travel the world

 

The Adult Summer Reading Finale is Wednesday, July 30^th at 6pm.  Register for the event and come on in to work on DIY reading journals, spin the prize wheel for those last minute goodies, and enjoy the company of other readers after an epic summer filled with fantastic books! We’ll be drawing for the grand prize the first week of August, so time is winding down to log your reading!

The next Books & Beyond (BAB) meeting is on Tuesday, August 26^th at 6:30pm and the topic up for discussion is Women in Translation Month, an annual celebration of women writers from around the world, writing in languages other than English.

Looking ahead to September, we’ll be exploring the work andlife of Agatha Christie!  Mark your calendars and plan to join us!

This week, BAB met to discuss travel writing, journeys, and really anything with a great sense of movement.  We chatted for well over an hour about a tremendous variety of titles and had a great time.  Peruse our discussion list and get ready for your TBR to explode!

On the Hippie Trail: Istanbul to Kathmandu and the Making ofa Travel Writer by Rick Steves

Stow away with Rick Steves for a glimpse into the unforgettable moments, misadventures, and memories of his 1978 journey on the legendary Hippie Trail.

Travels with George: In Search of Washington and His Legacy by Nathaniel Philbrick

Does George Washington still matter? Bestselling author Nathaniel Philbrick argues for Washington’s unique contribution to the forging of America by retracing his journey as a new president through all thirteen former colonies, which were now an unsure nation. Travels with George marks a new first-person voice for Philbrick, weaving history and personal reflection into a single narrative.

Following Caesar: From Rome to Constantinople, the PathwaysThat Planted the Seeds of Empire by John Keahey

A travel narrative following three ancient roads and looking at more than two thousand years of history of Ancient Rome through the modern eye.

Traveling Blind: Adventures in Vision with a Guide Dog by MySide by Susan Krieger

Although an intensely personal account, Traveling Blind is not simply memoir, for it extends beyond one person's experience to illuminate our understandings of vision informed by the academic fields of disability studies, feminist ethnography, and the study of human-animal bonds.

Grave Situation by Louisa Masters

With a ridiculously attractive healer (who may or may not hate him), his sister (who he miiiight have a forbidden telepathic link with), a sentient god-like rock (that can only communicate via yes/no vibes), a disdainful dragon, and a rude matchmaking horse by his side, Talon just might be able to save the world. He’s not the hero they deserve, but he’s the hero they’ve got.

Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine

Join bestselling author Douglas Adams and zooligist Mark Carwardine as they take off around the world in search of exotic, endangered creatures. Hilarious and poignant--as only Douglas Adams can be—Last Chance to See is an entertaining and arresting odyssey through the Earth's magnificent wildlife galaxy.

The Museum of Whales You Will Never See: And OtherExcursions to Iceland’s Most Unusual Museums by A. Kendra Greene

Mythic creatures, natural wonders, and the mysterious human impulse to collect are on beguiling display in this poetic tribute to the museums of an otherworldly island nation, for readers of AtlasObscura and fans of the Mütter Museum, the Morbid Anatomy Museum, and the Museum of Jurassic Technology.

Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places by Colin Dickey

With boundless curiosity, Dickey conjures the dead by focusing on questions of the living—how do we, the living, deal with stories about ghosts, and how do we inhabit and move through spaces that have been deemed, for whatever reason, haunted? Paying attention not only to the true facts behind a ghost story, but also to the ways in which changes to those facts are made—and why those changes are made—Dickey paints a version of American history left out of the textbooks, one of things left undone, crimes left unsolved.

Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino

In a garden sit the aged Kublai Khan and the young Marco Polo—Mongol emperor and Venetian traveler. Kublai Khan has sensed the end of his empire coming soon. Marco Polo diverts his host with stories of the cities he has seen in his travels around the empire: cities and memory, cities and desire, cities and designs, cities and the dead, cities and the sky, trading cities, hidden cities. As Marco Polo unspools his tales, the emperor detects these fantastic places are more than they appear.

