Difference between revisions of "Newest Travel Reviews"

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[[Category:Travel|*]]
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Jo Woolf
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|author=Alastair Humphreys
|title= The Great Horizon: 50 Tales of Exploration
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|title=Local
|rating= 3.5
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|rating=5
|genre= History
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|genre=Travel
|summary= Jo Woolf has compiled a brilliant set of fifty short insights into the lives and achievements of some amazingly brave people. Their fearless journeys have helped us unlock many of the mysteries of the wildest parts of our world, and also given us an understanding of what it is like to be faced with the most terrible conditions and still have the determination and grit to carry on. This book could be viewed as a taster which encourages us to seek out and read more about some of the most iconic explorers. Their stories are pretty incredible and Woolf does them justice.
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|summary= Alastair Humphreys has walked and cycled all over the world.  And then written about it.  For this book he walked and cycled very close to home and then wrote about it.  As he says in his introduction, the book is an attempt ''to share what I have learnt about some big issues from a year exploring a small map. Nature loss, pollution, land use and access, agriculture, the food system, rewilding…''  One of the joys of the book for me was that the biggest thing he learned about all of these things was that there are no easy answers, no single 'right or wrong', that every upside is likely to have a downside for somebody and that there are some hard choices ahead.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1910985880</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1785633678
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}}
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{{Frontpage
 +
|isbn=0957181167
 +
|title=Blue Skies and Boat Trips: The Norfolk of Brian Lewis
 +
|author=Alan Marshall
 +
|rating=5
 +
|genre=Art
 +
|summary=There are few positive things which can be said about a substandard apartment when you’re on holiday but this time, in trying to avoid looking at a problem I found myself looking more closely at a couple of pictures on the walls - and was completely taken by the work of Brian Lewis.  I searched online and could only find ‘used’ versions of this book and the print I wanted was ‘not available’. Oh, dear - then a few doors down from the apartment, I found a gift shop with a stack of brand new books - and a framed print of the picture I wanted.
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Adrian Mourby
+
|isbn=1785633457
|title=Rooms with a View: The Secret Life of Great Hotels
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|title=Charging Around: Exploring the Edges of England by Electric Car
|rating=4
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|author=Clive Wilkinson
 +
|rating=5
 
|genre=Travel
 
|genre=Travel
|summary=Adrian Mourby has given us a flying visit to each of fifty grand hotels, from fourteen regions of the world, with the hotels in each section being arranged chronologically rather than by region, which helps to give something of an overall picture. So what makes a hotel 'grand'?  The first hotel to call itself 'grand' was in covent Garden in 1774 and it ushered in the beginning of a period when a hotel would be a lifestyle choice rather than a refuge for those without friends and family conveniently nearby.  The hotels we visit all began life in different circumstances and each faced a different set of challenges.  We begin in the Americas, move to the United Kingdom, circumnavigate Europe, briefly visit Russia and Turkey then northern Africa, India and Asia.  Australia, it seems, does not go for the grand.
+
|summary=Clive Wilkinson has a history of travelling by unconventional means with a preference for slow travel. As he neared his eightieth birthday the idea of exploring the edges of England in an electric car was not totally outrageous. In fact, it should be a pleasant holiday for Clive and his wife, Joan, shouldn't it?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1785782754</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Rory Stewart
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|author=Merryn Glover
|title= The Marches
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|title=The Hidden Fires
|rating= 5
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|rating=5
|genre= Travel
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|genre=Travel
|summary= The Observer quote on the front of the paperback edition of Stewart's latest book observes ''This is travel writing at its finest.''  Perhaps, but to call it travel writing is to totally under-sell itThis is erudition at its finestStewart has the background to do this: he had an international upbringing and followed his father in both the Army and the Foreign Office, and then (to his father's, bemusement, shall we say) became an MP. Oh, and he walked 6,000 miles across Afghanistan in 2002A walk along the Scottish borders should be a doddle by comparison.
+
|summary= It is always about the book, not the writer, but there are times when the author's hinterland is also the background to the book and so it is necessary to understand that context, in order to appreciate the bookMerryn Glover is of Australian parentage, was born in Kathmandu, grew up in the Annapurna and Himalayan and now lives in Badenoch in ScotlandI can think of no-one better a combination to give us a re-appraisal of Nan Shepherds work than the first Writer in Residence in the Cairngorms National Park.   Merryn walks, not so much in the shadow of Shepherd, but in her spiritI think the two would have gotten along famously.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099581892</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1846975751
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Nicholson
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|isbn=B0B7289HKQ
|title=Mr Tambourine Man
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|title=Conversations Across America: A Father and Son, Alzheimer's, and 300 Conversations Along the TransAmerica Bike Trail that Capture the Soul of America
|rating=3.5
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|author=Kari Loya
|genre=Lifestyle
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|rating=4
|summary=Back in 1965 we heard ''Mr Tambourine Man'' by the Byrds on the radio very regularlyNicholson was thirteen and saw the 45rpm recording of the song in the window of the local music store and would have loved to be able to buy it but didn't have the moneyThirteen-year olds didn't in those days unless it was a birthday or Christmas and you couldn't get a part-time job until you were fifteen.  There would be a few of those badly-paid jobs before he finished his A levels and went to New York for three monthsIt's this trip which Nicholson feels turned him from being a boy into a man and allowed him to see the bigger picture.
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|genre=Travel
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1524681822</amazonuk>
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|summary=Kari (that rhymes with ‘sorry’, by the way) wanted to spend some time with his father and the period between two jobs seemed like a good time to do itThe decision was made to ride the Trans America Bike Trail from Yorktown, Virginia to Astoria, Oregon - all 4250 miles of it - in 2015They had 73 days to do it - slightly less than the recommended time - but there were factors which pointed this up as more of a challenge that it would be for most people who considered taking it onMerv Loya was 75 years old and he was suffering from early-stage Alzheimer's.
 
