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.In a Sunburned Country
City Travel Guides > Books > Travel Writing
by: Bill Bryson

May 15, 2001
I read this book before returning to Australia after forty years. I'd been there as an exchange student in 1967 and returned in 2008 with my grown son, for two weeks. I'd asked my son to read it to after I finished so that he'd have an idea what Australia was about. Bryson reports fairly and with humor. Even though it's been a while since it was written, what he wrote still holds true, although we found the music in public transportation in South Australia was all the way up to the 1980s, not the 1950s!

My only gripe with the book is his editorializing about how Australia has treated the Anangu (aboriginals). Americans have no moral high ground to stand on with respect to how we've treated native peoples. And while I do not pretend ... Read More:
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.Assassination Vacation
City Travel Guides > Books > Travel Writing
by: Sarah Vowell

January 31, 2006
Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell is a trippy field trip to both the exciting and the mundane locations along the way to three presidential assassinations--Abraham Lincoln's, James Garfield's, and William McKinley's. Vowell, the NPR commentator, is forthright in her disdain for our current president, analyzing her feelings against the backdrop of those just crazy enough to commit murder for their ideology. Vowell is humorous and her opinions are clear without being overwrought, but more than anything she is informative. She's fascinated by presidential history, and reveals details both obscure and eye-popping. Even after reading Manhunt, the excellent analysis of Lincoln's murder by James Swanson, I still picked up new insights from Vowell, particularly ... Read More:
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.One Man's Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey (Annivers
City Travel Guides > Books > Travel Writing
by: Sam Keith, Richard Proenneke

June 01, 2003
Preserving Alaska's Natural Wonder

Based on the 1960's journals kept faithfully by Dick Proenneck, an archetype of the Sierra Club's advocate, this book presents an amazing story with glorious color photographs. "I don't think a man knows what he can do until he is challenged," p. 211) concludes the man who hewed out a log cabin single handedly in the wilderness. This is a succinct statement of Proenneck's motivating philosophy of personal achievement. Readers follow his non-boastful narrative of trial and error during a remarkable 18-month sojourn in wild Alaska. His survival odyssey (physical and emotional) presents him as the quintessential Mountain Man.

Satisfied to rely on Nature to supply his basic needs (and more contemporary ... Read More:
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.I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After 20 Years Away
City Travel Guides > Books > Travel Writing
by: Bill Bryson

June 06, 2000
Not his best work. He is getting a bit too left leaning but still funny at times.
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.Italianissimo: The Quintessential Guide to What Italians Do Best
City Travel Guides > Books > Travel Writing
by: Louise Fili, Lise Apatoff

September 02, 2008
I can remember traveling to Italy when the dollar was strong and the lira was downtrodden. Trading dollars for lira was quite the jolly experience --- at the currency exchange in Rome, you practically needed a shopping bag to carry a few hundred dollars in Italian money.

Now the Ferragamo is on the other foot. The Euro reigns supreme, and here in New York, the best restaurants and shops post their prices in dollars and Euros, for the convenience of our currency-advantaged foreign guests.

For the foreseeable future, Americans --- well, my friends and I, anyway --- might as well not have passports.

But if you think I'm going to say that my expedition to Arthur Avenue in the Bronx is as satisfying as dinner in the Roman ghetto, dream on. I have ... Read More:
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.The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food
City Travel Guides > Books > Travel Writing
by: Jennifer 8 Lee

March 03, 2008
Those who want a serious, thoughtful look at Chinese food and what it means to Chinese and other cultures should look elsewhere; Jennifer 8. Lee's book is nothing but a series of shallow, (sometimes) mildly amusing extended anecdotes.
Ms. Lee's claim that "(chop suey) is still found in some urban Chinese takeouts and in scattered restaurants around the country" is patently false. From Bloomington, Indiana to Hannibal, Missouri to Austin, Texas, I've never been to a Chinese restaurant that didn't serve chop suey. What she seems to think of as an exotic rarity is, in fact, a staple.
This might be charitably chalked up as a harmless error, but it really is exemplary of the careless manner in which the entire book is written. Instead of a detailed acccount of ... Read More:
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.Not for Tourists 2008 Guide to New York City (Not for Tourists: New York City)
City Travel Guides > Books > Travel Writing
by: Jane Pirone

October 17, 2007
I carry this book with me always - to know where to find a store, or restaurant or subway stop when I'm in an unfamiliar part of town - priceless.
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.Blue Highways: A Journey into America
City Travel Guides > Books > Travel Writing
by: William Least Heat-Moon

October 19, 1999
A little over twenty-five years ago William Trogden, who took the name of his Native American ancestors and called himself William Least Heat Moon, set out on a journey across America in what was basically the ancestor of the modern SUV, a small truck which he named Ghost Dancing.

Initially he did this because he had lost his job and his wife in the space of a month, but his journey turned into much more than just an attempt to forget. It became a classic search for and journey into the heart of the country.

This is not a trip into the weirdness of America, although Least Heat Moon encounters plenty of strange sites and people on his journey. It is more of a trip into the heart and soul of the country - figuratively as well as literally. There have been many ... Read More:
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.Tales of a Female Nomad: Living at Large in the World
City Travel Guides > Books > Travel Writing
by: Rita Golden Gelman

May 28, 2002
I was terribly disappointed in this book. Although the story should have been fascinating I really just didn't care.
The use of the present tense ("The next morning I arrive early. Already the lobby of the hotel meeting place is deserted. I introduce myself to to the coordinator of the trip...") is something that works fine in conversation, but when used in prose, especially when glossing over details, sweeping through time and scenes so fast, does not express feelings or emotion. Even when describing colorful scenery it comes off a little flat. And for that reason this book felt like it had little heart. It was clear this was a deeply meaningful experience for the writer, but I felt so removed from it I really didn't care what happened next.
Large events are glossed over, characters ... Read More:
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.Rules, Britannia: An Insider's Guide to Life in the United Kingdom
City Travel Guides > Books > Travel Writing
by: Toni Summers Hargis

March 21, 2006
This is an excellent "study guide" before going to the UK. I would definitely recommend it from cover to cover. The author is very thorough to the point of giving lists of American words vs. British words with their respective meanings.
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