2.  .:Passion and Light:. Beautifully serious reason to travel.

3. Trip Base Spectacular travel movie locations.

4. Interlink Publishing Their Award-winning inspiring travel  books:

(I have been having trouble connecting to their site, so let them know if you have a problem.)

• Syria The Dark Side of Love by Rafik Schami; translated by Anthea Bell  Independent Publisher Book Awards 2010, Gold Medal Winner – Multicultural Fiction • Foreword Magazine’s Book of the Year Awards – Silver Medal, translations • Shortlisted for the 2010 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize (winner to be announced) • Anthea Bell awarded an OBE for services to literature and translation.
• PakistanThe Geometry of God by Uzma Aslam Khan Independent Publisher Book Awards 2010, Bronze Medal Winner – Multicultural Fiction • Selected by Kirkus as one of the best books of 2009 •  Foreword Magazine’s Book of the Year Awards, Multicultural Fiction – Finalist
• Lebanon The Master of the Eclipse: Stories by Etel Adnan Winner of the Arab American National Museum’s 2010 Arab American Book Awards • Etel Adnan was given the Lifetime Achievement award by the Radius of Arab American Writers Inc. (RAWI).
• England The Beatles London: A Guide to 467 Beatles Sites in and around London Independent Publisher Book Awards 2010, Bronze Medal Winner – Travel • Foreword Magazine’s Book of the Year Awards, Bronze Medal Winner – Travel Guides

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©2010 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

World Travel Map

1. Indie Travel Podcast has just published my own review of National Geographic Traveler’s new travel guides to Vietnam and Argentina. (Immodest announcement.)
2. Great Site: Private Library, will help you build a library of your own, and tell you all the sources for books and how to get them at rock bottom prices. Here’s a 3-part series on books on railroads that you may love.
3. A President’s Wife goes traveling: New York Times review of new book about Mrs. John Quincy Adams’ journey from St. Petersburg Russia to Paris.
4. Interesting list of 10 unique bookstores. If you are traveling to bookstores, I would add the Singing Wind Bookstore, located on a ranch in a remote area of Southern Arizona. Fascinating owner and great collection of books.
5. Just launched in May. Trip News Wire.  All the news items a world traveler needs.

Don’t you love that map? If you click on it you learn that it shows sites of famous travel adventures around the world. Here’s the caption on Flickr: A poster featuring cartooned representations of worldwide famous stories. Woo Hoo! Let’s Go.

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©2010 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

Keep commenting and Tweeting. If you have not yet subscribed, remember that an e-mail subscription gets you an update every time I post, but ALSO two chances in the drawings.

There will be one more drawing tonight, and winners of prizes 6 through 10 will be notified in order. Then the four grand prizes will be announced in order. (Read more on the next page, but do not miss the post below on the new novel Currency.)

Everyone who has commented throughout the contest period is eligible for these grand prizes. Each comment and twitter gets entered once in the drawing and each subscription by e-mail gets entered twice, regardless of whether they have won before. (Only addresses in the United States are eligible for a win–see general rules.)

BIG BOOKS:

The Du Ponts: Houses and Gardens in the Brandywine by Maggie Lidz. Yet another Great American Road Trip Stop, this one in Delaware. This new book holds beautiful pictures of homes and gardens of the wealthy Du Pont family and detailed history of the region. Great for trip planning, or for coffee table browsing.

Inge Morath: Iran This newly published collection features black and white photographs taken by the Inge Morath in the mid 1950′s. Great arm-chair time-travel with stunning photography. While Iran today is very different, commentary by Azar Nafisi (Reading Lolita in Tehran) points out that some things are still the way they were in 1956.

Coast to Coast: Vintage Travels in America, published by Vendome Press. This is another big beautiful book that I hate to part with, however, I have to make room for more new books for future reviews.  This book adds perspective to the Great American Road Trip, by showing us what it was like back around the turn of the century (19th to 20th) as people began to take to the road en masse in America.

SECRET PRIZE–NOT A SECRET ANY MORE

A MAP–But what a map!
A la Carte Maps will send to the lucky winner one of their unique city maps that combines guidebook, tourist map and a piece of art in one . Winner can choose.
The idea is to have a local friend in exciting cities all over the world. Not only will this friend provide you with the most important information about your city, he or she will also reveal the city’s best-kept insider tips by writing them on a hand-drawn map.
A la Carte Maps come in a handy format (42x70cm) and can easily be folded to 10x21cm. All maps are made of high-quality material and are additionally matt-laminated which makes them moisture-resistant and durable. The winner can choose from the cities available at the web site www.alacartemaps.com. (Value 10.90 Euros–about $14 U.S.) [CHECK THIS on daily exchange rate]

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©2010 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

"A Week in Paris"

Destinations: France, Bruges, Amsterdam

Traveler’s Library: Growing Daily with guidebooks, maps, notes….