}}
 
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|author=Erling Kagge
 +
|title=Walking: One Step At A Time
 +
|rating=5
 +
|genre= Lifestyle
 +
|summary= Those who have read my reviews before will know that how much I loved a book is evidenced by the number of pages with corners turned, so let me start this one with an apology to the Norfolk Library Service: sorry! I forgot it was your book not mine. In my defence, I will say that as a reader of this type of book there is something connective about noting where prior readers were inspired (provided it is subtle – I'll allow creased corners, but not scribbles – for the latter we must buy our own copy – which I am about to do as soon as I have finished telling you why).
  
<!-- Bristow -->
+
Erligg Kagge is a Norwegian explorer who has walked to the South Pole, the North Pole and the summit of Everest. He knows a thing or two about walking. However, this isn't a travelogue about any of those epic journeys, it is instead a thoughtful exploration of what it means to walk. It is a plenitude of unnumbered essays about walking. There is no 'contents' page and I haven't counted. In small format paperback, each essay is only a few pages long. Perhaps then, better thought of as a meditation rather than an essay.
[[image:Bristow China.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1910985902?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1910985902]]
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|isbn=0241357705
 
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}}
===[[China in Drag: Travels with a Cross-dresser by Michael Bristow]]===
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{{Frontpage
 
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|author=Monica Connell
[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Autobiography|Autobiography]] [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]], [[:Category:Travel|Travel]]
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|title=Against a Peacock Sky
 
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|rating=5
Having worked for nine years in Bejing as a journalist for the BBC, author Michael Bristow decided to write about Chinese history. Having been learning the local language for several years, Bristow asked his language teacher for guidance - the language teacher, born in the early fifties, offered Bristow a compelling picture of life in Communist China - but added to that, Bristow was greatly surprised to find that his language teacher also enjoyed spending his spare time in ladies clothing. It soon becomes clear that the tale told here is immensely personal - yet also paints a fascinating portrait of one of the world's most intriguing nations. [[China in Drag: Travels with a Cross-dresser by Michael Bristow|Full Review]]
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|genre=Travel
<br>
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|summary= Monica Connell went to Nepal to do the fieldwork for her Ph.D. in social anthropology. I think it is important to know that. She went on a grant-supported trip, with a relatively specific objective. She wasn't a hippy wanderer looking for Shangri-la. She wasn't a mere tourist passing through.  She went with a fundamental aim of learning about these people and how they lived. She also went, presumably, with the academic discipline of how to find these things out, how to organise them in her mind, how to "understand" them in the context of her own paradigms, and how to keep enough notes and files and photos to help her create some greater sense of the experience after the event. Fortunately, she also went with a sense of open-ness and curiosity and a willingness to muck-in, to break her own rules and to truly connect with the people of the village where she hauled up.
 
+
|isbn=1780600429
<!-- Jenkins -->
 
[[image:Jenkins_100.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/024197898X?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=024197898X]]
 
 
 
===[[Britain's 100 Best Railway Stations by Simon Jenkins]]===
 
 
 
[[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Reference|Reference]], [[:Category:Art|Art]], [[:Category:Travel|Travel]]
 
 
 
In the mid twentieth century the railway was something which harked back to the Victorian age with trains being supplanted by cars and planes, but steam was being replaced by oil, even then and in the twenty-first century oil is giving way to electricity. It's cleaner, more environmentally friendly and the stations which we'd all rushed through as quickly as possible, keen to escape their grime, were restored and became places to be admired, possibly even lingered in. Simon Jenkins has chosen his hundred best railway stations. [[Britain's 100 Best Railway Stations by Simon Jenkins|Full Review]]
 