If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino

Originally published in 1979, Italo Calvino's singular novel crafted a postmodern narrative like never seen before—offering not one novel but ten, each with a different plot, style, ambience, and author, and each interrupted at a moment of suspense. Together, the stories form a labyrinth of literature known and unknown, alive and extinct, through which two readers pursue the story lines that intrigue them and try to read each other. Deeply profound and surprisingly romantic, this classic is a beautiful meditation on the transformative power of reading and the ways we make meaning in our lives.

A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, andShipwreck by Sophie Elmhirst

Maurice and Maralyn make an odd couple. He’s a loner, awkward and obsessive; she’s charismatic and ambitious. But they share a horror of wasting their lives. And they dream – as we all dream – of running away from it all. What if they quit their jobs, sold their house, bought a boat, and sailed away? Taut, propulsive, and dazzling, A Marriage at Sea pairs an adrenaline-fueled high seas adventure with a gutting love story that asks why we love difficult people, and who we become under the most extreme conditions imaginable.

The Poppy Fields by Nikki Erlick

Here, in a remote stretch of the California desert, lies an experimental and controversial treatment center that allows those suffering from the heartache of loss to sleep through their pain...and keep on sleeping.  A high-concept speculative novel about heartache, hope, and human resilience, The Poppy Fields explores the path of grief and healing, a journey at once profoundly universal and unique to every person, posing the questions: How do we heal in the wake of great loss? And how far are we willing to go in order to be healed?

Eastbound by Maylis de Kerangal

Racing toward Vladivostok, we meet the young Aliocha, packed onto a Trans-Siberian train with other Russian conscripts. Soon after boarding, he decides to desert and over a midnight smoke in a dark corridor of the train, he encounters an older French woman, Hélène, for whom he feels an uncanny trust. In mysterious, winding sentences gorgeously translated by Jessica Moore, De Kerangal gives us the story of two unlikely souls entwined in a quest for freedom with a striking sense of tenderness, sharply contrasting the brutality of the surrounding world.

The Ride of Her Life: The True Story of a Woman, Her Horse,and Their Last-Chance Journey Across America by Elizabeth Letts

In 1954, sixty-three-year-old Maine farmer Annie Wilkins embarked on an impossible journey. She had no money and no family, she had just lost her farm, and her doctor had given her only two years to live. But Annie wanted to see the Pacific Ocean before she died. She ignored her doctor’s advice to move into the county charity home. Instead, she bought a cast-off brown gelding named Tarzan, donned men’s dungarees, and headed south in mid-November, hoping to beat the snow. Annie, Tarzan, and her dog, Depeche Toi, rode straight into a world transformed by the rapid construction of modern highways. Between 1954 and 1956, the three travelers pushed through blizzards, forded rivers, climbed mountains, and clung to the narrow shoulder as cars whipped by them at terrifying speeds. Annie rode more than four thousand miles, through America’s big cities and small towns. Along the way, she met ordinary people and celebrities—from Andrew Wyeth (who sketched Tarzan) to Art Linkletter and Groucho Marx.

Annie appears on Groucho Marx's tv show, You Bet Your Life, in 1956.  In this clip, she comes out for her interview at around the 12:20 mark.

Tramps Like Us by Joe Westmoreland (Not available in the JCLC, but you may be able to request this title from Interlibrary Loan)

A treasured cult classic following a young gay man crisscrossing 1970s and ’80s America in search of salvation. Now reissued with an introduction from Eileen Myles and an afterword from the author. Told with openhearted frankness, Joe Westmoreland’s Tramps Like Us is an exuberantly soulful adventure of self-discovery and belonging, set across a consequential American decade. Back in print after two decades and with an introduction by Myles and an afterword by the author, Tramps Like Us is an ode to a nearly lost generation, an autofictional chronicle of America between gay liberation and the AIDS crisis, and an evergreen testament to the force of friendship.

