A Thousand Days In Venice
Mar/10
A Thousand Days in Venice by Marlena De Blasi is a bestselling novel in which the author recalls her trip to Venice where she meet first met a Venetian man named Fernando. Before really even knowing this “stranger” as she calls him, she relocates her entire life to the Italian island where she marries him and renovates his apartment before deciding to sell it, move out of Venice and start a new life adventure together (which the author has written subsequent books about). De Blasi is a middle aged divorcée who feels she has gotten a ‘second chance at love,’ and for this reason makes this book only appealing to middle aged and older women. I apparently missed that memo when buying the book based solely off of high amazon reviews in the travel literature section. Up until the last two chapters I was a little bored with the book, as I resent reading about how delicious food is that I can not actually taste myself (the author loves to talk about food in detail). For me the book picked up in the last two chapters because they began talking about getting the heck out of Venice and opening a bed and breakfast in the countryside. For me the novel got a bit more youthful and adventurous at this point and even left me hanging because I want to know what happens next! Damn you De Blasi! Not sure I want to read any more of your granny romance novels, but I want to know what happened to you after you left Venice! What do I do now? Well I guess I did buy another De Blasi book…so stay tuned for that review. All and all I enjoyed reading it but am not in love with it. So beware of glowing reviews on Amazon.com if you are under 45, and if you are over 45 its a sure bet you will love it.
A Year In Provence
Jan/10
A Year In Provence by Peter Mayle has become an international bestseller and inspired a delightful romantic comedy called A Good Year since it was written and published in the late 1980′s. In it (the book) Mayle, and englishman and his wife purchase a home in the region of Provence in Southern France. The book takes you through the ups and downs of owning a property and taking up residence in the French countryside, where the food and wine is perfection, but renovations of a 200 year old farmhouse can be a slow and sporadic process. The descriptive detail will have you both laughing, drooling and yearning to spend even a month in Provence. The curiosities of the culture of Southern France and the humor that goes along with the story of a foreigner is what makes this book such a delightful and relaxing read. Life seems to move at a slower pace, beauty has a no-frills elegance and pleasure comes with out effort. We were transported us to Provence. Convinced that we too would adore living in this region and jealous that it was not us who actually do.
Immoveable Feast: A Paris Christmas
Jan/10
Immoveable Feast by John Baxter was a wonderful book about how one Australian man prepped a traditional French Christmas feast. The author goes into great detail to describle what it takes to impress Parisian in-laws with a delicious Christmas dinner. Through reading this book I learned a lot about French culture and traditions. The book was quite funny and the descriptions made me so wish I was invited to this feast as well. I highly recommend this book!
Rite Of Passage: Tales of Backpacking ‘Round Europe
Jul/09
I purchased Rite of Passage this book because of how much I enjoyed reading the short travel stories in Europe From A Backpack being that they are both compilations of short travel stories written by young backpackers in Europe. However, I found the stories in Europe From A Backpack to be more wild and entertaining. Maybe this was because I read the books almost 5 years apart and was in a different mood. Who knows! I found Rite of Passage to be more tame and edited in its storytelling, which is what I normally enjoy most. There was just something about the raw, unedited stories that was more telling about what American youths really do (like it or not) while they are backpacking Europe that I found so unapologetic, messy and real. Maybe I especially liked it because I don’t have to participate in some of what they are doing and experiencing, knowing that many of these dirty twenty-somethings I would dislike in real life! But in Rite of Passage the characters just seemed more likable and I genuinely enjoyed about every other story and found some to be quite entertaining and humorous.
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Europe On A Shoestring: Go Further, Stay Longer, Pay Less
Feb/09
This book has been with us on multiple budget trips to Europe. It is huge and heavy if you are truly focused on packing light you may just want to rip out sections. But because our Europe plans have always been somewhat up in the air we have always taken the whole thing, and it has really helped out! Just this month when we went to Europe, we hopped off the plane and drove about 30 minuets out of the Frankfurt airport before we realized we forgot to get a map at the rental car counter. Not to worry, we had our mega-Europe book with us and managed to get all the way to Brussels just off the maps in this book. The book covers all of Europe, so does not go into too much detail on each place and many small towns are left out. But that is sort of a necessary evil for this type of book. Plus when you travel on a whim like we do, its better to keep it short and sweet. We are never that prepared when we arrive somewhere and I think the book knows we don’t have the patience to really research and buy a separate guidebook for each place. For students who are studying abroad and plan on traveling all around Europe after the semester but haven’t decided where to go, this is the kind of book they need. This was the book we needed.
