to read at least one more travel book. I was concentrating too much on books for the Shelf-a-Thon this month!

My final review of Fried Eggs with Chopsticks One Woman's Hilarious Adventure into a Country and a Culture Not Her Own

If you like travel books that only discuss how beautiful a place is with the intent to get you to go there, this is not the book for you. On the other hand, if you like books about places that give you an accurate picture of the place, warts and all, by all means pick this book up. Polly Evans has a very sarcastic style of writing, which she alternately turns on the people of China, the landscape in China, and herself. I found this book very interesting whether she was describing the 1500 beautiful Buddhist carvings in a limestone cave, or the horrible stench of the open toilets in the small villages she visited. From her self loathing because she opted for McDonald's and Starbucks once in a while, to here bravery in trying the dog served for dinner in one village. Since I am most likely never going to get to visit China, it was great to be able to see the good, the bad, and the ugly through Polly Evans eyes. I would probably read another of her travel books at some point.

I read Whatever You Do, Don't Run True Tales of a Botswana Safari Guide which had some really funny laugh-out-loud stories about Africa, it's animals and the people who go there to see them. Quick to read and enjoyable.