It occurred to me that you might be interested in the trip planning process that goes on in our book-filled house. So here goes.

We are going to France in September. I have been talking a lot about French books and movies here at A Traveler’s Library, and I hope if you are new here, that you will do a search for France to see how many great sources I already have for my trip.

1. Our first purchase was a Lonely Planet Guide to France, because we had no idea where exactly we wanted to go, and this would give us an overview and some specific explanations. I like L.P. guides and find them reliable, but did not like the maps in this one. We still needed an overall map of France.
2. We knew that we wanted to spend several days in Paris because we have never been there and because, well, it is Paris.
3. Ken is interested in the Viking history in northern France and has read a lot about WWII, and I am interested in the countryside that inspired Monet’s art and Flaubert’s writing, so Normandy was a must.Et Voila! I learned on their web site that Noramandie is having an Impressionist Festival that lasts into late September!
   

   Poppies Field in Normandy France

4. Because I do not know a lot about Brittany, and it is one of the lesser visited areas of France, we added that to our list.(And no, Google I don’t want Britney Spears!)
5. Having seen the movie Bruges,  we simply HAD to see that charming city.
   

   Bruges, Belgium

6. As long as we were going north, we figured we might as well fly out of Amsterdam, giving us a brief look at that city and another country to check off our travel list.

7. Since most indications were that airline tickets are not going down in price by September, we went ahead and took the jump. I spent an evening on the phone with American Airlines figuring out how best to use my frequent flyer miles (not enough for the whole trip for two, unfortunately) and booked tickets into Paris and out of Amsterdam for an 18 day trip.

So now our travel plans include a beginning date, an end date and airline tickets.

I have followed several French-related tweets on Twitter, and searched out some web sites and ordered some books and maps.

In my next trip planning post, I will talk about the itinerary that is taking shape, more books, and finding a Paris apartment.

I am happy to answer your questions and all suggestions are most welcome!!

Photos from Flickr through Creative Commons. Click on the photo for more information. Every comment you leave, or tweet with the special message on the contest page gives you one entry in the drawing for today’s prize. (Don’t forget to add to your chances by sending a tweet!) But if you subscribe by e-mail, I send you an update every time I post, AND you get TWO chances at a prize. All prizes are chosen by random.org.

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©2010 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

A radio show with some big name travel writers discussing travel writing.

100 Travel Novels

In case you don’t have enough books to read, check out this list of 100 travel novels that let you travel the world courtesy of the On-Line Degrees site.

Favorites Page

I’ve added a couple of sites to my favorites page lately. That’s a very good place to go when you are looking for some good reading, because I am very, very picky. All picks are listed alphabetically, and then by category, so you should be able to pick what you want pretty easily.

Let me tell you about one site: Feast. This is a quarterly newsletter that brings you news about books, art and travel  all rolled into one. Great read, and highly recommended.

And then there is Literary Journeys with the Traveling Rat. A librarian posts book reviews, many having the same sort of criteria we use here. The posts are not frequent, but browsing past posts will get you some great reads.

Short post today. Happy Mother’s Day Weekend.

Don’t forget the Great Big Travel Literature Giveaway II. Comments today count toward a drawing at midnight tonight (Friday). Comments on Saturday and Sunday count toward the drawing Monday night.

Good luck everybody. And happy weekend.

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©2010 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

GRAND PRIZE WINNERS:

5/25: WINNER OF DU PONTS HOUSES AND GARDENS IN THE BRANDYWINE: CONNIE ONG

5/28:Grand Prize Number Two: Inge Morath’s Iran: Kerry Dexter

Grand Prize Number Three: Coast to Coast: Mark Heers (He lives in Australia but met the requirements of the contest by having a U.S. Address.)

Grand Prize Number Four, the beautiful A La Carte Map : Laura Baran.

Cafe Tempest, Adventures on a Small Greek Island went to Lorri, who was the first to comment on the extra prize.

The Great Big Travel Literature Giveaway II

Ken is really getting tired of stumbling over this big box of books on the floor of our shared office. The box holds the Already-Read-and-Reviewed-books. (As opposed to the To-Be-Read-Right-Away- Books, the To-Be-Read-Some-Time-Soon-Books, and the Already-Read-but-Can’t-Part-With-Them Books that are on the shelves, tables and bedroom floor.) So here comes the second Great Big Travel Literature Giveaway.

