20 Wednesday Oct 2021
Posted in 20th century, adventure, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Travel, United States
Tags
1933-1945, animal rescue, Depression, Dust Bowl, giraffes, human-animal relationships, interpersoal relationships, San Diego Zoo, zoo keepers
24 Monday May 2021
Posted in 20th century, adventure, England, Fiction, Travel
What a delightful road trip – except the ride is on a narrowboat on British canals for four months. Two middle-aged women desperate to ditch their mundane life situations, as luck would have it, cross paths briefly with an older woman who lives on the canals. They trade homes and the slowed time and shared struggle give each the courage to make life-changing choices. . A breath of fresh air during our pandemic, claustrophobic, confined-in-our-homes times. Excellent read.
“Lovely…Another heartening story about the possibility of striking out in a new direction at any age. It is also a soothing read, especially welcome in these anxious times.” ―Christian Science Monitor
A touching, hopeful story about figuring out what matters and mustering the courage to make necessary changes.” ―NPR
“Fans of Jane Smiley and Hannah Mary McKinnon will enjoy Youngson’s immersive, lyrical account of the women’s narrowboat summer, especially the colorful characters they meet along their journey.” ―Booklist
“Youngson, a heartfelt storyteller, takes readers on a charming excursion that provides a comforting, tender escape.” ―Shelf Awareness
25 Friday Sep 2020
Posted in 20th century, Fiction, thriller, Travel
A woman decides to leave her abusive husband by disappearing to start a new life. At the airport, she meets another woman, also in dire straits running from her past. On a whim and to cover their tracks even further, they swap airline tickets. Then, one of the planes crashes….. I thought it was very well done.
“The moral dilemmas that the multifaceted, realistic characters face in their quest for survival lend weight to this pulse-pounding tale of suspense. Clark is definitely a writer to watch.” – Publishers Weekly, starred review
“The Last Flight sweeps you into a thrilling story of two desperate women who will do anything to escape their lives. Both poignant and addictive, you’ll race through the pages to the novel’s chilling end. A must read of the summer!” – Kaira Rouda, internationally bestselling author of Best Day Ever and The Favorite Daughter
“A tense and engaging womancentric thriller.” – Kirkus Reviews, starred review
14 Friday Feb 2020
Posted in 20th century, anecdotes, Biography, Non-fiction, Travel
Heartwarming, funny, full of good intentions, journalist, Dan Kois is determined to break out of the East coast parenting bubble to find a better quality lifestyle for his wife and two preteen girls. One year, four locations: New Zealand, the Netherlands, Costa Rica, and small town Kansas.
“In this highly entertaining and wryly insightful book, Dan Kois shows how elastic the very concept of family is. As he recounts his family’s encounters with four foreign cultures, he illuminates not only those other societies, but also our own. He argues persuasively that we have much to learn from divorcing ourselves from our own assumptions.”―Andrew Solomon, author of Far and Away and Far From the Tree
“Lots of people talk about pulling up stakes and traveling for a year. Dan Kois and his family actually did it. He’s funny and honest about how it all turned out.”―Pamela Druckerman, author of Bringing Up Bébé and There Are No Grown-Ups
“This sometimes hair-raising adventure in family togetherness across many continents took courage even to attempt, and a lively sense of humor to describe. Kois has produced a delightful and eye-opening book about what it means to be a family in the modern world.”―Ian Frazier, author of Family and Coyote V Acme
19 Friday Jan 2018
On the first page in the first one hundred words, the author has given the reader the end of the story. But the writing is so fluid and so many intriguing topics are touched on – sisterhood, motherhood, the yearning for the impossible, the regret of unfulfilled relationships, the desire to write it all down and the exotic but troubled location of South Africa during apartheid – that the reader feels compelled to read on to discover the full story.
“A searing and intimate memoir about love turned deadly.” —The BBC
“In this intimate, exquisitely written memoir, the author’s first work of nonfiction, she explores the impenetrable bond that can exist between sisters. . . . In spare, delicate prose, Kohler brings a seasoned novelist’s skills to this deeply moving, compelling memoir.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“It’s fitting that the book is written in the present tense, because [Kohler’s] sister is forever with her. Their relationship changes shape yet lingers, as do the important questions about women and violence.”—Oprah.com (5 Powerful New Memoirs)
Find this book large print audio cd’s
26 Monday Jun 2017
Posted in Non-fiction, Travel
True life story. Holly FitzGerald and her husband set off on the adventure of their dreams a year into their marriage in the late ’70’s. The harrowing story of what went wrong in the Amazon and how they survived, kept me racing through chapters as if my survival was bound up with theirs. Short crisp chapters, excellent editing, and riveting determination make this a winner read.