<br>
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author= Colin Thubron
 
|title= Mirror to Damascus
 
|rating= 4.5
 
|genre= Travel
 
|summary= Damascus today is a monument to her past, to all the people and civilisations that helped shape her. In this enthusiastic piece of travel writing, Collin Thubron tells the tale of a city that has seen empires rise and fall, conquerors come and go and has lasted for over two thousand years. It's rich in impressive history and this book is rich in impressive detail.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099532298</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Stuart Maconie
+
|author=Nicolas Bouvier
|title= Long Road From Jarrow
+
|title=The Japanese Chronicles
|rating= 5
+
|rating=5
|genre= Travel  
+
|genre=Travel
|summary= I cancelled my ''Country Walking'' magazine subscription about a year ago and the only thing I miss is Stuart Maconie's column. His down-to-earth approach and sharp wit belie an equally sharp intellect and a soul more sensitive than he might be willing to admit.   Let's be honest, though, I picked this one up because of someone else's review, in which I spotted names like Ferryhill and Newton Aycliffe. Places I grew up in. Like Maconie I have no connection (that I know of) to the Jarrow Crusade but when he talks about it being ''a whole matrix of events reducible to one word like Aberfan, Hillsborough, or Orgreave'' then somehow it does become part of my history too.  Tangentially, at least.
+
|summary= It never does to start a review of a book with a quote from the blurb, but sometimes it's unavoidable. Le Monde reviewed this book, at some point, with the words ''what the old master craftsmen would call a masterpiece.'' It is precisely that. A masterpiece in the sense of the craft as well as the art of writing. I'm going to hesitate to call it 'travel writing' because this is as much a history of Japan, a mythology-primer for the Japanese culture as it is a personal response to living and travelling in the country.  
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1785030531</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1906011044
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=John Hurst
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|author=Stephen Fabes
|title=On My Way: Norfolk Coastal Walks
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|title=Signs of Life
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=Sport
+
|genre=Travel
|summary=It was pure serendipity: after a five-hour drive we were, annoyingly, left with an hour to fill in Blakeney before we could have the keys to our holiday cottage. There was an art exhibition in the church hall, so we went in - and found a display of the most gorgeous pictures.  I'd cheerfully have bought every one and hung them on our walls, but thought that I would have to make do with a couple of greetings cards when I saw ''On My Way: Norfolk Coastal Walks'' and I couldn't resist buying it.
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|summary= I was brought up on maps and first-person narratives of tales of far away places. I was birth-righted wanderlust and curiosity.  Unfortunately, I didn't inherit what Dr. Stephen Fabes clearly had which was the guts to simply go out and do it.  I also didn't inherit the kind of steady nerve, ability to talk to strangers and basic practicality that would have meant that I would have survived if I had been gifted with the requisite 'bottle'.  In order words I'm not the sort of person who will get on a bike outside a London hospital and not come home for six years.  Fabes did precisely that.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>095444003X</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1788161211
 
}}
 
}}
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{{Frontpage
 +
|author=Rob Baker
 +
|title=Toubab Tales: The Joys and Trials of Expat Life in Africa
 +
|rating=4
 +
|genre=Travel
 +
|summary=''"Go to Mali," they said. "The music is amazing," they said. "And you get ten hours of sunshine every day." So I did.''
  
<!-- Morris -->
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Rob Baker is an ethnomusicologist. ''A what?'' I hear you cry. Well, an ethnomusicologist studies music in relation to culture, so rather like a folklorist studies the oral and written story traditions relating to a culture.
[[image:Morris_Footsteps.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/144567114X?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=144567114X]]
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|isbn=B089CSNFT7
 
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}}
===[[In the Footsteps of the Six Wives of Henry VIII: The visitor's companion to the palaces, castles & houses associated with Henry VIII's iconic queens by S Morris and N Grueninger]]===
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{{Frontpage
 
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|author=Christine Brown
[[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:History|History]], [[:Category:Travel|Travel]], [[:Category:Biography|Biography]]
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|title=Bucket Showers and Baby Goats: Volunteering in West Africa
 
 
It was inevitable that each of the six wives of Henry VIII would have left their mark in some way on the places they lived and visited. This book straddles several categories; it is part history, part gazetteer or guide book, and also a collection of potted biographies. [[In the Footsteps of the Six Wives of Henry VIII: The visitor's companion to the palaces, castles & houses associated with Henry VIII's iconic queens by S Morris and N Grueninger|Full Review]]
 