If your name is drawn for a prize, you will get your choice of one (or pair) of the books remaining at that time. Once a book has been chosen, I will post the information, and remove it from this list.  I am sorry if you don’t get your first choice, but you will have to move on to your second choice. (Isn’t life like that?) All of the books have been read but are not marked or dogeared or damaged.

FIRST WINNER: Edie Jarolim

SECOND WINNER: Dara Llewelyn

THIRD WINNER: Christa Joy

FOURTH WINNER: Rebecca Waer

FIFTH WINNER: Lily Kahn

SIXTH WINNER: Colleen of Slow Trav

SEVENTH WINNER: Mark Heers

EIGHTH WINNER: Carl Hoffman

NINTH WINNER:  Winner never responded with address–so the prize will carry over.

TENTH WINNER: Zoe Zolbrod, author of the Thailand travel book, Currency

THE PRIZES

(Will be Available in Next Contest) Culture Smart Cambodia (Reviewed for Indie Travel PodCast) A really nifty little easy-to-pack book that will help you travel in Cambodia.

Won by Zoe Zolbrod (TWO-FER) Kid’s book: We’re There Rhode Island and just in case you won’t be going to Rhode Island right away, the author has kindly offered to send you a city of your choice from the other books she has written. See review for list of her books and explanation of books.

Cafe Tempest (unreviewed)This is a thinly disguised memoir that humorously  describes life of two Americans one summer on a Greek island.

CHOSEN by Edie Jarolim: Dogtown by Elyssa East A little known place in Massachusetts launched our Great American Road Trip. Odd place, a little murder mystery, a little art, a little nature. Nifty book.

Chosen by Christa Joy The Invisible Mountain by Carolina DeRobertis I really hate to give this away, because it is my absolute favorite of all books read this year. A beautiful novel about Uruguay.

CHOSEN by Rebecca Waer. Lobster Chronicles by Linda Greenlaw. When the Great American Road Trip visited Maine, we went out to a little island and learned about lobstering. A warm and humorous and honest book. And hey, its lobster–that’s a good thing.

CHOSEN  by Lily Kahn.  City on the Edge by Mark Goldman. Our Great American Road Trip visit to Buffalo, New York. Goldman tells the sometimes tempestuous history of Buffalo, and discusses hopes for the future.

CHOSEN by Dara Llewellyn.  Literary Trips , Ed. Victoria Brooks.  Reviewed quite a while ago, this out of print book has wonderful articles about the home ground of many famous writers that encourages the reader to travel. I am only giving it away because I got a second copy that I can keep! (I’ve been trying to find Volume II of this set, with no luck. If you see one, let me know.)

CHOSEN by Carl Hoffman. (TWO-FER)Two finalists in the 2010 Edgar Awards. The Odds by Kathleen George.  Pittsburgh mystery novel AND A Beautiful Place to Die, by Malla Nunn,  South Africa mystery novel.

CHOSEN by Mark Heers.  (TWO-FER)Norah Lofts The Lute Player and the same author’s Eleanor the Queen.(to be reviewed in the future) When I read The Lute Player, I wanted more about Eleanor of Aquitaine, and I got it in the next book, which I only recently read. If you like historical novels, these are for you.

CHOSEN by Colleen. (TWO-FER)Lady Vernon and Her Daughter, by Jane Rubino and Caitlen Rubino-Bradway,based on an Austen short novel. I interviewed the mother-daughter authors. AND I’m including a new Jane Austin book Writing Jane Austen, about an author inspired by Jane Austin. Written by Elizabeth Aston. (to be reviewed in the future) Calling all Jane Austen fans.

PLUS AND  –A LA CARTE MAP OF THE CITY OF YOUR CHOICE FROM THEIR WEB SITE.

THE WAY IT WORKS Worked

1. Each Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday and Friday  from May 5 through May 31,  I will give away a book (or pair of books).
2. One winner will be chosen by random drawing each contest day.
3. Unlike the contest in January, winners will be given a chance to choose which book (or pair) they want, EXCEPT the Three BIG Books and a Secret Prize will be given away in the last four days of the contest (May25, 26, 28 and 31) strictly by random drawing.

WHAT YOU DO TO WIN

1. COMMENT. For one chance: leave a comment on any Traveler’s Library post . You may comment on as many different posts as you wish. You will get another chance when you comment on a 2nd or 3rd post, but only one comment PER post will count toward the daily prize and toward the grand prizes. Comments  left between May 3 and May 31, 2010, count for the contest, but the comments may be on any post on the blog.
2. TWEET. For another chance each day: Tweet this message: @pen4hire has a free travel literature giveaway at A Traveler’s Library http://wp.me/pxThu-1jB
3. SUBSCRIBE. For TWO extra chances at the grand prizes, sign up for an e-mail subscription to A Traveler’s Library here. If you already have an e-mail subscription, I’ll automatically give you two extra chances at the grand prize.RULE CHANGE FOR GRAND PRIZE, Because of difficulty in getting response from current subscribers, only comments, tweets and NEW e-mail subscriptions will count in the grand prize drawings. Entries open until midnight May 31.
   
