Travelogue Books

This book is absolutely HILARIOUS!! It reminded me of OUR first trip en famile in Europe ! A++!!

Being a Tourist is not like other works on tourism. It isn't about how tourists affect the places they visit or about how to market your products to tourists. It explores how travel affects the tourists themselves.

Why do people who have comfortable homes travel to places where the food is unfamiliar, the language is difficult, and the locals think they are odd? For many reasons, of course, including curiosity, status, and restlessness. Professor Harrison interviews several dozen Canadian travelers to find out why they go, where they go, what they do when they get there, what they bring back, and what they get out of the experience. She also discuses the difference between traveler and tourist, and sensibly decides there's no significant difference.

Being a Tourist is an academic work, but it is readable and interesting for a general reader, too, especially if you are a traveler. Or a tourist. Whatever.

I Loved this book. Its beautifully art directed and inspiring. Jennifer Morton fearlessly shows us how art will survive and unify us in spite of war, poverty and urban strife. Really great- what a cool woman.

In the course of reading this book (which I could hardly put down) I constantly alternated between hysterical laughter and awe/disbelief! Sobey has collected some very amusing newspaper articles that show those of us in the rest of the world what Bermuda is like underneath it all. In a country where there is so little major crime, the most petty things become huge issues. And all are reported very, very thoroughly in the newspaper. And the public interest stories make me think they have a lot of slow news days in Bermuda! Some examples:

--The man who returns a pair of socks to the store that he bought 48 years ago (and the clerk exchanged them!!);

--The case of the man accused of operating a vehicle while intoxicated, because he couldn't stay on his horse. The judge threw it out, claiming the last time he looked the horse was an animal, not a vehicle!

--The couple who wake up to find a strange man in the bed with them.

People go to court (and often to prison) for stealing milk, a glass of club soda, beef....they break windows regularly, and many "criminals" claim alcoholism as a mitigating circumstance.

One of the funniest things in the book (to me) are the letters to the editor at the end of each chapter. You think the newspaper writers are funny? Wait til you see what the citizens write!!

I'm on my way to Bermuda for a week, and I must say I'll look at things a little differently after reading this book. Not in a bad way, of course......

Perfect bedtime reading. With stories set all over the world, you end up some place new every time you pick up this book. From Tracy Slater's heartwarming story of love in Japan to Kristin Barendsen's funny tale of tuk-tuks in Thailand, on to Papua New Guinea, Nepal, Madagascar... It's inspiring to know that these women are really out there living these lives. A lovely, eclectic collection.

Bicycling beyond the Divide: Two Journeys into the West (Outdoor Lives)

This is an adventure story that is as much about how people in all the small rural towns and parks have changed from 1985 to 2005 as it is about bicycling through the Western United Sates. This book is made up of many portraits of people met and images of the American landscape as described by a shy traveler who is a great listener and neutral absorber of everyplace he peddles through (as well as the places he doesn't make it via bicycle) as this country is no easy ride. Making this book a really interesting read.

This book is compellingly entertaining and an absolute pleasure to read. Written by an expat from Canada, it will keep you learning AND laughing about the various cultural differences! Providing many useful, personal insights into the business culture, social culture, and day-to-day living in China, Sally Grattidge wends her way humorously through the frustrations and culture shocks faced by foreigners. A "must read" for anyone relocating to China.

Ridgeway does it again with a thoughtful, engaging story of a trek across the high tundra of Tibet looking for the calving grounds of the Chiru, an antelope which is in danger of extinction from killing it for it's wool. With Conrad Anker, Jimmy Chin, and the late Galen Rowell; one gets to know these characters as friends and I'm envious of the time they were able to spend crossing an amazing landscape seen by few westerners since 1903. The Chiru were the reason for the trek and hopefully this book will help in their protection.

Australian birder Sean Dooley describes his Big Year, an effort to break the record for the most birds seen in Australia (and environs) in a year.

I loved this birding memoir. Dooley is a lively, humorous, engaging writer, and his Australian slang makes his voice particularly come alive, at least for this American reader. He conveys a passion for his pursuit and a concern for wildlife and the environment without sanctimony.

Clearly, there are scads of awesome birds in Australia, and undoubtedly they have the best common names of any birds anywhere. The species list at the back of the book is an entertainment in itself.

I am at a loss, however, to explain Mr. Dooley's difficulty in finding women who bird. Maybe it's a cultural thing?

Definitely recommended, especially for American readers to whom the language and most of the species will be engagingly exotic.

WOW! this is Claire's first book.. very well written. I feel I really know her, as she takes you on her 'treck' through life. Would love to read more from her.

I think it all can be summed up with this "toilet-door wisdom" from the Mt Beerwah pit toliet:

"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand wine in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming 'Woo-hoo what a ride!"

GREAT job Claire!