Flying by the Seat of My Knickers

Finished November 24

Flying by the Seat of My Knickers by Eliza Watson

This is the first book in a series called The Travel Mishaps of Caity Shaw. Caity is from the Chicago area, and has recently had a few setbacks, both personally and professionally. She'd been in a long term relationship and hadn't realized how bad it was until someone approached her in a restaurant washroom and offered assistance. Emotional and mental abuse is often enacted gradually over time and when one is in it, it is hard to see the reality. When she decided to leave the relationship, the resulting situation also affected her work and she lost her job.

Now her sister Rachel, who works in event planning, has given her a position at an event in Ireland. She takes it, hoping to regain the previous close relationship she had with Rachel, but is finding herself worried about the mistakes she makes. She finds herself taken under the wing of another member of the team, Declan, a freelance event worker, who tells her stories of his own event mishaps to make her feel better.

Rachel is very busy as the lead for this event, and doesn't have the time to spend with Caity, but Declan seems tuned in to her and usually appears to assist her when something goes wrong. As she gains confidence, Caity discovers that she actually enjoys the work, despite the distractions of calls from her parents about job opportunities, her debt issues, and the worry over whether her ex is still following her. 

I enjoyed the characters of Caity and Declan, who we saw the most in the novel, and how we learned gradually of their situations. Caity is making a fresh start, never an easy thing, and we can see her grow here. I also enjoyed the travel aspect of the novel, learning more about Ireland. A fun read, with many touches of humour.  

Spying on the South

Finished October 21

Spying on the South: An Odyssey Across the American Divide by Tony Horwitz

I've read one of his previous books about his travels in the Middle East, and enjoyed his writing, but what led me to this book was his wife Geraldine Brooks' book Memorial Days, about Tony's death and how his family coped. The death was sudden and occurred in 2019 while he was on tour for this book.  

Much of his travels for this book were in 2015 and 2016, just before Donald Trump was elected for the first time, and the state of the feelings about the United States situation and future were one of the things that this book looked at.

In terms of structure, Tony decided to follow, as much as possible, the second trip Frederick Law Olmstead made to America's south in a time where the country was also divided, just before the Civil War. Olmstead wrote articles under the name 'Yeoman' for the New York Daily Times, about his travels and the feelings about the country by the people he met then. Slavery was naturally one topic that came up often, and Texas had not yet decided on its future regarding this practice. 

The trip started in West Virginia, went along the Ohio river past Kentucky, made a sidetrip to Nashville, then back to the Mississippi river past Mississippi, and down to New Orleans. Olmstead then went by horse through Louisiana, across Texas, and into Mexico, returning through southern Texas. He travelled with his brother John

Tony followed the same route, mostly on his own, but sometimes with a friend, and did most of the land portions by car. He did have one brief excursion by mule in West Texas, but it didn't go well, and he resumed his trip a few months later in the fall of 2016. He had similar experiences in some places as Olmstead, and quite different in others, such as going into Mexico. The land itself has changed little, except what man has built upon it, and Tony has a knack for being able to gauge situations well, and talk with most people. He engaged with people at many levels across the trip, from barge workers to tour guides, chemical plant workers to farmers. I learned a lot and found his conversations eye-opening and in light of where we are today, sometimes haunting. 

A fascinating book about two interesting men nearly 175 years apart. 

A Short Walk Through a Wide World

Finished July 9

A Short Walk Through a Wide World by Douglas Westerbeke

This fantasy adventure book follows French native Aubry Tourvel, as she is forced to leave her home in Paris at the age of nine and keep moving. At nine she finds a puzzle ball that seems attracted to her after a neighbour passes away. She and her older sisters make a wish at an unusual well they find near them, but she can't bear to give up the ball. Soon after, she begins to bleed and convulse. Her parents take her to the doctor, but her symptoms disappear on the way there, only to reappear as she nears home again. She flees, and her family follows at first, but soon her father and sisters return home, and her and her mother keep moving. The strange malady will only let her rest a few days in one place before reappearing. 

When Aubry realizes that her situation has put a strain on family finances, she determines to go alone and leaves her mother in the night, gradually learning skills to survive. 

When we first meet her she is in her forties and in a village in Siam when her malady hits. An New Zealand family travelling by riverboat rescue her and she tells her story to them, and so also to the reader. We also see her thoughts as she chooses what to leave out along the way, the things that are truly difficult or shocking, but we see how she makes her way and also the secret doors that appear when she most needs them. 

Aubry has travelled through deserts, across mountains, and around the world more than once. When she finds herself up against severe weather, or other dire circumstances, a door will be there, in the middle of nowhere, a door that she can open and find herself in a vast underground library. She is always drawn in by the books there, books that are told in pictures, stories from every time and place, about every subject. These stories add to her knowledge and help her understand the world she must navigate through. It is a life that is lonely at times, but one that also opens her to new friendships, new languages, and new experiences. 

This is a story of adventure, of courage and resilience, of risks and rewards, unexpected friendships, and even love along the way. 

I found this book thoroughly engaging and hard to put down. This is a debut novel that is a definite winner. 

