Travel and holiday Books

Book SynopsisA story about dirt—and about sun, water, work, elation, and defeat. And about the sublime pleasure of having a little piece of French land all to oneself to till. Richard Goodman saw the ad in the paper: "SOUTHERN FRANCE: Stone house in Village near Nimes/Avignon/Uzes. 4 BR, 2 baths, fireplace, books, desk, bikes. Perfect for writing, painting, exploring & experiencing la France profonde. $450 mo. plus utilities." And, with his girlfriend, he left New York City to spend a year in Southern France. The village was small—no shops, no gas station, no post office, only a café and a school. St. Sebastien de Caisson was home to farmers and vintners. Every evening Goodman watched the villagers congregate and longed to be a part of their camaraderie. But they weren't interested in him: he was just another American, come to visit and soon to leave. So Goodman laced up his work boots and ventured out into the vineyards to work among them. He met them first as a hired worker, and then as a farmer of his own small plot of land.French Dirt is a love story between a man and his garden. It's about plowing, planting, watering, and tending. It's about cabbage, tomatoes, parsley, and eggplant. Most of all, it's about the growing friendship between an American outsider and a close-knit community of French farmers. "There's a genuine sweetness about the way the cucumbers and tomatoes bridge the divide of nationality." —The New York Times Book Review "One of the most charming, perceptive and subtle books ever written about the French by an American." —San Francisco Chronicle

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Book SynopsisChicago's marvelous architecture and the great paintings and sculpture of its famous museums are the stars and focus of this unique new tour guide. In a compact, easy-to-carry, and easy-to-follow format, the book contains twenty-five self-guided tours to the city's world-renowned masterpieces. Each brief tour can be accomplished in roughly an hour. Ms. Slavick arms readers with concise information about the sights they will see, and the book offers photographs and simple maps that make touring a breeze. For the time-challenged, Hour Chicago allows for convenient scheduling—an hour here, an hour there, without having to commit to day-long tours or programs. The travel guide also provides a comprehensive overview, with authoritative background information, on all of the city's memorable architectural and art treasures.Trade ReviewPresented in a compact and portable form, Hour Chicago is the perfect guide to carry along for any trip through the city. * Midwest Book Review *A jewel among guidebooks for lovers of architecture and art.…Highly recommended. * Book News, Inc. *

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Book SynopsisEncompassing more than 140,000 acres of scenic beauty in southwestern Virginia, the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area offers outdoor enthusiasts a myriad of activities, from hiking, camping, and fishing to horseback riding, picnicking, swimming, tour driving, and biking. In the only comprehensive guidebook for this region, now newly updated, Johnny Molloy covers all of these activities and more, providing visitors with everything they need, including detailed maps, to enjoy the entire Mount Rogers area-one of the true jewels of Southern Appalachia.Molloy details the more than 430 miles of marked and maintained trails that criss-cross the Mount Rogers NRA and nearby Grayson Highlands State Park. Organized both by type, such as long trails and rail trails, and the areas they cover, including West Side, Central Area, Far East, and High Country, the trail descriptions include comprehensive, narratives of each hike, noting the various trail junctions, stream crossings, and trailside features with their distances from the trailhead. With each trail summary is an information box that offers quick access to such pertinent data as trail type (foot, horse, and/or bike), difficulty, length, degree of use, trail connections, and highlights.Complementing the sections on the extensive trail system are chapters on many other recreational options. Anglers will find lists of the best streams and tips for both fly and spin-cast fishing. For those seeking a way to cool off after a mountain excursion, the book locates the area's favorite swimming holes. Molloy also reveals the best roads from which to view the gorgeous scenery and wildlife of the Mount Rogers area. Rounding out the guidebook is information on national forest and state park campgrounds, picnic areas, and accommodations and services in nearby towns, including motels, bed-and-breakfasts, outfitters, and stores.

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Book SynopsisIn August 1998 Kim Trevathan summoned his beloved 45-pound German shepherd mix, Jasper, and paddled a canoe down the Tennessee River, an adventure chronicled in Paddling the Tennessee River: A Voyage on Easy Water. Twenty years later, in Against the Current: Paddling Upstream on the Tennessee River, he invites readers on a voyage of light-hearted rumination about time, memory, and change as he paddles the same river in the same boat—but this time going upstream, starting out in early spring instead of late summer. In sparkling prose, Trevathan describes the life of the river before and after the dams, the sometimes daunting condition of its environment, its banks’ host of evolving communities—and also the joys and follies of having a new puppy, 65-pound Maggie, for a shipmate.Trevathan discusses the Tennessee River’s varied contributions to the cultures that hug its waterway (Kentuckians refer to it as a lake, but Tennesseans call it a river), and the writer’s intimate style proves a perfect lens for the passageway from Kentucky to Tennessee to Alabama and back to Tennessee. In choice observations and chance encounters along the route, Trevathan uncovers meaningful differences among the Tennessee Valley’s people—and not a few differences in himself, now an older, wiser adventurer.Whether he is struggling to calm his land-loving companion, confronting his body’s newfound aches and pains, craving a hard-to-find cheeseburger, or scouting for a safe place to camp for the night, Trevathan perseveres in his quest to reacquaint himself with the river and to discover new things about it. And, owing to his masterful sense of detail, cadence, and narrative craft, Trevathan keeps the reader at the heart of the journey. The Tennessee River is a remarkable landmark, and this text exhibits its past and present qualities with a perspective only Trevathan can provide.