Long Way documentary series staring Ewan McGregor & Charley Boorman (consists of the following seasons: Long Way Round, Long WayDown, Long Way Up, and Long Way Home)  Explore the complete series at https://www.longway.tv/

This collection of shows is a fascinating, frank and highly entertaining adventure about two friends riding round the world together and, against the odds, realizing their dreams. Riding motorcycles the entire way, exhaustion, injury and accidents tested their strength, while treacherous roads, unpredictable weather and turbulent politics challenged their stamina.

General discussion, not travel related:

A Nervous Splendor: Vienna 1888-1889 by Frederic Morton (Not available in the JCLC, but you may be able to request this title from Interlibrary Loan)

On January 30, 1889, at the champagne-splashed hight of the Viennese Carnival, the handsome and charming Crown Prince Rudolf fired a revolver at his teenaged mistress and then himself. The two shots that rang out at Mayerling in the Vienna Woods echo still. Frederic Morton deftly tells the haunting story of the Prince and his city, where, in the span of only ten months, "the Western dream started to go wrong." 

The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls

The Glass Castle is a remarkable memoir of resilience and redemption, and a revelatory look into a family at once deeply dysfunctional and uniquely vibrant. When sober, Jeannette’s brilliant and charismatic father captured his children’s imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and how to embrace life fearlessly. But when he drank, he was dishonest and destructive. Her mother was a free spirit who abhorred the idea of domesticity and didn’t want the responsibility of raising a family. The Walls children learned to take care of themselves. They fed, clothed, and protected one another, and eventually found their way to New York. Their parents followed them, choosing to be homeless even as their children prospered. The Glass Castle is truly astonishing—a memoir permeated by the intense love of a peculiar but loyal family.

Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time by Mark Adams

In 1911, Hiram Bingham III climbed into the Andes Mountains of Peru and “discovered” Machu Picchu. While history has recast Bingham as a villain who stole both priceless artifacts and credit for finding the great archeological site, Mark Adams set out to retrace the explorer’s perilous path in search of the truth—except he’d written about adventure far more than he’d actually lived it.

Title descriptions pulled from Amazon.com and p
hoto by Julentto Photography on Unsplash

 

 

summer reading

 

Upcoming programs:

Monday, July 14 @ 6:30pm – Great Short Stories discussing “My Friend Flicka” by Mary O’Hara REGISTER HERE

Tuesday, July 15 @ 6pm – Adult Summer Reading: Carrie Rollwagen presents “Finding Your Genre”
REGISTER HERE 

Tuesday, July 22 @ 6:30pm – Books & Beyond discussing travel writing
REGISTER HERE 

Wednesday, July 30 @ 6pm – Adult Summer Reading Finale: DIY Reading Journal Meetup
REGISTER HERE 

At the June meeting we had no assigned topic, so participants chatted about anything they’d been listening to, reading, and watching 😊

Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez

New York Times bestselling author Xochitl Gonzalez delivers a mesmerizing novel about a first-generation Ivy League student who uncovers the genius work of a female artist decades after her suspicious death. Moving back and forth through time and told from the perspectives of both women, Anita de Monte Laughs Last is a propulsive, witty examination of power, love, and art, daring to ask who gets to be remembered and who is left behind in the rarefied world of the elite.

Vanessa Yu’s Magical Paris Tea Shop by Roselle Lim

Ever since she can remember, Vanessa has been able to see people's fortunes at the bottom of their teacups. To avoid blurting out their fortunes, she converts to coffee, but somehow fortunes escape and find a way to complicate her life and the ones of those around her. To add to this plight, her romance life is so nonexistent that her parents enlist the services of a matchmaking expert from Shanghai.
 
After her matchmaking appointment, Vanessa sees death for the first time. She decides that she can't truly live until she can find a way to get rid of her uncanny abilities. When her eccentric Aunt Evelyn shows up with a tempting offer to whisk her away, Vanessa says au revoir to California and bonjour to Paris. There, Vanessa learns more about herself and the root of her gifts and realizes one thing to be true: knowing one's destiny isn't a curse, but being unable to change it is.

