Tag Archives: ABE

Places to Go for Info on Books and Publishing

A Traveler’s Library, is after all about Travel AND Books, so some of the sites listed on my blogroll have to do with books–books about everything–not just travel. For those interested in books and the publishing business, here are three sites.

ABE (American Book Exchange) stocks all those out-of-print, used, and collector’s editions books that are hard to find elsewhere. So this is a fun place to browse. However, they also have one of the pithiest and most entertaining blogs I have seen anywhere. Most expensive books, most surprising, updates on book awards– it is all here.

Bookstores tells you where you can find bookstores abroad to feed your reading habit while you are traveling. This is a recent addition to my blogroll, after I landed on it while exploring another blog. A wonderful recent post talks about leading book fairs in Europe. I’m a little afraid of visiting a place that offers 7000 publishers in one place, as Frankfurt does. I might have a total reading addict meltdown.

Writers and Editors Pat McNees provides a home on the Internet where writers and editors can connect. This site has links to anything you can think of that has to do with books and publishing.

Where do YOU like to get news about book publishing?  Please share your information in the comments section. We’re listening.

And if you are looking for more good stuff to read at A Traveler’s Library, here’s a good place to start: 10 Posts from First 100.

This Year in Jerusalem

Destination: Israel

Books: The Bible; From Beirut to Jerusalem by Thomas Freidman; Exodus by Leon Uris

Whether your interest runs to history or contemporary geo-politics, Roman ruins or Medieval times, when you travel to Israel, you will find a country that is exasperating, beautiful, inspiring, welcoming and off-putting all at the same time.

Jerusalem Market photgraph by David King
Jerusalem Market photgraph by David King

Conflict between “tribes” did not start with the founding of the modern state of Israel. The region has been embroiled in struggles since time began. The book that captures the modern conflicts best is Thomas Freidman in From Beirut to Jerusalem. Before his father-knows-best sermons on everything from ecology to world banking made him a best selling author and popular columnist, Friedman was a hard-working journalist who tried to find the truth behind the middle-East conflicts by visiting with a wide variety of people and telling their stories. He delves into the American contribution to the Israeli state and shows that it is not always benign.

As the center of three major religions, Israel has drawn pilgrims for a thousand years.The once mighty Jordan may have shriveled to a mere stream because of siphoning off for farming, but place names like Bethlehem and Jericho took me right back to Sunday School lessons in the little white church in Ohio where I grew up. Unfortunately, I did not have a copy of The Book, the Bible, with me. When I got home I pored over maps and archaeology of the Bible from my father’s library. I used a very old out of print book, but there is a newer one available, on archaeological study of the Bible.

Finally, the birth of the modern state of Israel comes vividly to life in Exodus by Leon Uris, and sheds light on today’s struggles. Since it is now out of print, you can try Amazon or American Book Exchange for a used copy. The movie version starring Paul Newman and Eva Marie Saint may be available on Netflix.

Have you been to Israel?What books or movies did you find useful? I would particularly like to have your recommendations for more Bible-related books. My Bible is the Christian one, but I welcome suggestions for religious books that enhance the travel experience for Jews and Muslims as well.