<br> <br> <br>
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Adrian Mourby
 
|title=Rooms of One's Own: 50 Places That Made Literary History
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Entertainment
 
|summary=The debate is never-ending about how much of the author's life we can find in their pages, and what bearing every circumstance of their lot had on their output.  Things perhaps are heightened when they do a Hemingway or a Greene and travel the world, but so often they have had a cause to stay in one place and write.  Does that creative spirit survive in the walls and air of the room they worked in, and do those four walls, or the view, feature in the books?  And does any of this really matter in admiring the great works of literature?  Well, this volume itself kind of relies on that as being the case, but either way it's a real pleasure.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1785781855</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author= Thomas H Cook
 
|title= Tragic Shores: A Memoir Of Dark Travel
 
|rating= 4
 
 
|genre=Travel
 
|genre=Travel
|summary= Thomas H Cook, an American author valued for the quality of writing and compelling intrigues of his numerous thrillers, has written a collection of nearly thirty accounts of visits to the ''tragic shores'' of the title. There is no noticeable rhyme or reason to the order of presentation, apart from the last, and the most personal tale which links the travel report to the author's personal loss of his wife and long-time travel companion, who features in many of the chapters, as does the couple's daughter, but they all the pertain to Cook's visits to what he describes as ''the saddest places on Earth''.
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|summary=In the summer of 2008, this book's author was spending her days working in an office job in the USA while spending her nights dreaming about being somewhere else, doing something else. Long story short, she ended up volunteering in Ghana, West Africa. Now coincidentally, in the summer of 2010, this review's author was spending ''her'' days working in an office job (albeit in the UK) while spending ''her'' nights dreaming about being somewhere else, doing something else, and ''she'' ended up just 3 countries away, volunteering in Sierra Leone, West Africa. So you can see why, when this book came up, said reviewer was delighted to have the opportunity to read and critique it.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184916326X</amazonuk>
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|isbn=171024299X
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Tim Moore
+
|isbn=Mourby_Rooms
|title=The Cyclist Who Went Out in the Cold: Adventures Along the Iron Curtain Trail
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|title=Rooms with a View: The Secret Life of Great Hotels
 +
|author=Adrian Mourby
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Travel
 
|genre=Travel
|summary= One of the results I find from travel documentaries, often on TV but also in book form, is the verdict 'rather him than me' (and it generally is a he). Yes, I'd like to go there and see what he's seen, but I'm damned if I would risk the danger, the potential consequences and/or the effort the whole experience required. This book is the epitome of that, for as much as I love most of the twenty countries it hits on – give me a chance, I've not quite been to them all – I wouldn't countenance making this exact and exacting tripA couple of years ago, those in the know somewhere in an office deemed the route of the entire old Iron Curtain – the fringe of the Soviet Union, plus Romania, Bulgaria etc – to be a pan-continental biking routeWith the news that he can dismiss other attempts and still have a claim to being the first person to clock the whole mammoth trip, our gutsy author undertakes it all, and thus surveys a scar across the entire continent to see if it's still visible, and what flesh it once upon a time dividedOh and he did it on a Communist-era piddly little bike, lacking in both gears and good brakes, that was designed for nothing more strenuous than conveying you around a campsite, not for 6,000 miles…
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|summary=Adrian Mourby has given us a flying visit to each of fifty grand hotels, from fourteen regions of the world, with the hotels in each section being arranged chronologically rather than by region, which helps to give something of an overall picture. So what makes a hotel 'grand'? The first hotel to call itself 'grand' was in Covent Garden in 1774 and it ushered in the beginning of a period when a hotel would be a lifestyle choice rather than a refuge for those without friends and family conveniently nearby. The hotels we visit all began life in different circumstances and each faced a different set of challenges. We begin in the Americas, move to the United Kingdom, circumnavigate Europe, briefly visit Russia and Turkey then northern Africa, India and Asia. Australia, it seems, does not go for the grand.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224100211</amazonuk>
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}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|isbn=1908745819
 +
|title=Surfacing
 +
|author=Kathleen Jamie
 +
|rating=5
 +
|genre=History
 +
|summary=Sometimes when people suggest that you read a certain book, they tell you ''this one has your name on it''. Mostly we take them at their word, or not, but rarely do we ask them why they thought so unless it turns out that we didn't like the book. That's a rare experience. People who are sensitive to hearing a book calling your name, rarely get it wrong. In this case, I was told why.  The blurb speaks of the author considering ''an older, less tethered sense of herself.''  Older. Less tethered. That's not a bad description of where I amAdd to that my love of the natural world, of those aspects of the poetic and lyrical that are about style not form, and substance most of all, about connection. Of course, this book had my name on it.  It was written for me. It would have found its way to me eventuallyI am pleased to have it fall onto my path so quickly.
 +
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|isbn=1912242052
 +
|title=O Joy for me!
 +
|author=Keir Davidson
 +
|rating=3
 +
|genre=Art
 +
|summary=''Oh Joy for me!'' gives Coleridge credit for being ''the first person to walk the mountains alone, not because he had to for work, as a miner, quarryman, shepherd or pack-horse driver, but because he wanted to for pleasure and adventureHis rapturous encounters with their natural beauty, and its literary consequences, changed our view of the world''.
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Amelia Dalton
+
|isbn=Woolf_Great
|title=Mistress and Commander: High Jinks, High Seas and Highlanders
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|title=The Great Horizon: 50 Tales of Exploration
|rating= 3.5
+
|author=Jo Woolf
|genre=Travel
+
|rating=3.5
|summary= Nowadays, Amelia Dalton runs a travel agency which, by the look of it, is a something of a modern version of how Thomas Cook began: excusive, tailor-made holidays, cruises and expeditions all around the world catering to those who can afford this kind of thing. ''Mistress and Commander''' shows how she got there: from an upper-middle class wife whose life involved landed gentry, boarding schools and county hunts to scrubbing stinky goop from the cargo hold of what used to be a Danish Arctic trawler, running charters to St Kilda, dealing with doubtful mechanics, lecherous skippers, and getting her own Master's ticket, by the way of family tragedy, martial drama and what seemed like the steepest learning curve related to marine engines one could possibly imagine.
+
|genre=History
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1910985171</amazonuk>
+
|summary=Jo Woolf has compiled a brilliant set of fifty short insights into the lives and achievements of some amazingly brave people. Their fearless journeys have helped us unlock many of the mysteries of the wildest parts of our world, and also given us an understanding of what it is like to be faced with the most terrible conditions and still have the determination and grit to carry on. This book could be viewed as a taster which encourages us to seek out and read more about some of the most iconic explorers. Their stories are pretty incredible and Woolf does them justice.
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
<!-- Foreman -->
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|isbn=Hailstone_Berlin
[[image:Foreman_Travel.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1783704721?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1783704721]]
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|title=Berlin in the Cold War: 1959 to 1966
 