The Tanglewood Tea Shop by Lilac Mills

Patisserie-Chef Stevie is stuck in a rut. Her beloved Great Aunt Peggy has passed away and she’s lost both her job and the love of her life. Then she gets the call from the solicitor's office about Peggy’s will, and everything changes. When Stevie sees a quirky tea shop up for sale in the beautiful village of Tanglewood, she decides to take Peggy’s advice and turn her life around. But the village isn't as idyllic as it may at first have seemed, and when the gorgeous but grouchy local stable-owner, Nick, shows up he seems like just another fly in the pastry batter…

A Pack for Winter by Emilia Emerson (not available within JCLC, request from Interlibrary Loan)

Ivy Noelle Winter is content with being a 31-year-old unbonded omega with no prospects of a pack. She adores teaching fifth grade, she has wonderful friends — and that baking show marathon isn’t going to watch itself. Until a snowstorm and power outage traps Ivy in her classroom after hours…with three men. Rome, the new alpha music teacher. James, the flirtatious beta vet he’s bonded to. And Logan, the town’s grumpy alpha electrician.

Their scents call to Ivy and her body answers, setting off her first-ever mini heat. When the pheromones settle, she gets a proposition beyond her wildest dreams — a chance to be a pack. But there’s no such thing as a perfect courtship, especially when the biggest roadblock to happiness might be Ivy herself.

A Pack for Autumn by Emilia Emerson (not available within JCLC, request from Interlibrary Loan)

Starlight Grove needs a new Lighthouse Keeper and Olive Autumn Harvest needs a fresh start. Preferably one with as much solitude as possible. So, her new job and isolated ocean cottage is perfect—except for the eccentric, meddling townspeople, and the cat who’s adopted her.

When the town wins a grant for lighthouse restoration, Olive is forced to let the contractors into her space…a company comprised of three hot alphas: Easton, her golden retriever  stalker. Lars, the steady, protective viking. And Finn, who’s hiding a pain that matches her own. Suddenly, these guys are everywhere—and they’re completely unfazed by Olive’s prickly personality as they try to care for her, protect her, and court her. But everyone in this relationship is holding on to secrets… and it might not just be the lighthouse that needs restoration.

Gold Rush by R. L. Randolph (not available within JCLC, request from Interlibrary Loan)

Juniper Walden has lived a life of quiet obscurity as a Beta and romance author. When one of her novels gains traction and she’s suddenly trapped in a broken elevator with two strangers the night before her UK book tour, she realizes her future might not be so clear-cut. Seth Harding is a happily bonded Beta, but he can’t get the pretty stranger’s honey-sweet scent out of his head. Imagine his and his Alpha’s surprise when they see her face on the news, because it’s unheard of for a designation to emerge late.

In a world where Omega rights are not their own, Omegas and their golden-hued blood are coveted and exchanged like property because of their rarity. June finds herself stranded in a foreign country, with no legal protection and an oncoming heat to navigate. Her only choice might just be the Beta she keeps meeting by happenstance— and his pack of three Alphas.

Lola and the Millionaires by Kathryn Moon (not available within JCLC, request from Interlibrary Loan)

Lola Barnes only wants one thing, to get her life under control. No more chasing alphas who abuse and toss away betas like her. No more hiding in her cousin’s apartment licking wounds that won’t heal. Armed with her dream job and her less than dreamy apartment, Lola is ready to start a new chapter of her life without alphas.

But that’s easier said than done when one stumbling incident after another leads Lola closer to an alluring pack of captivating men. These alphas are everything Lola dreamed of, but they already have an omega—a playful male model who won’t stop flirting with her. And Lola is only a beta, one who comes with deep scars and an unshakeable aversion to alphas and their powerful presences.

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son, Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a powerful new framework for understanding our nation’s history and current crisis. Americans have built an empire on the idea of “race,” a falsehood that damages us all but falls most heavily on the bodies of black women and men—bodies exploited through slavery and segregation, and, today, threatened, locked up, and murdered out of all proportion. What is it like to inhabit a black body and find a way to live within it? And how can we all honestly reckon with this fraught history and free ourselves from its burden?

Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset

In her great historical epic Kristin Lavransdatter, set in fourteenth-century Norway, Nobel laureate Sigrid Undset tells the life story of one passionate and headstrong woman. Painting a richly detailed backdrop, Undset immerses readers in the day-to-day life, social conventions, and political and religious undercurrents of the period.

Allegro by Ariel Dorfman

In 1789 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart visits the grave of Johann Sebastian Bach in Leipzig, looking for a sign, a signal, an answer to an enigma that has haunted him since childhood: Was Bach murdered by a famous oculist? And years later, was Handel a victim of the same doctor? Allegro follows his investigation, from the salons of London to the streets of Paris, recreating an enthralling and turbulent time, full of rogues and brilliant composers, charlatans and presumptuous nobles.

Sgt. Reckless: America’s War Horse by Robin Hutton

She might not have been much to look at—a small "Mongolian mare," they called her—but she came from racing stock, and had the blood of a champion. Much more than that, Reckless became a war hero—in fact, she became a combat Marine, earning staff sergeant's stripes before her retirement to Camp Pendleton. This once famous horse, recognized as late as 1997 by Life Magazine as one of America's greatest heroes—the greatest war horse in American history, in fact—has unfortunately now been largely forgotten.

But author Robin Hutton is set to change all that. Not only has she been the force behind recognizing Reckless with a monument at the National Museum of the Marine Corps and at Camp Pendleton, but she has now recorded the full story of this four-legged war hero who hauled ammunition to embattled Marines and inspired them with her relentless, and reckless, courage.

We All Live Here by Jojo Moyes

Lila Kennedy has a lot on her plate. A broken marriage, two wayward daughters, a house that is falling apart, and an elderly stepfather who seems to have quietly moved in. Her career is in freefall and her love life is . . . complicated. So when her real dad—a man she has barely seen since he ran off to Hollywood thirty-five years ago—suddenly appears on her doorstep, it feels like the final straw. But it turns out even the family you thought you could never forgive might have something to teach you: about love, and what it actually means to be family.

The Sicilian Avengers by Luigi Natoli (Not available within JCLC, request from Interlibrary Loan)

Reminiscent of a Dumas novel, Sicilian Avengers is a vibrant, atmospheric fresco of early eighteenth-century Palermo. Onto the stage of the ancient city, Blasco da Castiglione, a bold, brash, orphan adventurer, arrives on a quest to discover his origins and seek his destiny. But this fearless, swashbuckling D’Artagnan-esque hero unwittingly gets caught up in a devious and murderous succession plot involving a powerful noble family. 

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

After receiving a frantic letter from her newly-wed cousin begging for someone to save her from a mysterious doom, Noemí Taboada heads to High Place, a distant house in the Mexican countryside. She’s not sure what she will find—her cousin’s husband, a handsome Englishman, is a stranger, and Noemí knows little about the region.   Her only ally in this inhospitable abode is the family’s youngest son. Shy and gentle, he seems to want to help Noemí, but might also be hiding dark knowledge of his family’s past. For there are many secrets behind the walls of High Place. The family’s once colossal wealth and faded mining empire kept them from prying eyes, but as Noemí digs deeper she unearths stories of violence and madness. 

Black River by Nilanjana Roy (eaudio available on Hoopla; book not available within JCLC, request from Interlibrary Loan)

Offering readers a gripping mystery and a sweeping state-of-the-nation saga, Black River stands as a searing critique of modern India, weaving an intricate narrative that captures the essence of a nation grappling with its own complexities and contradictions.

Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada (Not available within JCLC, request from Interlibrary Loan)

Berlin, 1940, and the city is filled with fear. At the house on 55 Jablonski Strasse, its various occupants try to live under Nazi rule in their different ways: the bullying Hitler loyalists the Persickes, the retired judge Fromm and the unassuming couple Otto and Anna Quangel. Then the Quangels receive the news that their beloved son has been killed fighting in France. Shocked out of their quiet existence, they begin a silent campaign of defiance, and a deadly game of cat and mouse develops between the Quangels and the ambitious Gestapo inspector Escherich. When petty criminals Kluge and Borkhausen also become involved, deception, betrayal and murder ensue, tightening the noose around the Quangels' necks ...