4. OBSERVE DEADLINE Entry time for all eligible actions for each day’s drawing is between the close of the previous drawing and midnight MST of the day of the new drawing.
5. REPLY TO NOTIFICATION. When your name is drawn, I will e-mail you and you can tell me which book you want to receive, out of those that are available. You can see the entire list of books here and I will announce books that have been given out. (If a winner does not reply within 48 hours of notification, I will draw another name.)
6. REPEAT. Winners will not be eligible to win again until the last four days. Everyone will be eligible for the final four prizes, whether they have won before or not.
7. See general contest rules here.

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©2010 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

Mystery writers quite frequently can beat travel books in providing the best atmospheric descriptions of a destination. “…one of the best ways to get a glimpse of another culture is through the lens of crime fiction, the literature of the streets and dark alleys and underclass,” says the blog International Noir.

I have read two of these completely and read parts of the others. I have presented my choices here (remembering that there are two more) Oh dear! And which will win the Edgars?? Another mystery.

The Odds, book cover

#4The Odds by Kathleen George (Pittsburgh)

The Odds carries you into the minds of a group of pre-teens and teens thrown into a precarious situation. Kathleen George has a natural sense of drama, since she is a theater professor. This is an easy read, and in fact would be a good book for the young adult reader

John Hart, thriller writer

#2 (tie)The Last Child by John Hart (North Carolina)

Hart’s previous book Down River won an Edgar Award for Best Novel. He lives in North Carolina, and sets his books there. I  will be reviewing this on the Great American Road Trip (Announcing that is a spoiler of sorts).

#2 (tie)A Beautiful Place to Die by Malla Nunn (South Africa)

A film maker turned mystery writer, she was born in Swaziland and lives in Australia. See Malla Nunn on YouTube talking about her book. Or see her home page at Simon & Schuster. She beautifully recreates both a time (post WWII and a place–apartheid South Africa.) An engrossing book with fascinating, complex characters.

My First Choice: Nemesis by Jø Nesbo

Nemesis Book Cover

This police procedural novel teeters on the edge of literary fiction. It delves deeply into the human pysche and motivations. First published in Norway (2002) it took a while to be translated into English (2008) and finally made it’s way to America in 2009.

Now I must try to express my enthusiasm without resorting to spoilers. Regardless of the British translation with some slang unfamiliar to Americans, the skill of this writer just pulls you through the pages. The third in a series about Detective Harry Hole, ensures he will join other icons of mystery writing as an interesting character. (books one and two are not in English yet, but #5 was published first according to International Noir ) Harry occasionally slips back into alcoholism, but it does not stop him from juggling three unrelated cases with some common themes.

You learn a lot about the weather and the daily life of various Norwegians as Harry runs about the city. You can follow his movements on the handy map in the front, and then travel to Oslo and follow in his footsteps.

A Nesbø description:

The rain showers petered out later in the day. The sun peeped out in between all the leaden grey, and then the clouds parted like curtains opening on the final act.  It would turn out to be the last hours of a blue sky before the city of Oslo pulled the grey winter duvet over its head.

Harry’s partner has the handy (for a police officer) “malady” known as fusiform gyrus. Although Harry at first thinks that means a Mac program, he learns it is the ability to remember faces. Nesbø scatters such humorous references to modern life and also to popular music through the book.

This book teaches you early on to pay attention–don’t miss anything because you may be either led down a blind alley if you are not attentive, or be given a helpful clue if you are reading carefully.

Harper published the English edition of the fourth Harry Hole book in January 2010 .  You can darn betcha that I’m getting my hands on The Devil’s Star as soon as possible. And that’s not a spoiler.

Because I am talking about so many books here, I did not link them all to Amazon, but if you are going to buy, and want the convenience, I appreciate your clicking any Amazon link on the site and buying there. Thanks!

We talked about another Scandinavian detective and two books by Finnish Tove Janssen but this is my first Norwegian book.

Do you have a favorite mystery writer who does a super job with describing a place? (Tomorrow the Great American Road Trip goes to D.C. and I talk about my favorite thriller guide to the capitol city.) Tell me your finds in mystery writers who love locale.

