Subjects:  1. 1922-    2. 1928-1967    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Diaries    7. Friends and associates    8. Granado, Alberto,    9. Guevara, Ernesto,    10. Historical - General    11. Reference    12. Revolutionary    13. Scientists    14. South America    15. Travelers   

Reviews (14)

It's okay
This is the 5th book of it's type I've read in a row.You know the genre, Americans buy a home in ruins and fix it up.I'm a sucker for this kind of book. But the things I've learned from these books are:1. You have to have bottomless pockets.2. French government regulations are enough to drive me insane.3.If I ever do buy a house in France, I will find one that someone else has already roofed, tiled, windowed, painted, landscaped etc etc etc!What a nightmare.
Then what?
I just finished French Spirits and then read other reviews.It never occurred to me that the author was being a braggard. The story is full of real characters and the author's acceptance and appreciation of their quirks is obvious.My only complaint is that this swift read ends abruptly.There are implications that his mother does not continue to live with them in France, but we never learn what happens to her.Surely there is a sequel, but perhaps more life has to be lived before he will be ready to write it.I will certainly be waiting.

I've been had!
Beware the spate of books on the topic of Americans/Brits living in France!Talk about publishers milking a trend! Unfortunately, not every author is a Peter Mayle or an Ann Barry. Greene's book, for example, is hopeless--- a shambles as far as organization goes, peopled by clueless, insensitive, andincompletely delineated characters (maybe that last is the good news, because the bad news is that this is a work of non-fiction.) It is about as illuminating of the French culture and countryside as a Greyhound bus tour of the Top Ten tourist sites of the Ile-de-France. Read more

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Burgundy    6. Burgundy (France)    7. Country life    8. Europe - France    9. France    10. Literary    11. Personal Memoirs    12. Social life and customs    13. Travelers    14. Greene, Jeffrey    15. Homes and haunts   

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Caribbean & Latin American    3. Spanish    4. Travelers    5. Foreign Language Study-Spanish    6. Literary Criticism-Caribbean & Latin American   

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Personal Memoirs    3. Sailing - General    4. Sports    5. Sports & Recreation    6. Travelers    7. Sports & Recreation / Sailing   

Editorial Review

Kelly James has been an international private investigator on five continents, but it was in Africa that she realized her "greatest adventures and most memorable insights into the human experience." Given the scope of her work--investigating murders, missing persons, safari accidents, and tangled multinational affairs in the face of such obstacles as lions, famine, kidnappers, and tribal warfare--James takes adventure and insight into territory barely imaginable to the rest of us. The result is a stunning quartet of tales of her most memorable adventures. Read more

Reviews (30)

Highly entertaining
This book is a thoroughly good read. If you've been to Africa, or dream of going there, by all means have a look. However, I'm also intrigued by the negative review below by the English literature professor who "found this book in the bargain isle ..." Exactly where is the Bargain Isle and can I book a cruise there? Sounds like a shopper's dream.

One of the best books I've read in 5 yrs.
Avoid the nit-picking reviews over whether it really happened to her or not;it is labeled "fiction".I savored her stories like the finest chocolates;I wanted to read them all at once but rationed myself to one a night.Anybody criticizing her either cant write or is destined to fish discount books out of the clearance bin while stomping their feet that they teach literature.
a good read, but is it true?
I've lived and worked in Africa and these stories did not ring true with me...great adventures, based on some experiences, maybe...but biography??...I just don't know. Would love to know and would be happy to eat my words. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography And Autobiography    6. Biography/Autobiography    7. California    8. Case studies    9. Criminal Investigation    10. Essays & Travelogues    11. General    12. San Francisco    13. San Francisco (Calif.)    14. Special Interest - Adventure    15. Travelers    16. Women    17. Women detectives    18. Women private investigators    19. Biography & Autobiography / Women   

Editorial Review

Do you nurse the fond desire to try your hand--or feet, that is--at firewalking? Go ahead. Tahir Shah writes in this beautifully conceived and executed work of literary travel, "Contrary to popular belief, firewalking is dead simple. The skin on the soles of the feet and the ash which covers the coals are both poor conductors of heat. Anyone can do it."Read more

Reviews (23)

Surreal indeed!
Tahir Shah is an Englishman of Afghani/Scottish descent who writes what may be a new form:The eccentric maybe true, maybe not true, but true on a metaleval travel book.What I mean by that is that, while the details of his day-to-day experiences may be exaggerated and padded to make the book work with a coherent theme, the facts about the country remain true.I genuinely enjoyed this second book of his that I have read.In it, an 11-year-boy meets the guardian of his ancestor's tomb, learns a bit of magic, grows up, travels to India to tour and meet the guardian again, hoping to learn more slight of hand illusion magic. From there he is referred to his teacher's teacher, who is definitely the archytypical teacher as sadist.As Mr. Tahir learns the craft, we learn a great deal about India, about the travelling magicians, godmen, sadhus, charletans, etc.I found the book engaging from beginning to end and highly recommend it.