James by Percival Everett

A brilliant, action-packed reimagining of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, both harrowing and darkly humorous, told from the enslaved Jim's point of view.

My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier

Philip Ashley's older cousin Ambrose, who raised the orphaned Philip as his own son, has died in Rome. Philip, the heir to Ambrose's beautiful English estate, is crushed that the man he loved died far from home. He is also suspicious. While in Italy, Ambrose fell in love with Rachel, a beautiful English and Italian woman. But the final, brief letters Ambrose wrote hint that his love had turned to paranoia and fear.

Now Rachel has arrived at Philip's newly inherited estate. Could this exquisite woman, who seems to genuinely share Philip's grief at Ambrose's death, really be as cruel as Philip imagined? Or is she the kind, passionate woman with whom Ambrose fell in love? Philip struggles to understand Rachel's intentions, knowing Ambrose's estate, his future, and his sanity, hang in the balance.

Tramps Like Us by Joe Westmoreland (eaudio available on Hoopla; book not available within JCLC, request from Interlibrary Loan)

Told with openhearted frankness, Joe Westmoreland’s Tramps Like Us is an exuberantly soulful adventure of self-discovery and belonging, set across a consequential American decade. In New Orleans and San Francisco, and on the roads in between, Joe and Ali find communities of misfits to call their own. The days and nights blur, a blend of LSD and heroin, new wave and disco, orgies and friends, and the thrilling spontaneity of youth―all of which is threatened the moment Joe, Ali, and seemingly everyone around them are diagnosed with HIV. But miraculously, the stories survive.

Back in print after two decades and with an introduction by Myles and an afterword by the author, Tramps Like Us is an ode to a nearly lost generation, an autofictional chronicle of America between gay liberation and the AIDS crisis, and an evergreen testament to the force of friendship.

The Son of Man by Jean-Baptiste del Amo (eaudio & ebook available on Hoopla)

From the author of the “extraordinary” Animalia (Sunday Times, ebook available on Hoopla), winner of the Republic of Consciousness Prize and finalist for the Lambda Literary Award and Best Translated Book Award, a blazing new novel exploring nature, family, and violence, set on a hostile and glorious mountainside haunted by transgressions of the past.

Slewfoot by Brom

Connecticut, 1666: An ancient spirit awakens in a dark wood. The wildfolk call him Father, slayer, protector. The colonists call him Slewfoot, demon, devil. To Abitha, a recently widowed outcast, alone and vulnerable in her pious village, he is the only one she can turn to for help.

Together, they ignite a battle between pagan and Puritan – one that threatens to destroy the entire village, leaving nothing but ashes and bloodshed in their wake. This terrifying tale of bewitchery features more than two dozen of Brom’s haunting full-color paintings and brilliant endpapers, fully immersing readers in this wild and unforgiving world.

I See You’ve Called in Dead by John Kenney (eaudio available in Hoopla)

Obituary writer Bud Stanley isn’t really living his best life. He’s fallen into a funk after a divorce. (She left him for another man, who, in fairness, was far more interesting.) He’s not doing his job well. He’s given up on dating. And he’s about to be fired for accidentally publishing his own obituary one mildly drunken night (though technically the company can’t legally fire a dead person). As Bud awaits his fate at work, he does the only logical thing: He goes to the wakes and funerals of total strangers to learn how to live again.

The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post by Allison Pataki

Marjorie’s journey began gluing cereal boxes in her father’s barn as a young girl. No one could have predicted that C. W. Post’s Cereal Company would grow into the General Foods empire and reshape the American way of life, with Marjorie as its heiress and leading lady. Not content to stay in her prescribed roles of high-society wife, mother, and hostess, Marjorie dared to demand more, making history in the process. Before turning thirty she amassed millions, becoming the wealthiest woman in the United States. But it was her life-force, advocacy, passion, and adventurous spirit that led to her stunning legacy.