Unlikely Destinations
Feb/08
Unlikely Destinations is a book written by Tony and Maureen Wheeler, who are the husband and wife founders of Lonely Planet. Bryan gave this book to me as a Christmas gift (along with A Year in Provence) and I can’t say how much I adored it! The reasons he thought I would like it were spot on: a book about a young adventurous married couple who travel the world and start an the worlds largest independent travel publishing company. The book switches back and fourth from Tony to Maureen as they recount the years gone by and how it all started. I found the first few chapters to be particularly exciting as they relive the beginning of their adventures where they get married in England, then buy a car and drive all the way to asia where they sell it for a profit. The book is filled with a lot of personal stories and the ups and downs of how the business evolved over the years. I can’t even begin to say how inspiring this book was for me. It made me feel like we need to focus on traveling more and made me feel like we should just follow our dreams and not push our wanderlust aside for something like financial security.
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Bum Bags and Fanny Packs: A British-American Dictionary
Jan/08
Bum Bags and Fanny Packs by Jeremy Smith is a essentially a dictionary that attempts to translate American English into British English and the other way around. I purchased the book out of a desire to know more about the language differences between the native English speakers of the world. During this quest I also purchased and read Brit-Think, Ameri-Think and Knickers In A Twist. Each of the books have their own slant. Knickers in A Twist is strictly a dictionary of British slang and Brit-Think, Ameri-Think focuses on describing the cultural contrast and difference in thinking. Bum Bags and Fanny Packs on the other hands is a good reference book and if you are planning to become an American expatriate somewhere in the UK or spend extensive amounts of time among British people it would be wise to pick up a copy. The book can be a bit repetitive at times but I am sure it would come in very handy if I moved to the UK.
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Knickers In A Twist: A Dictionary of British Slang
Jan/08
Knickers In A Twist by Jonathan Bernstein is a dictionary that translates British slang into American English. I purchased the book out of a desire to know more about the language differences between the native English speakers of the world. During this quest I also purchased and read Brit-Think, Ameri-Think and Bum Bags and Fanny Packs. Each of the books have their own slant. Bum Bags and Fanny Packs is a dictionary that covers all translations to and from British and American English and Brit-Think, Ameri-Think focuses on describing the cultural contrast and difference in thinking. Knickers In A Twist was interesting, but I found myself wishing it wasn’t just slang and had more stories to tell or away to apply my new found knowledge to a real scenario. Without ever knowing anyone who uses phrases like “done up like a kipper” or “all fur coats and no knickers” it was hard to get much humor out of it. On the other hand if I did know someone who talks like that, I would finally understand what the heck they were saying all this time. So if you hang around lots of Brits and you have no idea what they are saying, you must get this book! But if you don’t ever plan on needing to know what it means to be “rough as a badger’s ass” then I this book is not for you!
Brit-Think, Ameri-Think: A Transatlantic Survival Guide
Aug/07
Brit-Think, Ameri-Think by Jane Walmsley teaches you to “mind the cultural gaps” and “avoid the common gaffes” and understand the differences between Americans and Britons. I purchased the book out of a desire to know more about the language differences between the native English speakers of the world. During this quest I also purchased and read Brit-Think, Ameri-Think and Bum Bags and Fanny Packs. Each of the books have their own slant. Bum Bags and Fanny Packs is a dictionary that covers all translations to and from British and American English and Knickers in A Twist is strictly a dictionary of British slang. Brit-Think, Ameri-Think was a quick and easy read. I was quite entertained by it, however, I wouldn’t say that it is profound in how it dissects the two cultures apart. The book could have helped me relate more if there were more current pop culture references but I am sure it was very enjoyable for those immersed in the other culture across the pond (which ever that happens to be).
Ciao America! An Italian Discovers the U.S.
Aug/07
Ciao America! by Beppe Severgnini is an international bestseller about an Italian man who moves to Washington D.C for one year with his family. In it he writes from an Italian perspective about everything he sees and experiences living in the U.S. Some of the statements and observations he made about cultural differences did not resonate with me and the book felt outdated due to the fact that it was written in 1995. Otherwise I found this book to be a good read and throughly enjoyed it.
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