“Both travel memoir and shocking adventure story, like a real-life Survivor or Naked and Afraid . . . A powerful story about survival, love, and faith in the face of impossible odds . . . Unputdownable . . . absolutely fascinating.”—Katie Lawrence, Library Journal
“One of the great survival tales. An almost unbearable story told with a physical and emotional intensity that draws the reader in, not just as witness, but as virtual participant. It’s an exhausting, painful, inspiring read.”—Michael Palin, author of Traveling to Work
05 Monday Jun 2017
This is a mesmerizing examination of a marriage gone wrong. They had agreed to separate but he makes her promise to tell no one quite yet. Then he disappears and his mother convinces her to find him…somewhere in Greece…..I couldn’t relax until I knew the outcome!
“Accomplished… a coolly unsettling work.” —New York Times Book Review
“A spare and stunning portrait of a marital estrangement… [B]uilds into a hypnotic meditation on infidelity and the unknowability of one’s spouse. In precise and muted prose, the entire story unspools in the coolly observant mind of a young woman… A minutely observed novel of infidelity unsettles its characters and readers.” —Kirkus [starred review]
22 Monday May 2017
Posted in Non-fiction, Travel
Tags
20th century, Germany, Great Britain, military intelligence, naval operations, radio operations, shipping policy, U-boats, World War 1914-1918
It is a story that many of us think we know but may not. Erik Larson tells a thrilling story, switching between hunter and hunted, while painting a larger portrait of America at the height of the Progressive Era. Gripping and important, Dead Wake captures the sheer drama and emotional power of a disaster whose intimate details and true meaning have long been obscured by history.
“In his gripping new examination of the last days of what was then the fastest cruise ship in the world, Larson brings the past stringingly alive…He draws upon telegrams, war logs, love letters, and survivor depositions to provide the intriguing details, things I didn’t know I wanted to know…Thrilling, dramatic and powerful.”—NPR
“Larson has a gift for transforming historical re-creations into popular recreations, and Dead Wake is no exception…[He] provides first-rate suspense, a remarkable achievement given that we already know how this is going to turn out…The tension, in the reader’s easy chair, is unbearable…”—The Boston Globe
06 Monday Feb 2017
Posted in Biography, Drama, Humor, Non-fiction, Travel
Tags
biography, Corfu Island, Drama, family, Gerald Durrell (1925-1995), Greece, natural history, zoologists
Three classic tales of childhood on an island paradise – My Family and Other Animals, Birds, Beasts and Relatives and The Garden of the Gods by Gerald Durrell – inspired the recent PBS Masterpiece series, The Durrells in Corfu. The youngest of the four children, ten-year-old Gerald, discovered his passion for animals: toads and tortoises, bats and butterflies, scorpions and octopuses. Gerry pursued his obsession on the sun-soaked island of Corfu, befriended local peasants, tolerated visiting dignitaries, and caused hilarity and mayhem in his ever-tolerant family. Fauna & Family is equally delightful and enchanting.
“A lot of frolic, fun, and charming ribaldry, as well as the warm feeling of having been transported to a lovely spot where worry is unknown and anything is believable.”-The New York Times
“A delightful book full of simple, well-known things: cicadas in the olive groves, lamp fishing at night, the complexities of fish and animals, but, above all, childhood molded by these things and intimately recalled in middle age.” –The New York Times Book Review
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28 Wednesday Dec 2016
Jean Perdu calls himself a literary apothecary: a “reader of souls” with the knowledge to suggest books to his patrons that will heal what they don’t even know that ails them. His bookshop-on-a-barge (including cats and an Italian chef) travels the canals of Paris, Champagne, Burgundy, Lyons, and Marseilles. This is an uplifting, joyous read. By the book’s end, I was looking for barge travel options in France!
“If you’re looking to be charmed right out of your own life for a few hours, sit down with this wise and winsome novel…Everything happens just as you want it to… from poignant moments to crystalline insights in exactly the right measure.”—Oprah.com
“The settings are ideal for a summer-romance read…Who can resist floating on a barge through France surrounded by books, wine, love, and great conversation?”—Christian Science Monitor
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