I Should Have Stayed Home

Finished April 8

I Should Have Stayed Home: The Worst Trips of Great Writers edited by Roger Rapoport and Marguerita Castanera

This is a reread for me. I read it years ago, but brought it to a class I was teaching as a part of a Readers' Advisory exercise where the students had a few minutes to examine a book and then do a recommendation. The student who got this book said that she wouldn't recommend it as the stories were all white people complaining about other cultures. I certainly hadn't remembered it that way, but fair, it had been a while since I read it, and also, I, being white, might have missed that back then. 

So I reread it. 

The book was published in 1994 and contains 50 stories, an introduction, and an afterward. The money raised from sales of the book went towards Oxfam. 

* The introduction is by American novelist and travel writer Mary Morris. She talks about a keynote address she gave that consisted of strange and amazing things that happened to her while travelling. She talks about the things you remember are the bad things that happen and that humour is the most important thing to keep with you, and how food can bring back memories better than most other things. Her anecdotes from unusual food to illness to police encounters. 

* Sex and Coq au Vin by Chilean-American writer Isabel Allende tells of her first visit to Paris where she and her then-husband who cooked their own French meal while camping in the Bois de Boulogne.

* All the Way with LBJ by journalist and political writer Muriel Dobbin tells of a trip with President Johnson as part of the White House press corps which started as a trip to Australia for the funeral of the Prime Minister and turned into a multi-day tour of Asia just before Christmas, with the last stop being Rome, Italy on the way home. 

* Into the Denki Furo by Jeff Greenwald, American writer, tells of his experience with a electric bath in Japan

* Night of the Army Ants by poet Mary Mackey recounts the time in Guatemala where she and her sister splurged for a good hotel only to wake in the middle of the night when army ants went through the building, including her bed. 

* How I Became a Purveyor of Caviar and Champagne on the Trans-Siberian by Alev Lytle Croutier, Turkish-American playwright, tells of her 1960s era trip from Siberia to Europe, where she had naively changed all her money to rubles upon entering the USSR only to find out she had to spend them before leaving. She ended up spending it all on caviar, vodka, and champagne at the final stop before leaving the country, and selling it to her fellow passengers on the rest of the trip.

* A Winter's Night by Eric Hansen, travel writer, on his arrival back in New York City with hardly any money in the winter, and surviving a night in Grand Central Station.

* Non-Stop to London by Michael Dorris is about his flight misadventures on one trip.

* Entering Paradise by Judith Greber is about a much-anticipated trip to Bali that began with misplaced documents and a night with multitudes of insects.

* Enlightened Sahib by journalist Dominique Lapierre is about his first foray into the slums of Calcutta as the guest of a Catholic priest.

* Thousand and Two Nights by Pico Iyer is about his first trip to Egypt as a young man with his Swedish girlfriend and the endless sexual harassment she faced.

* The Dirt on Mudbaths by Alice Kahn has her remembering her very first trip ti an Illinois resort and the prank her and a friend pulled.

* Borderline Blues (with Herpetile) by Richard Harris is about the time he accidentally had a small lizard when he arrived at the US border coming back from Mexico.

* Not in Kansas Anymore by Joe Gores tells of his adventurous trip out of Africa after living in Kenya for three years.

* I Think Our Driver Is Stoned: The Slow Road from Istanbul to Herat by Rick Steves is a tale of a wild bus trip.

* Maddening Madagascar by Lisa Alpine tells of her family's encounters staying in hotels that turned out to be full of prostitutes.

* Tail End by Suzanne Lipsett is the story of an unpleasant experience when she tried to a fellow traveller a favour.

* Seeking the Mother of Immortal Bliss: The Temple at Vallickavu by Nami Mann tells of going after her daughter to the site of a religious guru.

* Chimgan by Claudia J. Martin is about travelling through eastern Russia as the only woman in a ski group tour. 

* The First and Last Meal by Carole L Peccorini is about her experience as an Earthwatch volunteer in Borneo and an unexpected encounter with an orangutan.

* And There's the Rub by Stacy Ritz is about a strange massage in Belize.

* Sahafin American by Larry Collins tells of his adventure trying to get a scoop as a young journalist in the Middle East.

* Adrift by Joe Cummings tells of his impulsive and harrowing trip to see Krakatau.

* The Flight from Hell by Donald W. George is about a trip home from Jamaica that had several mishaps.

* Ai Yi by Molly Giles is about a stormy boat trip in Mexico.

* Rafting the Sewers of the Rhineland by Louis B. Jones tells of the crazy trip by inflatable boat he and a friend took down the Rhine.

* A Tourist in Haiti by Larry O'Connor tells of a strange tour he took there.

* Travels with Suna by Shirley Streshinsky is about a strange occurrence on an Air India flight.

* Lost and Found by Tony Wheeler has two stories, one about a stolen car and one about a stopover mix-up.

* Poles Apart by Georgia Hesse tells of an adventure to the North Pole.

* A Caribbean Tale by Abigail Wine is about her first adventure in Cuba and the hospitality of a local family.

* Camera Karma by Robert Holmes has three stories: one of rock-climbing in England's Peak District, one of a wedding in central Algeria, and one of his first major National Geographic assignment in Northern Pakistan.

* An African Christmas by Paul Theroux is about a time he made a getaway from a situation in Zambia.