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|author=Allan Hailstone
===[[Travels With My Sketchbook by Michael Foreman]]===
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|rating=4
 
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|genre=History
[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Art|Art]], [[:Category:Travel|Travel]]
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|summary=''Berlin in the Cold War: 1959-1966'' contains almost 200 photographs taken by author/photographer Allan Hailstone in his visits to the city during this period. The images provide an insight into the changing nature of the divide between East and West Berlin and a glimpse into life in the city during the Cold War.
 
 
I guess the best children's literature can do away with complete veracity, as long as it has something about it that is recognisable – a little of the spirit, heart and character of the real thing, whatever it may be.  And if that's the case then it definitely applies to children's literature illustrations, such as those provided close on two hundred times by [[:Category:Michael Foreman|Michael Foreman]].  This prolific artist leapt at a scholarship in the US when he'd completed his official, formal studies, and it would appear – huge credits list regardless – that he's never stopped moving since, as this book takes us to all corners of the world, and back home again. [[Travels With My Sketchbook by Michael Foreman|Full Review]]
 
<br>
 
 
 
<!-- Biesty -->
 
[[image:Biesty Trains.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1783704241?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1783704241]]
 
 
 
===[[Stephen Biesty's Trains by Ian Graham and Stephen Biesty]]===
 
 
 
[[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Art|Art]], [[:Category:Travel|Travel]], [[:Category:Children's Non-Fiction|Children's Non-Fiction]]
 
 
 
Trains look imposing, but true fans (little boys, usually from about three years old and upwards) want to know what lies beneath the skin which you can see. They want to know how it works. Getting to grips with one in real life is quite a big ask, but the next best thing is ''Stephen Biesty's Trains'' which features trains from all over the world and spanning the early steam train (complete with cow catcher) right through to the trains of the future which can reach a speed of 430 kph and don't even run on rails. Once the train reaches a speed of 150 kph the wheels are raised and the train is held up by magnetic forces alone. [[Stephen Biesty's Trains by Ian Graham and Stephen Biesty|Full Review]]
 