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©2010 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

Ken and I took a little road trip from Tucson to Sells, Arizona on the Tohono O’odham reservation to see the spectacular spring desert wildflower show.

And Now the Stats from March

MOST POPULAR POSTS

New books dominate the list this month, with two coming from Tucson Festival of Books presenters.

1. Readers were intrigued by the new travel literature memoir of a year in Sri Lanka that the author found was “not quite Paradise.”
2. The fate of Mexican entrants coming across the Arizona border illustrates travel of a desperate kind in this new book.
3. An older movie lures travelers to Province, France.
4. A gorgeous new book of photos travels to Iran in the 1950s.
5. Another new travel book with many photos reaches back further for historic road trips across America.

Readers Who Comment (A Lot!)

*I had to queries about how to comment, so I will take a moment to explain that there are two ways to see the comment box. A) you can click on the line below the post that says 0 comments, or 3 comments, or however many. That will let you read the comments and show you the box. B) you can click on the title of the post. That will open the post in its own page with comments and comment box. Warning: if you are reading this in an e-mail or RSS feed or a Lonely Planet, you have to go to A Traveler’s Library to comment.

Back to business. Everybody (and especially ME)  is happy to hear from these careful readers who commented ten (or more) times in March. Thank you!

• Anjuli (whose blog is temporarily down, but whom you can find on Facebook as Connie Ong from Renton WA.)
• Jessie Voigts, Wandering Educators, for traveling teachers and others who travel. (And thanks for the guest blogs and the stumbles, too.)
• Alexandra Grabbe, Innkeeper and blogger at Chez Sven, the blog about running a green Cape Cod B & B  and the environment.
• Richard Mussler-Wright, who doesn’t have a blog, because he just expresses all his opinions here. Don’t miss his travel book recommendations.

Thanks, also to four people who posted five (or more) comments, and two of them are new to this list. Welcome–keep up the good work!

• Martha and Me, also known as Brette Sember when she is not blogging about her attempts to live Martha’s life.
• Laura Baran, another non-blogger, but thankfully, a BIG reader of travel literature.
• Kerry Dexter, my partner in the Great American Road Trip. She suggests music for the Road at Music Road, a beautiful and helpful blog.
• Mark H. of Travel Wonders, an exciting travel blog. (Not that I want to nag, Mark, but you DO owe me a guest post on your namesake.)

And to those of you who left one or two or three comments, we loved seeing those, too, so come back this month, please.

Leading Incoming links

(not counting search engines)

• Lonely Planet where I am part of the BlogSherpa program.
• Bloggies 2010, where I was a nominee for best travel blog.
• Camels and Chocolate, winner of the 2010 Bloggie for best travel blog.
• Music Road, as mentioned before a partner in the Great American Road Trip.
• Wandering Educators, where I serve as Travel Library Editor, and write a column each month.
• Greece Travel Secrets. This great blog by Mike Gerrard spills secrets about Greece all the time, but he was kind enough to reference my post about my favorite secret places in Greece.
• Byki. I noticed this one because they referred nearly a year ago to an environmental book post I did for Earth Day, and I am STILL getting hits. This is the blog for a wonderful language learning system site. Check it out if you need to learn a language.

Note to bloggers: link backs are the most valuable thing you can get for your blog traffic. I don’t buy them. I don’t beg for them (well, not TOO much). They just come organically.

Readers: do yourself a favor and check out all of these folks.

See you next month, and whenever you visit the Traveler’s Library.

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©2010 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

Mt. Cuba forest path

I have an article on the website of  National Geographic Traveler–a road trip through duPont country in Delaware and Pennsylvania. (How timely for the Great American Road Trip!)

Trout Pond at Hidden Meadow Ranch

And a road trip to northern Arizona lands at Hidden Meadow Ranch in this guest post at Writing Horseback.

I am very active in the blogger community and have written guest posts for the following blogs/websites:

Info Ireland: Books from the Blasket Islands (Feb. 09)(You’ll have to search when you get to the site.)

Spot Cool Stuff : The Miracle of Siphnos

Velvet Escape: The master potter of Mata Ortiz, Mexico

Go Packbacking : Six Tips for taking the ferry in Greece.

Wasabimon: Food allergy translation cards

Writing Horseback: Tanque Verde Guest Ranch

Velvet Escape: Tohono Chul Park in Tucson

Travel Wonders: Canyon de Chelly

foXnoMad: The Minoans of Crete

Photos by Vera Marie Badertscher. All rights reserved.

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©2010 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

This content is a post from: A Traveler's Library To comment on this post or search for related information, click on the link to A Traveler's Library

©2010 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.