* The Yi-Ching: A Yarrowing Experience by Katherine Neville tells of a prediction she was given that came true in an unexpected way. 

* The Existential Washing Machine by Adrianne Marcus describes her encounter with a washing machine in a rented Paris apartment.

* Donner Party by Scott Christopher Green tells of a freshman trip with his gymnastics team in a traffic jam in a California heatwave.

* Somewhere Under the Rainbow by Barbara Kingsolver is the story of a dress code violation at the Rainbow Room in New York City.

* The "Daggy" Challenge by Christopher P. Baker is about his attempt at a shortcut in Costa Rica.

* Beltless in Bali by Burl Willes tells of a theft in the night.

* Getting Away from the Promised Land by Evelyn Kieran is about her trip to Egypt with other writers for an adventure magazine.

* Passage to India by Helen Gurley Brown is about exploding aerosols in suitcases, missing flight documents and (my take here) an annoying husband.

* First Date with Misadventure by Richard Bangs is about a secret experience on his first camping trip.

* Libidinous Finns by Linda Watanabe McFerrin tells of an overnight train trip to Paris.

* Salt Lake City by Nightfall by Susan Dunlap is of a disappointing motel.

* The Worst Bus Ride in All Mexico by Janet Fullwood is self-explanatory.

* The Best Restaurant in Town? by Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini is of a bad eatery in Idaho.

* Puerto Plata: Just Say No by Barbara Ann Curcio gives us the combination of a bad hotel and bad weather.

* All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go by Stan Sesser is the story of the lack of public washrooms in Nepal. This one does leave one feeling that he was culturally dismissive.

* Trouble in Terontola by William Petrocelli is about three different bad experiences that all involved this Italian town.

* Maui for One by Roger Rapoport tells of an assignment that took him to Maui right after his divorce.

* Bad Things Don't Happen to Me by Jan Morris says that she's had no bad travel experiences.

* The Afterward explains how this book came about.

So, the contents weren't exactly as I'd remembered them, but with the exception of one tale they didn't exhibit bad attitude towards local inhabitants. 

Girls Who Travel

Finished April 30

Girls Who Travel by Nicole Trilivas

This novel took me back to a time in my life when I did a long few months of travelling. The main characters, Kika Shores, is in her early twenties and returned home to New York a few months back from a yearlong backpacking tour where she travelled to many countries. She also began a romance with an Irish man, Lochlon, while she travelled and has kept in touch with him, hoping to reconnect. She doesn't consider him her boyfriend exactly, but she hasn't engaged in any other relationships since returning home. She found an office job courtesy of connections through her mother, a yoga teacher, but she hasn't put her heart into it, and it shows. When a mistake on her part ends up with the loss of that position, she is at first depressed, not knowing how she'll even be able to earn money to resume travelling. 

With very good timing, the connection who got her that job, and who now lives in London, asks if she would take on the job of nanny to their two young daughters, something that Kika had done before she travelled. Kika has fond feelings for the girls, Gwen and Mina, and with the hefy salary being offered, she jumps at the chance to take on the position.

As she finds her way back into the girls' lives, and thinks harder about what she really wants out of life, she also has the opportunity to reconnect with Lochlon, something that she finds herself having mixed feelings about. 

Watching Kika be so passionate about what she loves, and try to plan a future that includes more travel was something that awoke strong feelings in me around my past travelling. Seeing her look at making a real plan for her life was lovely. I really liked her relationship with the two girls, and see how she made friends among a variety of people in her new environment was inspiring. 

A lovely, uplifting read. 

As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning

Finished April 23

As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning by Laurie Lee

This memoir covers from the summer of 1934 to late 1936. 19-year-old Laurie has never left the area of England he grew up in before this time, but he sets off on foot from his home in the Cotswolds heading for London. He has never seen the sea and so decides to go via Southampton, adding about 100 miles to his journey. As he walks he either eats what he has brought with him, what he finds on the land, or what he is given by those he passes by or stays with. He is not the only one on the road, and he at one point he travels with a long-term wanderer named Alf. I have to say that this reminded me of a homeless man I was once acquainted with, also named Alf, and made a connection to this fleeting glimpse of a person. Laurie finds a room in London and a job working construction and trying out various entertainments in the city. After nearly a year, when the building project he is one comes to an end, he realizes that he is free to go anywhere and he buys a one way ticket on a ship to Viga, Spain.

In Spain, he resumes his walking, stopping and playing his fiddle in the streets for what money people are willing to give. He has rudimentary Spanish, and lots of curiosity and he meets a wide variety of people from other travellers to locals from all walks of life. The heat he encounters is one thing he is unprepared for, and he finds himself suffering badly at times. 

We follow him as he goes to Valladolid, on to Madrid, and then to Toledo, stopping for varying lengths of time depending on how people react to his music and where he can afford to stay. He continues south, crossing the mountains into Andalusia stopping in Seville and then going down to the coast. After a brief visit to Gibraltar, he goes on along the coast, ending up in the town of Castillo. He had planned to go further, but at this point the Spanish Civil War breaks out in the area, and he finds himself going to ground there with the townspeople. Soon after, a British warship stops and offers a way out for him and the British writer who has been living there.