<br>
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author= Gavin Francis
 
|title= True North
 
|rating= 5
 
|genre= Travel
 
|summary=''True North'', while very much a travel book in the grand tradition of the best travel writing that combines the trip report with the so-called background information is classified by Amazon in Cultural History and it's not as much of a mis-classification as it could initially appear. Francis, a Scottish GP who ''divides his time between writing and doctoring'', starts the body proper of ''True North'' with one of the best opening lines I have read recently: ''I began to dream of the North in a stinking African hospital ward''.  
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846971306</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author= Peter Irvine
+
|isbn=Stewart_Marches
|title= Scotland the Best
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|title=The Marches
|rating= 4
+
|author=Rory Stewart
|genre= Travel
+
|rating=5
|summary= Peter Irvine's book advertises itself as ''The true Scot's insider's guide to the very best Scotland has to offer'' and has throughout its many years of existence became a bit of an institution. And no wonder. It is indeed a guide like no other and although it's unlikely to completely fulfil anybody's guidebook needs, it will offer a unique perspective and some top-notch inspiration.
+
|genre=History
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007319657</amazonuk>
+
|summary=The Observer quote on the front of the paperback edition of Stewart's latest book observes ''This is travel writing at its finest.'' Perhaps, but to call it 'travel writing' is to totally under-sell it. This is erudition at its finest. Stewart has the background to do this: he had an international upbringing and followed his father in both the Army and the Foreign Office, and then (to his father's, bemusement, shall we say) became an MP. Oh, and he walked 6,000 miles across Afghanistan in 2002. A walk along the Scottish borders should be a doddle by comparison.
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author= Simon Bennett
+
|isbn=Bristow China
|title= In Search of Sundance, Nessie...and Paradise
+
|title=China in Drag: Travels with a Cross-dresser
|rating= 4
+
|author=Michael Bristow
|genre= Travel
+
|rating=4
|summary= Books are personal.  There are three things that signal good books to me: how I feel while reading them and in the enforced spaces between reading them, the degree to which I bore everyone around me for ages afterwards by quoting them and talking about them, and whether I remember how, when and where I first read them.  That last criterion can only be judged later, but on the first two ''In Search of Sundance…'' definitely qualifies.
+
|genre=Autobiography
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1524666173</amazonuk>
+
|summary=Having worked for nine years in Bejing as a journalist for the BBC, author Michael Bristow decided to write about Chinese history. Having been learning the local language for several years, Bristow asked his language teacher for guidance - the language teacher, born in the early fifties, offered Bristow a compelling picture of life in Communist China - but added to that, Bristow was greatly surprised to find that his language teacher also enjoyed spending his spare time in ladies clothing. It soon becomes clear that the tale told here is immensely personal - yet also paints a fascinating portrait of one of the world's most intriguing nations.
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Colin Taylor
+
|isbn=Hurst_Norfolk
|title=The Life of a Scilly Sergeant
+
|title=On My Way: Norfolk Coastal Walks
|rating=4.5
+
|author=John Hurst
|genre=Travel
+
|rating=4
|summary=Meet the Isles of Scilly.  (I know they should be called that – the author provides a handy guide to the etiquette of their name, their nature and location, etc.)  For our more distant readers, they're several chunks of granite rock out in the Atlantic, where Cornwall is pointing, with just 2,200 permanent residents. They're big on tourism, and big on growing flowers in the tropical climate the Gulf Stream bequeaths them – although the weather is bad enough to turn any car to a rust bucket within years.  They're so wee, and so idyllic-seeming, especially at night, you can be mistaken for thinking there would be no need for a police presenceBut there is – at least two working at any one time.  And one of them in recent years has been Colin Taylor, who has done his official duty – alongside maintaining a well-known online existence, which has brought to life all the whimsical comedy of his work.
+
|genre=Art
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>178475515X</amazonuk>
+
|summary=It was pure serendipity: after a five-hour drive, we were, annoyingly, left with an hour to fill in Blakeney before we could have the keys to our holiday cottage. There was an art exhibition in the church hall, so we went in - and found a display of the most gorgeous picturesI'd cheerfully have bought every one and hung them on our walls, but thought that I would have to make do with a couple of greetings cards when I saw ''On My Way: Norfolk Coastal Walks'' and I couldn't resist buying it.
 
}}
 
}}
 +
 +
Move on to [[Newest Trivia Reviews]]

Latest revision as of 11:59, 26 December 2023

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Review of

Local by Alastair Humphreys

5star.jpg Travel

Alastair Humphreys has walked and cycled all over the world. And then written about it. For this book he walked and cycled very close to home and then wrote about it. As he says in his introduction, the book is an attempt to share what I have learnt about some big issues from a year exploring a small map. Nature loss, pollution, land use and access, agriculture, the food system, rewilding… One of the joys of the book for me was that the biggest thing he learned about all of these things was that there are no easy answers, no single 'right or wrong', that every upside is likely to have a downside for somebody and that there are some hard choices ahead. Full Review

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Review of

Blue Skies and Boat Trips: The Norfolk of Brian Lewis by Alan Marshall

5star.jpg Art

There are few positive things which can be said about a substandard apartment when you’re on holiday but this time, in trying to avoid looking at a problem I found myself looking more closely at a couple of pictures on the walls - and was completely taken by the work of Brian Lewis. I searched online and could only find ‘used’ versions of this book and the print I wanted was ‘not available’. Oh, dear - then a few doors down from the apartment, I found a gift shop with a stack of brand new books - and a framed print of the picture I wanted. Full Review

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Review of

Charging Around: Exploring the Edges of England by Electric Car by Clive Wilkinson

5star.jpg Travel

Clive Wilkinson has a history of travelling by unconventional means with a preference for slow travel. As he neared his eightieth birthday the idea of exploring the edges of England in an electric car was not totally outrageous. In fact, it should be a pleasant holiday for Clive and his wife, Joan, shouldn't it? Full Review