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Book SynopsisReclaiming Home is the diary of Lesego Malepe’s travels in South Africa in 2004, the 10th anniversary of South Africa’s democracy. The book begins with Malepe taking the bus from Pretoria, where she grew up, to Cape Town, where she visits Robben Island—the prison where her brother served a life sentence during apartheid days. She interrupts her travels to return to Pretoria, where she attends the ceremony marking the official settlement of land claims for her parents’ property and her grandmother’s property in Kilnerton, Pretoria, which were confiscated by the apartheid government when Malepe was four, forcing her family—along with the rest of their community—to move to Mamelodi township for Africans. Over the course of her travels, Malepe traverses much of her home country, visiting locales including Pietermaritzburg, Durban, Port Elizabeth, Thohoyandou, the University of Venda, and Giyani. Ultimately, hers is a sprawling, revealing journey that illuminates the ways South Africa has changed—and the ways it has remained the same—since the end of apartheid.

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Book SynopsisOne summer afternoon in northern England in 1946, when Ann Colley was a child, she met a man from Czechoslovakia named Dr. Novak. This encounter launched her lifelong fascination with Central and Eastern Europe, one that resulted in her spending two years, in 1995 and 2000, teaching at universities in Poland and Ukraine. In The Odyssey and Dr. Novak, Colley records personal experiences, interactions with colleagues, and descriptions of the landscape, creating a composite portrait of these countries at a time when each is struggling to chart its course after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. She recalls moments that are disturbing, absurd, discordant, frustrating, humorous, and endearing—a missing parrot flying in through the window; a robber on a train threatening her life; clouds of smoke from Chernobyl hanging over Kiev. Colley’s journey ends with her return to the figure of Dr. Novak when she searches in the archives of the Harvard Divinity School Library for letters sent from Prague in 1945—letters which, just like her memoir, speak of a past that pursues the present.Trade Review“A highly informative memoir that explores Poland and Ukraine; the book should appeal to those who revel in the poetry of intricate prose.” —Kirkus Reviews “Often lyrical, Ann C. Colley’s personal Odyssey exposes the reader to historical and political facts as well as to other aspects of East European cultures. Her sharp eye for detail, her candor, and her illuminating insights will benefit readers interested in studying and traveling to that part of Europe.” —Regina Grol, Professor Emerita of Comparative Literature, SUNY-Empire State College “Ann C. Colley’s The Odyssey and Dr. Novak brilliantly combines an insider’s perspective with an outsider’s objectivity. She tells an adventurous story of teaching , living, and traveling throughout Poland and Ukraine at a time between the fall of the Soviet Union and the resurgence of the Russian threat.” —Joyce Gleason, Professor of Economics, University of Nebraska “The Odyssey and Dr. Novak is a profound, poignant, and important journey through history, lands, and times too powerful to forget. A Sensory delight.” —Kim Chinquee. Professor of Creative Writing, SUNY College at Buffalo. Author of Oh Baby and Pistol and Veer. "This is a nuanced, subtle, and luminous reading of a region whose past is full of suffering. Colley only wrote her book after the times veered back towards despair, notably in Ukraine, where the conflict with Russia of the past four years has lost the country not only Crimea and the industrial east but also many citizens' lives. Colley writes with elegance. She has an impressionistic, magpie way of building up her story—a joke here, a street encounter there. [The memoir] is never far away from a considered reflection on where politics is going." —Times Literary Supplement