There is an epilogue that comes six months later when he finds himself once again at the Spanish border, looking to help those he grew to care about in his journey.

This is a very personal story, that gives a real sense of the world of the time, and the places and people that he met along the way. He wrote it more than three decades after the events contained in the book, with an eye to the bigger picture he didn't see at the time, so one gets a sense of the looming unrest, but it doesn't overtake his personal story. 

An enlightening read with a real sense of place and time. The language is beautifully descriptive. 

Haven

Finished April 18

Haven by Emma Donoghue

This is a story set long ago, around the year 600 AD. It takes place on the coast of Ireland, on a very small island. This was a time when monks were setting small settlements in remote places and this story is one of such a settlement. The story begins at the monastery of Cluain Mhic Nois (now known as Clonmacnoise) near the Riven Shannon in central Ireland. It is spring, just after Easter, and there are a number of visitors to the monastery, among them Artt, a scholar, priest, and hermit.Artt is very much an ascetic, extending the rules of fasting beyond what is the norm for his times and pushing himself away from any indulgence. He believes monks should spend their time fasting, praying, and working, and be celibate. 

A young monk Trian, still a teenager was the one to ferry him over from across the river and receive him by washing his feet. Trian is musical, handy on a pipe. Trian is also one quick to notice need and rush to meet it. He came to the monastery at the age of thirteen, given up by his family who had trouble supporting all in their family. 

Cormac is an man who came late to monkhood, after surviving a plague that killed his wife and children and then later a dispute with another clan. He was injured a brought to the monks for healing. He was a farmer, and builder, and is handy with a lyre, often called to entertain when that is needed. 

Late in the night after the feast Artt wakes the Abbot to tell him his dream, that he has been called to lead a small group (just himself and two other monks, one young and one old) to a small island to found a monastic retreat. The monks he saw in his dream are Cormac and Trian, and they both agree to go with him. 

They take little with them, keeping their boat as light as possible, the minimum of food and tools. They take a holy chest with the necessities for mass and for copying holy texts. Artt has culled the rest of their supplies, leaving behind the spare sail, whetstones, scrapers, and most of the iron tools, fishing spear, axe, most extra clothing, blankets, musical instruments, and many of the nicer bits of food like honey. 

The small group travel downriver and to the ocean and end up on a small island now known as Skellig Michael. The island is mostly rock, with many nests of puffins, auks, and other seabirds. As they settle in and find ways to gather the necessities, such as water and start a garden, they find much to challenge them. 

This is a book that looks at the hardship these men agree to for their faith, sees where they waver, and where decisions are made that will have impact later. This is a book that moves slowly, yet irrevocably forward. We share the monks' hope and despair, and find more than we imagined we would. 

Beautifully written, with scenes that will haunt you later. An excellent read. 

The Poetry of Strangers

Finished July 23

The Poetry of Strangers: What I Learned Traveling America with a Typewriter by Brian Sonia-Wallace

This memoir is composed of several essays on different experiences the author had while interacting with the public in different environments as a public poet. He started his journey in this line in 2012 shortly after returning home to California after studying abroad. He had a borrowed typewriter that wasn't in the greatest shape and he sat outside an event and offered poetry to those waiting in line. He asked them to pay what they thought the poem was worth, and he found many of the people did indeed think that it was worth something. Following that he decided to see if he could make a living doing this work, and he did. He found himself not only doing public sidewalk poetry, but also corporate events, weddings, entertainment venues, and "in residence" appearances. He helped one aspiring immigrant to get his poems published. He interacted with people running for office, recovering from devastating fires, living lives outside the norm as itinerant buskers, craftsmen, seers, and poets. 

He worked writing poetry on Amtrak trains, at the Mall of America, and at the Electric Forest music festival. He taught others, both adults and children. He made friends and made connections, some of them very deep. He looked into himself and found skills he didn't realize that he had.

Through many of his situations, he includes examples of poems that he wrote at those events. For his experience with the immigrant, Jeremias Leonel Estrada, he includes some of Estrada's poems as well. All of these I enjoyed. 

His experiences took him all over the country, and opened his eyes to experiences he might never have come into contact with otherwise. This is a fascinating account of his experiences that enlightens the reader and gives hope. 

The DutchWife

Finished June 13

The Dutch Wife by Eric McCormack

One of my cousins recommended this book to me as one her favourite reads, so I hunted down a copy. The narrator, who is never named, is a writer whose wife is a lawyer and who both travel quite a bit. The book opens in a very conversational style, addressed to "Gentle Reader" and it ends with a note addressed the same way. It is written to seem that it is the author talking, an interesting way of telling this fascinating story. It is in the first few sentences that we learn about the Guinea worm, a terrible parasite that enters the human body through impure drinking water. This was a plague in the tropics for years, and was still a problem when this book was written. More recently a program funded by a foundation started by Jimmy Carter, former U.S. President has been able to eradicate it successfully. 

The author has recently returned to an Ontario town called Camberloo (a thinly disguised Waterloo, where the author lived and taught for a time) and rents half of a large house. He soon meets his elderly neighbour, Thomas Vanderlinden and becomes friendly with him. Thomas is interested in sixteenth century history and obscure writings, but his own history is something that he begins to share with the narrator, mostly done in a series of hospital visits when he becomes taken ill. 