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Review of

The Hidden Fires by Merryn Glover

5star.jpg Travel

It is always about the book, not the writer, but there are times when the author's hinterland is also the background to the book and so it is necessary to understand that context, in order to appreciate the book. Merryn Glover is of Australian parentage, was born in Kathmandu, grew up in the Annapurna and Himalayan and now lives in Badenoch in Scotland. I can think of no-one better a combination to give us a re-appraisal of Nan Shepherds work than the first Writer in Residence in the Cairngorms National Park. Merryn walks, not so much in the shadow of Shepherd, but in her spirit. I think the two would have gotten along famously. Full Review

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Review of

Conversations Across America: A Father and Son, Alzheimer's, and 300 Conversations Along the TransAmerica Bike Trail that Capture the Soul of America by Kari Loya

4star.jpg Travel

Kari (that rhymes with ‘sorry’, by the way) wanted to spend some time with his father and the period between two jobs seemed like a good time to do it. The decision was made to ride the Trans America Bike Trail from Yorktown, Virginia to Astoria, Oregon - all 4250 miles of it - in 2015. They had 73 days to do it - slightly less than the recommended time - but there were factors which pointed this up as more of a challenge that it would be for most people who considered taking it on. Merv Loya was 75 years old and he was suffering from early-stage Alzheimer's. Full Review

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Review of

Walking: One Step At A Time by Erling Kagge

5star.jpg Lifestyle

Those who have read my reviews before will know that how much I loved a book is evidenced by the number of pages with corners turned, so let me start this one with an apology to the Norfolk Library Service: sorry! I forgot it was your book not mine. In my defence, I will say that as a reader of this type of book there is something connective about noting where prior readers were inspired (provided it is subtle – I'll allow creased corners, but not scribbles – for the latter we must buy our own copy – which I am about to do as soon as I have finished telling you why).

Erligg Kagge is a Norwegian explorer who has walked to the South Pole, the North Pole and the summit of Everest. He knows a thing or two about walking. However, this isn't a travelogue about any of those epic journeys, it is instead a thoughtful exploration of what it means to walk. It is a plenitude of unnumbered essays about walking. There is no 'contents' page and I haven't counted. In small format paperback, each essay is only a few pages long. Perhaps then, better thought of as a meditation rather than an essay. Full Review

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Review of

Against a Peacock Sky by Monica Connell

5star.jpg Travel

Monica Connell went to Nepal to do the fieldwork for her Ph.D. in social anthropology. I think it is important to know that. She went on a grant-supported trip, with a relatively specific objective. She wasn't a hippy wanderer looking for Shangri-la. She wasn't a mere tourist passing through. She went with a fundamental aim of learning about these people and how they lived. She also went, presumably, with the academic discipline of how to find these things out, how to organise them in her mind, how to "understand" them in the context of her own paradigms, and how to keep enough notes and files and photos to help her create some greater sense of the experience after the event. Fortunately, she also went with a sense of open-ness and curiosity and a willingness to muck-in, to break her own rules and to truly connect with the people of the village where she hauled up. Full Review

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Review of

The Japanese Chronicles by Nicolas Bouvier

5star.jpg Travel

It never does to start a review of a book with a quote from the blurb, but sometimes it's unavoidable. Le Monde reviewed this book, at some point, with the words what the old master craftsmen would call a masterpiece. It is precisely that. A masterpiece in the sense of the craft as well as the art of writing. I'm going to hesitate to call it 'travel writing' because this is as much a history of Japan, a mythology-primer for the Japanese culture as it is a personal response to living and travelling in the country. Full Review

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Review of

Signs of Life by Stephen Fabes

5star.jpg Travel

I was brought up on maps and first-person narratives of tales of far away places. I was birth-righted wanderlust and curiosity. Unfortunately, I didn't inherit what Dr. Stephen Fabes clearly had which was the guts to simply go out and do it. I also didn't inherit the kind of steady nerve, ability to talk to strangers and basic practicality that would have meant that I would have survived if I had been gifted with the requisite 'bottle'. In order words I'm not the sort of person who will get on a bike outside a London hospital and not come home for six years. Fabes did precisely that. Full Review

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Review of

Toubab Tales: The Joys and Trials of Expat Life in Africa by Rob Baker

4star.jpg Travel

"Go to Mali," they said. "The music is amazing," they said. "And you get ten hours of sunshine every day." So I did.