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Book SynopsisIn the 1960s and ’70s, thousands of baby boomers strapped packs to their backs and flocked to Europe, wandering the continent on missions of self-discovery. Many of these boomers still dream of “going back”—of once again cutting themselves free and revisiting the places they encountered in their youth, recapturing what was, and creating fresh memories along the way. Marianne Bohr and her husband, Joe, did just that. In Gap Year Girl, Bohr describes what it’s like to kiss your job good-bye, sell your worldly possessions, pack your bags, and take off on a quest for adventure. Page by page, she engagingly recounts the experiences, epiphanies, highs, lows, struggles, surprises, and lessons learned as she and Joe journey as independent travelers on a budget—through medieval villages and bustling European cities, unimaginable culinary pleasures, and the entertaining (and sometimes infuriating) characters encountered along the way. Touching on universal themes of escape, adventure, freedom, discovery, and life reimagined, Gap Year Girl is an exciting account of a couple’s experiences on an unconventional, past the-blush-of-youth journey.Trade Review“Bohr shines . . . provid[ing] glimpses of herself as a whole person, not simply a traveler. Gap Year Girl is an excellent choice . . . a travelogue filled with historic places, but its personal stories provide its highlights.” —Kirkus Reviews “An absorbing rundown of a cultural odyssey bursting with insights and quiet truths, which the author absorbed, way out there, without a guide, and often intuitively—some might even say through her pores. Thanks to Gap Year Girl, Ms. Bohr’s travel universe and the way it’s recorded are an inspiration to thousands of baby boomers who are coming to realize that it’s possible not only to dream Don Quixote’s Impossible Dream, but to make it come true.” —Darwin Porter and Danforth Prince, coauthors of many dozens of Frommer’s best-selling guides “Gap Year Girl speaks to the curious youth in us all, reminding us on every page of the anticipation, excitement, and futility that go into finding a cure for wanderlust. Bohr’s delicious prose brings sights, smells, and tastes to life and inspires the reader as she and her husband climb off of the corporate ladder and jump into the great unknown. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself dusting off an old language textbook and checking the Internet for the best airfares!” —Michael Hughes, Education First Language Travel “Don’t we all dream of quitting our nine-to-fives to travel the world? Marianne Bohr and her husband do just that with the mindsets of college students backpacking through Europe. The author tells a great story and it’s easy to forget that theirs is a 'senior year' abroad.” —Neil Levin, President, EverPub “I lived vicariously through this adventure-infused chronicle of getting away from it all. Bohr's recounting of running the Paris marathon rang true to my runner’s soul and captured the event’s raw emotion. I want to be Gap Year Girl!” —Mary Anne Marciante, International Marathoner “For those bitten by the travel bug, the author’s story of giving up the ‘real world’ for a year abroad is inspirational. She took a daydream and made it a reality with a combination of bravery and planning. Read about the highs (literally in the Alps) and lows (the inevitable fatigue of constant traveling) as she and her husband retrace the steps of their youth and forge new paths.” —Davida G. Breier, blogger at Next Exit Travel “Having worked with the author of Gap Year Girl, I wasn’t surprised that she would be so courageous as to sell all her worldly possessions and begin an amazing adventure traveling through Europe. Her memoir did surprise me, however, as it’s not just a travelogue, but also an inspirational guide to all with a repressed desire to quit their jobs to go on a similar journey. It’s easy and fun reading.” —Judy Rothman, Former Publisher, Harper Collins “...a terrific story. I'm now dreaming of my own gap year.” —Lisa Shroder, Bethesda Magazine “To all my friends in book clubs ... a perfect read to inspire all to live our dreams!” —Lynn Arndt, Deputy Director, Community Ministries of Rockville “The author's voice is warm and insightful, such that by the time you finish her travel memoir, you feel you've not only visited 21 countries with her and her husband, but also that you've made a new friend.” —John Ray Hoke Jr, FAIA, Former Publisher of AIA Press “Gap Year Girl is a celebration of life in all its vivid intensity. Fueled by memories of another time and place, the author takes her maturity on the trip of a lifetime and rediscovers the exuberance of youth. That exuberance is contagious. I defy anyone to read this book without being uplifted by it. Marianne Bohr has that rare knack for bringing the kaleidoscope of experience alive with a few well-crafted words; she seduces her reader away from black and white text and into a reality where all the senses are teased. You can’t read Gap Year Girl as a bystander. You’re with her every step of the way, for this is travel writing at its very best. Dreamers beware. This is a book with consequences.” —Kev Reynolds, author of The Tour of Mont Blanc, Cicerone Guides “Many fantasize about doing what Marianne Bohr did, but few actually do it. It is truly the adventurous who embrace their dreams. There is so much we learn through travel, whether it be about ourselves or the world in general, and this learning is perpetual throughout life. To think that an adventurous spirit dies with youth is just nonsense. Bohr inspires the adventurer in all of us.” —Matt Holmes, Boundless Journeys, Founder and President “I love this book! The mid-life transition is all about becoming 100 percent ourselves and shedding what no longer serves us. Rejuvenating and inspiring, Gap Year Girl reminds us that travel can change who we are—if we let it. And sometimes we need to leave home in order to come home to ourselves. I’m buying this book for all my friends who are forty-plus. Thank you, Marianne, for this heart-warming, eloquent gift!” —Renee Peterson Trudeau, life balance coach and author of Nurturing the Soul of Your Family: 10 Ways to Reconnect and Find Peace in Everyday Life “Marianne did what all of us dream of doing: she visited the exotic places of her youth with a lifetime’s worth of experience to sharpen the view. With humor and candor and an enormous amount of appreciation, Gap Year Girl gives us back the excitement of travel and the charm of European life.” —Trish O’Hare, Publisher, GemmaMedia “Gap Year Girl goes well beyond travel literature: it's a fascinating story of the author and her husband's journey, full of insights into what goes into intense travel. The author's sincere and open voice gives the reader an honest view of the realities of travel by presenting rich illustrations of the highs and lows, the exhilaration and tedium, that are necessary parts of extensive travel. This book was hard to put down and I was sorry to see it end.” —Chris Darby, Film Editor, Univision "[In Gap Year Girl,] Bohr steps outside of her comfort zone and explores the world . . . and she vividly conveys her experiences, such as when she describes the chaotic streets of Morocco and the loneliness of the bucolic French village Saint-Cirq-Lapopie.” —Publishers Weekly

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