Over a series of visits, Thomas tells the story of his mother Rachel, her husband Rowland, and the man that Thomas knows of as his father. Rachel met Rowland through her father who was a well-respected judge. Rowland had served as an expert witness on occasion. He was an anthropologist and interested in many different cultures. He traveled often, and at one point was gone for months. After telegraphing Rachel to let her know of his imminent arrival back home, the man who showed up at the door claiming to be her husband was a man Rachel had never seen before. As we learn Rachel's story and what she did when faced with these unusual circumstances, we also learn Thomas's and Rowland's stories. We see Thomas, when he learned of this part of his mother's history, search for Rowland and go on a long and strange journey to distant lands, and we learn of Rowland's travels. 

The title of this novel refers not only to the obvious nationality of spouse, but also is a term for a spouse who is purpose is that of a useful wife, and a term for an object placed between the legs in hot climates to avoid rashes and fungus. Both terms arise in the plot. 

This book is an adventure tale, a psychological mystery, and a tale of relationships. It is a fascinating read. 

Rules for Visiting

Finished February 16 

Rules for Visiting by Jessica Francis Kane

This novel intrigued me from the descriptions and I borrowed it from my local library. The narrator of the story is May Attaway, a forty-something landscaper who lives with her father in the house she grew up in and works as a university gardener at the local university there in Anneville, PA. Some time ago, she ordered a cutting from the Fortingall Yew, a famous tree in Scotland that is believed to be at least three thousand years old. The UK Forestry Commission had announced the plan to offer cuttings, and she jumped at it. More recently someone has written a poem about the yew that grew from the cutting she took, and the poem won an award. The university has decided to give her some extra time off in honour of this and she has decided to use some of that time to visit friends. Two of the friends she decides to visit are from high school and two are from college.

The first friend lives in Connecticut and she flies to see her. Lindy is married and has three daughters, and May spends a few days with her and her family. The second friend is Vanessa, who is also married with one child. Vanessa has been married only a couple of years, but has two young stepsons. 

The third friend is Neera who lives in New York City and and has one child. May discovers when she gets there that Neera is in the early stages of ending her marriage. The situation is more awkward because May introduced her to her husband Adam.

The last friend is Rose, and Rose is also a landscape architect. May had not entered this program directly from college, so she is a few years older than Rose. Rose lives in London England and has a job creating attractive vegetable gardens for her clients. Personally, I found this visit the most interesting, and the friendship the most sharing, perhaps because Rose isn't married either.

From each visit, May takes something from her friends' homes, that represents something for her. I found this intriguing. Also, for the last three years, her father, who is in his eighties, has been leaving her copies of information on trees, for consideration as a memorial after he has died. The ones that he leaves for her during the novel's timeline are included her at the beginning of chapters, along with her thoughts on each.

We also gradually see how May's life has got to where it is. We find out what happened to her mother, and see her relationship with her father in its complexity. May's journeys also bring her out of her routine, and get her trying different things. She engages more with her neighbours and coworkers, takes the first step towards a possible romantic relationship, and more fully engages in life. 

One of the things May travels with is an older edition of Emily Post, and she tries to follow the Rules for Visiting enclosed therein. These rules are included near the end of the novel. 

I really enjoyed this book, for its thoughts on friendship, for its quirkiness and for its character May.

Uncharted

Finished February 10

Uncharted: A Couple's Epic Empty-Nest Adventure Sailing From One Life to Another by Kim Brown Seely

This memoir is told by a woman in her forties. In 2009, her husband convinced her that they should buy a sailboat that had been repossessed by a bank and was therefore a pretty good deal. They's talked about buying a sailboat, but this 54 foot Moody needed work and was in Rhode Island while they lived in Seattle, and thus would need to be moved across the country. They bought it and her husband Jeff, who had some sailing experience in his youth worked to get Kim and their two tween and teen sons competent sailors. While this book is about one specific sailing trip they took when their youngest left for college, it is also about the experience of having one's children move into adulthood by leaving, and about the way the relationship between a couple changes over time.

Partway through this particular trip, the couple's sons join them for a week, flying in to meet them by float plane. The whole family then docks the boat, locks it up and goes back home, with their older son heading back to his internship in San Francisco, and the couple flying east with their youngest to take him to college in northern New York State. 

There were definitely things that were foreign to me, besides sailing. I can't imagine my parents escorting me to university, or there being so much crying about me setting off on my own adult adventure, but maybe mine hid it well. I found the sailing well described, so that even a complete novice like me could understand, but not full of technical stuff that would bore the reader. 

It was the trip that fascinated me, leaving Seattle, and soon sailing into Canada, along the edge of Vancouver Island and the mainland, and up the Inside Passage to the Great Bear Rainforest. 

There are four pages of maps in the front of the book that show their journey, and they are better marked than other such books that I've read in terms of naming waterways and islands, but there were still a few that were named in the text, but not indicated on the maps. This is a pet peeve of mine. 

The journey was full of wonder at the nature and people that they encountered, and Seely really gave a sense of the feeling and ambience of the days. 