Rob Baker is an ethnomusicologist. A what? I hear you cry. Well, an ethnomusicologist studies music in relation to culture, so rather like a folklorist studies the oral and written story traditions relating to a culture. Full Review

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Review of

Bucket Showers and Baby Goats: Volunteering in West Africa by Christine Brown

4.5star.jpg Travel

In the summer of 2008, this book's author was spending her days working in an office job in the USA while spending her nights dreaming about being somewhere else, doing something else. Long story short, she ended up volunteering in Ghana, West Africa. Now coincidentally, in the summer of 2010, this review's author was spending her days working in an office job (albeit in the UK) while spending her nights dreaming about being somewhere else, doing something else, and she ended up just 3 countries away, volunteering in Sierra Leone, West Africa. So you can see why, when this book came up, said reviewer was delighted to have the opportunity to read and critique it. Full Review

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Review of

Rooms with a View: The Secret Life of Great Hotels by Adrian Mourby

4star.jpg Travel

Adrian Mourby has given us a flying visit to each of fifty grand hotels, from fourteen regions of the world, with the hotels in each section being arranged chronologically rather than by region, which helps to give something of an overall picture. So what makes a hotel 'grand'? The first hotel to call itself 'grand' was in Covent Garden in 1774 and it ushered in the beginning of a period when a hotel would be a lifestyle choice rather than a refuge for those without friends and family conveniently nearby. The hotels we visit all began life in different circumstances and each faced a different set of challenges. We begin in the Americas, move to the United Kingdom, circumnavigate Europe, briefly visit Russia and Turkey then northern Africa, India and Asia. Australia, it seems, does not go for the grand. Full Review

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Review of

Surfacing by Kathleen Jamie

5star.jpg History

Sometimes when people suggest that you read a certain book, they tell you this one has your name on it. Mostly we take them at their word, or not, but rarely do we ask them why they thought so unless it turns out that we didn't like the book. That's a rare experience. People who are sensitive to hearing a book calling your name, rarely get it wrong. In this case, I was told why. The blurb speaks of the author considering an older, less tethered sense of herself. Older. Less tethered. That's not a bad description of where I am. Add to that my love of the natural world, of those aspects of the poetic and lyrical that are about style not form, and substance most of all, about connection. Of course, this book had my name on it. It was written for me. It would have found its way to me eventually. I am pleased to have it fall onto my path so quickly. Full Review

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Review of

O Joy for me! by Keir Davidson

3star.jpg Art

Oh Joy for me! gives Coleridge credit for being the first person to walk the mountains alone, not because he had to for work, as a miner, quarryman, shepherd or pack-horse driver, but because he wanted to for pleasure and adventure. His rapturous encounters with their natural beauty, and its literary consequences, changed our view of the world. Full Review

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Review of

The Great Horizon: 50 Tales of Exploration by Jo Woolf

3.5star.jpg History

Jo Woolf has compiled a brilliant set of fifty short insights into the lives and achievements of some amazingly brave people. Their fearless journeys have helped us unlock many of the mysteries of the wildest parts of our world, and also given us an understanding of what it is like to be faced with the most terrible conditions and still have the determination and grit to carry on. This book could be viewed as a taster which encourages us to seek out and read more about some of the most iconic explorers. Their stories are pretty incredible and Woolf does them justice. Full Review

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Review of

Berlin in the Cold War: 1959 to 1966 by Allan Hailstone

4star.jpg History

Berlin in the Cold War: 1959-1966 contains almost 200 photographs taken by author/photographer Allan Hailstone in his visits to the city during this period. The images provide an insight into the changing nature of the divide between East and West Berlin and a glimpse into life in the city during the Cold War. Full Review

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Review of

The Marches by Rory Stewart

5star.jpg History

The Observer quote on the front of the paperback edition of Stewart's latest book observes This is travel writing at its finest. Perhaps, but to call it 'travel writing' is to totally under-sell it. This is erudition at its finest. Stewart has the background to do this: he had an international upbringing and followed his father in both the Army and the Foreign Office, and then (to his father's, bemusement, shall we say) became an MP. Oh, and he walked 6,000 miles across Afghanistan in 2002. A walk along the Scottish borders should be a doddle by comparison. Full Review

link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/Bristow China/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21

Review of

China in Drag: Travels with a Cross-dresser by Michael Bristow

4star.jpg Autobiography

Having worked for nine years in Bejing as a journalist for the BBC, author Michael Bristow decided to write about Chinese history. Having been learning the local language for several years, Bristow asked his language teacher for guidance - the language teacher, born in the early fifties, offered Bristow a compelling picture of life in Communist China - but added to that, Bristow was greatly surprised to find that his language teacher also enjoyed spending his spare time in ladies clothing. It soon becomes clear that the tale told here is immensely personal - yet also paints a fascinating portrait of one of the world's most intriguing nations. Full Review

Hurst Norfolk.jpg

Review of

On My Way: Norfolk Coastal Walks by John Hurst

4star.jpg Art

It was pure serendipity: after a five-hour drive, we were, annoyingly, left with an hour to fill in Blakeney before we could have the keys to our holiday cottage. There was an art exhibition in the church hall, so we went in - and found a display of the most gorgeous pictures. I'd cheerfully have bought every one and hung them on our walls, but thought that I would have to make do with a couple of greetings cards when I saw On My Way: Norfolk Coastal Walks and I couldn't resist buying it. Full Review

Move on to Newest Trivia Reviews