Also fun was that there was a lot of references to music, as they used an iPod for background, company, and mood. 

Seely is an award-winning journalist and the quality of the writing here shows that. I really enjoyed this book, and its setting was of great interest to me. 

Blue Sky Kingdom

Finished October 16

Blue Sky Kingdom: An Epic Family Journey to the Heart of the Himalaya by Bruce Kirkby

This memoir tells of a family journey that was partially documented in film. Bruce, his wife Christine, and their sons Bodi, seven years old, and Taj, three years old, left their home in Kimberly, British Columbia and traveled for several months, fulfilling a dream to take their children and experience a time of reflection and cultural learning. For the trip to their destination in remote India, they were accompanied by a documentary film crew who documented their experiences in a film called Big Crazy Family Adventure. 

They traveled in adventurous ways, driving to the Columbia River, and then going down the river via a canoe-based catamaran, reaching the town of Golden after five days. From there they took a train to Vancouver, and a taxi to the wharf where the container ship Hanjin Ottawa awaited them. 

They'd had to do some research to find a boat that would take kids as young as theirs as passengers. It is during this section that the author discusses his older son and the journey that his family went through to discover that he is on the autism spectrum. This explained some issues that had arisen with his interactions and reactions to some situations, and made them able to plan and prepare for situations with Bodi in a way that would be less stressful for everyone. It was toward the end of this journey that they discussed this with Bodi himself as they knew it would come out when he viewed the documentary and they wanted to do it in a way that he wouldn't feel judged. 

From South Korea, they took a ferry to China, spending a few days in Beijing before travelling by train the Lhasa. After visiting their first monastery on the trip, they travelled by road on to Nepal. They spent a few days in Kathmandu and then moved on to India, entering near Lumbini, and traveling by car to Prayagraj where they boarded a riverboat and went down the Ganges toward Varanasi. It was here that they began to encounter some of the hottest weather they would experience, making it difficult to sleep and quick to get angry at circumstances. But they overcame that stress, continuing their journey by train, stopping briefly at Agra to see the Taj Mahal, and then enjoying a week in more luxurious rooms in Delhi, while they waited for filming permits to come through. Then more trains and a long bus ride brought them to Manali. At this point only a small film crew stayed with them for their overland trek to Zanskar. They began this trek at the village of Keylong, traveling by foot, and horse (for Boti for part of the trip). 

This is where the major part of the memoir takes place, at the monastery Karsha  Gompa. The family stays there for three months, living in the home of one of the former head lamas. They get christened with new local names and learn new cultural habits. They participate in the rituals and activities of the monastery and teach English and math to the young boys who live there. At this point it is sad to see that these monasteries are no longer the places where young boys can be educated and prepared for a variety of opportunities as the schooling is lacking in resources and good teachers. Bruce and Christine work hard at it, but they aren't trained for this and they often feel inadequate to the need that exists. When they leave, it is with heavy hearts for these young boys who they've grown close to. I enjoyed seeing the experiences here, how they integrated into the life of the nearby villages, helping their lama's family with harvest and learning about the culture that they can see modernizing even in the short time they stay there. More and more, the young people are leaving, and the technology that arrives brings change to the villages by introducing class division between those who can afford these things and those who cannot. 

When they left to return home, their trip took them the other way out of the valley, on another overland walking and horseback trek, this time without a film crew, ending up in Leh, and then flying on to Delhi. There, they hoped to travel home with the lama that hosted them, giving him a taste of Canada. 

Included in the book are photographs as well as drawing that Bodi did of various scenes and objects. 

Throughout the book, Kirkby gives lots of information on the places they visit, history and geography, culture and religion. I liked the way he integrated this information in natural ways into the journey and experiences, adding to the story in a very meaningful way. Bodi, in particular, took naturally to things like meditation and came out of his shell more in many of this culturally different environments, gaining confidence that would show when they returned home as well. 

I really enjoyed this memoir and the ways the family took to heart their experiences throughout their journey.

My Discovery of America

Finished June 30
My Discovery of America by Farley Mowat

This short book is the story of a few days in the spring of 1985 when Mowat attempted to fly to the United States for a planned book tour and speaking engagement at a private college. At the airport, he cleared customs and immigration and was waiting at his gate when an immigration agent came to him and asked him to return to the immigration area. After an interview, he was denied entry with no explanation.
He didn't just return home. He contacted his publishers, and went to their office in Toronto, and he worked with them to find out what was happening and why. It turned out that the McCarran Act, enacted in the McCarthy era to keep certain types of visitors to the United States out with no transparency was still on the books, and that under Reagan, its use have been revived. Despite being told various stories of past actions dating back to 1968, Mowat had visited the U.S. many times, including other book tours. Perhaps it was the topic of his most recent book, Sea of Slaughter, that drew new attention, but the government wasn't going into details.
There are a lot of echoes here of more recent U.S. immigration barriers and attitudes, including one immigration staffer who was on record as saying "We also exclude rapists, drug pushers and terrorists -- not just Canadians." When I read that I was reminded of Trumps remarks about Mexican immigrants.
Mowat received extensive media coverage, in Canada, the United States and internationally. He also received many letters from individual Americans, and it is this discovery that the title refers to. With the exception of three letters, every letter he received was apologetic, embarassed, or otherwise unhappy with their government's actions. It is this that he discovered, that Americans are not necessarily the government that represents them.
One can only hope that that is still true.

Without a Guide

Finished June 29
Without a Guide: Contemporary Women's Travel Adventures edited by Katherine Govier

This collection of experiences by women writers, many of them Canadian, ranges widely and shows interesting, not always pleasant experiences by women traveling in the recent decades. Despite the title, there are sometimes guides and sometimes the women are part of a group. But the experiences show the way that the women came to travel in these instances, their decisions and how it affected the experiences that they had.
There are seventeen essays here.
* Hanan al-Shaykh in Cairo with a documentary-making friend
* Margaret Atwood in the Galapagos Islands with her husband, parents, and child as part of a group
* Clare Boylan in London with her mother
* Wendy Law-Yone using marriage to escape Burma and taking her brother with her
* Ann Beattie tagging along with Japanese tourists in San Francisco along with a photographer friend
* Ysenda Maxtone Graham on a misguided trek into the Grand Canyon with a friend
* Katherine Govier in Morocco with her husband
* Bapsi Sidhwa in the remote Black Mountains of Pakistan with her husband and a military guide
* Susan Musgrave in Panama and Colombia with an ex-con drug smuggler
* Robin Davidson across the Outback in Australia with her dog and four camels
* Irene Guilford in the Czech Republic retracing the steps of her Lithuanian refugee mother when she escaped Russian forces following the Second World War
* Michelene Adams revisiting the Jamaica of her birth and finding what she'd thought she'd lost
* Kirsti Simonsuuri visiting northern Finland in the height of winter
* Janice Kulyk Keefer describing her robbery and its aftermath in Spain
* Alice Walker in China with a group of other writers
* E. Annie Proulx on a nightmare train trip from Montreal to Chicago and back
* Carol Shields on a singular encounter on her last day in Japan
As you can see, some wonderful writers here and a wide range of experiences. Well worth the read.

Liz and Nellie

Finished December 13
Liz and Nellie by Shonna Slayton

This book was one I sought out last year to fit a challenge (to read a book by an author with the same first or last name). I didn't get it read last year, but did this year, and enjoyed it.
The story follows two real women, Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland who each set off to beat the time for global circumnavigation set in Jules Verne's fictional Around the World in Eighty Days. They left in November 1889, and returned in early 1890.
It was Nellie's idea to do this. She was a young newspaper reporter looking for an edge, a story, and a way to get more interesting assignments. For Elizabeth, it was her boss's  idea that she also try to set a record, and compete against Nellie. Elizabeth was also a New York journalist, but this wasn't a journey she really wanted to do.
Nellie traveled east and Elizabeth traveled west, both leaving from New York City.
The author based her story of real historical documents including the women's own writings. She's filled out the missing information based on history, while making the writing more modern in style.
Both women were independently minded, adventurous and smart. They were curious about the places they visited, and about the people they met. I hadn't heard of Bisland before reading this, but actually found myself liking her the better of the two.
A very entertaining and enlightening read.

Slow Train to Switzerland

Finished September 28
Slow Train to Switzerland: One Tour, Two Trips, 150 Years -- and a World of Change Apart by Diccon Bewes

I liked the premise of this book, following in the footsteps of an earlier journey. Diccon Bewes is a British travel writer who lives in Switzerland, and during research he came across a diary from a young Englishwoman, Jemima Morrell, who, as part of a group who called themselves the Junior United Alpine Club, travelled on the very first Thomas Cook tour to Switzerland in 1863. The group consisted of four young women and three young men, and included Jemima's brother William, who paid for both of them.
Bewes determined to follow as much as possible in her footsteps, following the route she took, staying in the same places and visiting the same sights as much as possible. Near the beginning of the book is a map of the Cook tour from 1863 which took place from June 26th to July 15th, and included travel by rail, diligence, foot, mule, and steamship. With Thomas Cook the company that launched modern mass tourism, and by the time I finished the book going into bankruptcy, this book looks at travel from an interesting vantage point. Bewes took the trip with his mother, going back to certain points at a later date on his own.
Appendices include: a brief description of the world in 1863, and a timeline of that year showing some important events that occured; a summary, including data points of Switzerland in the 1860s with information on language spoken, size of towns, birth and death rates, wages and prices, and occupations; and descriptions and explanations on money of the time, both English and Swiss their modern equivalencies.
As he followed Jemima's journey, he and his mother read sections from the diary at each point in their journey, and while many of the lodgings that she stayed in no longer existed, a few did. Some sections of the journey are now done by train, where there weren't trains back then, and Jemima's journey definitely involved longer and more difficult travel times. Some of her days were exceedingly long, and many of the places she stayed didn't offer the modern conveniences now available.
Dewes shows the differences between the two experiences plainly, from the modes of travel, to the the time travelling took, to the things one was able to see at each point in the journey. He shows the huge changes that have taken place in the tourism industry in Switzerland, and talks about the drivers of those changes. He discusses changes to the physical environment, from the buildings and food on offer to the shrinking of the snow caps and glaciers. He follows up at the end with a look at what became of Jemima after this journey and the discovery of a personal connection to her family.
This was a fascinating and educational read, and hugely entertaining.

The Map That Leads to You

Finished May 22
The Map That Leads to You by J.P. Monninger

This romance novel follows three young women, newly graduated from college, as they embark on a summer trip through Europe. Heather is the main character here, and she travels with Amy, a rebellious, devil-may-care woman; and Constance, a serious-minded woman who is aiming to see as many saint-themed sites as she can.
As the book begins, they are on a train to Amsterdam, travelling overnight. A young man, Jack, asks Heather to hold his backpack for a moment as he makes himself a bed in the luggage rack, and the two begin a flirtation. Amy, meanwhile has hooked up with another guy who invites them to a party in Amsterdam the evening they arrive, and although Heather invites Jack, she's not really sure whether he'll arrive. Heather feels a connection to him that she hasn't felt with anyone before, and believes that he feels it as well.
This is a story of a young woman's first series love affair, one that goes beyond the physical, that challenges her in ways that are sometimes uncomfortable, and that scares her a little with how it makes her feel, and how it questions her future intentions. Around her, are the adventures of travel, the friendships, and the escapades and relationships of her two friends.

South and West

Finished September 11
South and West: From a Notebook by Joan Didion, read by Kimberly Farr, with a foreword written and read by Nathaniel Rich

This is a never-before-released glimpse into Joan Didion's famous notebooks. The sections on the South are from June 1970 when she and her husband, John Gregory Dunne, took a road trip through Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. The include detailed looks at the people she saw around here, the conversations or fragments of conversation that she overheard, the images of small towns and cities that she passed through. She also had a few interviews with people from the south, prominent locally. The topics of race, class, tradition, and history seem to show how little has changed in the nearly fifty years since this trip was made.
She noticed the Confederate flags on everything from towels to clothing, the race divide that did not differentiate between wealth and poverty, and the class divide that did. She noticed how people talked of the past as something they had to hang on to, how people expected their lives to go on unchanged, despite larger change in the world. It was an incredibly engaging piece of writing.
The section on the West is much shorter and deals only with California. It dates from 1976, and the notes were taken for a piece she was to write for Rolling Stone magazine, a piece that was never written. Topics here included Patty Hearst (her trial was on at the time), images of San Francisco, and a visit to Sacramento that brought her back to her own younger days in that city when she was growing up.
Both show her focus, her powers of observation and memory, and her ability to internally stand back and observe even while being involved physically. These are a seldom seen door into the behind-the-scenes life of a writer. In this case, a writer of great skill.

Less

Finished April 27
Less by Andrew Sean Greer

I picked up this novel when I saw it had won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction this year. The novel follows Arthur Less, a man who is nearly fifty, and is wanting to avoid going to the wedding of his recent lover. Arthur had had a long term relationship with an older man, Robert Brownburn, that started when he was twenty-one. Brownburn was a famous poet, and he encouraged Arthur to write as well. Arthur has had some success, but nothing like Brownburn.
In the fifteen or so years since his breakup with Brownburn he'd lived alone, having a series of lovers, including a nine-year relationship with Freddy Pelu, the nephew of Carlos Pelu, a man he's always had a sort-of competition with. Arthur doesn't feel up to attending Freddy's wedding, but he knows that if he just doesn't go, there will be much talk.
Noticing an invitation in his email, he suddenly decides that he will accept all the invitations to speak, go to awards ceremonies, teach seminars, and take on overseas assignments that he can, so that he can legitamately say that he is out of the country.
As we follow Arthur from his home in San Francisco, to New York City, Mexico City, Turin, Berlin, Morocco (a legitimate vacation), India, and Japan, we watch him leave his comfort zone, and experience life in ways he hadn't expected he could. We also watch as he begins to realize things about himself.
This a book that has humour, insight, and a great story. Loved it.

Displacement

Finished March 20
Displacement: A Travelogue by Lucy Knisley

This graphic memoir was recommended by one of my coworkers, and I quite enjoyed it. The narrator, Lucy, tells of a trip she took as escort and caregiver for her grandparents on a Caribbean cruise. Her grandparents, in their 90s and living in a senior-living complex has signed up for the tour, causing some frantic discussion among family members. Her grandmother was exhibiting signs of dementia and her grandfather has some mobility issues and incontinence issues. Lucy, age 27, volunteers to go with her grandparents if her father and his siblings pay for her way.
She sets out the story day by day, telling of her thoughts and worries each day, as well as the activities they all go through and the things she has to manage for her grandparents. There are good things that happen, and bad things that happen. She has to manage their medications, their laundry, and anticipate their needs.
Her grandfather's eyesight means that he, a previously voracious reader, has stopped reading, and her grandmother can't concentrate to read, so she is kept busy trying to find things to do together. Her grandmother gets restless quickly, but her grandfather can't walk very fast due to asthma, so it is a challenge.
Interspersed with this travel story are excerpts from a memoir her grandfather wrote about his time in World War II. She tries to connect with them around memories of earlier times, but even her grandfather's memories aren't great, and this makes it harder.
The drawings are great, and the story an interesting one about families, aging, and patience.