Now that's not magic
The jacket blurb describes Tahir Shah as an "uproariously funny writer". Well, I cracked a smile once or twice, but funny this is not. The dialogue is weak, the clumsy attempts at wit are forced and toe-curling, and Shah comes across as a tetchy,irritable and intolerant foreigner.The book tries to pass itself off as a travelogue but the hokey, conveniently slapstick encounters appear contrived. There is a suspicious lack of photographs of any of the main characters or more sensational events in the book and I ended up believing very little of the narrative. Which is a shame, because buried very deep under the poor writing (see how many verbs Shah can use to avoid the perfectly adequate "said")is an interesting look at the resourcefulness of India's poor. A decent rainy day read but a missed opportunity by the writer.

Entertaining, fascinating, and occasionally magical (a trick?)
This book has one of the finest first chapters I've ever read: one day a man from India shows up at an English boy's house to protect him. Note that the book is non-fiction. The rest of the book is how the author (who was that boy) many years later decides to go to India to learn how to be a magician like the man who came to him. At times the author seems to purposely act too credulous and think odd thoughts, to the point where you feel he's being that way in order to make for a more mystical read. He's also a bit disingenuous, in that the book implies he gives up a staid life for adventure; judging from his other books, he has never been too bored or boring. It's nonetheless a fun read, as he goes through many peculiar experiences and learns all sorts of strange knowledge about magical tricks and India itself. A surprising and wonderful (though sometimes slow) book. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Asia - India    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Essays & Travelogues    4. Travel    5. Travelers    6. Travel / General   

Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Personal Memoirs    5. Travelers    6. Coping with drug & alcohol abuse   

Reviews (2)

so what happened??
I struggled to find any interest in this book. It was very much the samey on every page-miles travelled, listing (by name) fast food joints he ate at(sponsorship??),lack of satelite channels on tvs,efforts to visit mass on Sunday(was he trying to impress his mother here?),and moaning about reversing his tracks to get a motel/hotel that fitted his high standards.The book only picked up a little steam in the closing stages-even then it was not great stuff, nothing of any real interest at all-simply a log of miles travelled and fast food eaten. There are many travel books out there, this one is not up there with the good ones-you would be better off reading the excellent-"Miles from Nowhere" or "Hey Mom can I Ride my Bike Across America"-I know they are old compared to this one-but are- by far much much superior.Sorry Michael but,this will be one book I won't be reading again.

Dissapointing
I love the adventure travel genre, but this one doesn't make the grade.The book is the day-by-day diary of a round-the-world cyclist.Adventure?Excitement? Not!
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Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Cycling - General    5. Personal Memoirs    6. Travelers    7. Biography: general    8. Cycling   

Reviews (5)

Amusing and unusual traveller's tale
This is an amusing account of Tern Tarnoff's travels around the world in the early 1970s.Interwoven with his travels is the tale of his compicated on-off love affair with Annika, the charming girl he meets in Sweden, and remains enamoured of throughout his subsequent travels.When he isn't indulging in somewhat tiresome stream-of-consciousness ramblings, he describes his adventures in an entertaining way, and the book is often very funny.His time in African is particularly vividly described, and his eventual and startline encounter with the Bone Man of Benares is one of th ehighlights of the book, even though our curiosity as to what the bone man does with his bones remains unsatisfied. Very amusing.

Inspiration for a sad lad...
I spent a while reading this book and I have to say that I felt so many different emotions that I found it hard to put the book down. True love, the ripped heart, the soulmate, the music, the scares, the feeling of being part of something special... It's a book that you should pick up as soon as possible and hopefully a moment of your life will be filled with a rollercoaster of emotions!!
Outstanding!!
This book was an adventure all the way through.Every time that I picked it up, I found myself captured for hours as I devoured this fascinating book.Tarnoff does a magnificent job of transporting the reader with him to experience wondrous adventures in Europe, Africa, and Asia.I loved his picturesque descriptions as well as the poetic style of writing that emerges when he is describing certain experiences.Read this book and be prepared for a journey that will often make you laugh, sometimes make you cry, but in the end will leave you feeling good and triumphant. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Asia    2. Biography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Description and travel    5. Essays & Travelogues    6. General    7. Personal Memoirs    8. Tarnoff, Terry    9. Travel    10. Travelers    11. United States    12. Travel / General   

Reviews (1)

If you love flying. . .or love someone who loves flying. . .this is the book to get
This work is an "omnibus" edition of Richard Bach's three great classics on flying. Readers familiar with Bach tend to think of "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" (any of us in college in the 70s remember that one!) but long before Jonathan took wing, Bach had his own flying adventures, first as a military pilot during the early years of the cold war, and then, remarkably as a "barnstormer" flying an antique plane around the country. These three books recount those adventures of his earlier years.
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Subjects:  1. Aerial Navigation    2. Aeronautics    3. Aeronautics & Astronautics    4. Aircraft Operation    5. Airplanes    6. Aviation - General    7. Aviation - Piloting & Flight Instruction    8. Bach, Richard    9. Biography / Autobiography    10. Flights    11. Personal Memoirs    12. Piloting    13. Popular works    14. Technology    15. Transportation    16. Travelers    17. Transportation / General   

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Motivational & Inspirational    3. Self-Help    4. Spanish: Adult Nonfiction    5. Travelers   

Subjects:  1. Anecdotes    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Essays & Travelogues    4. General    5. Malloy, Edward A    6. Personal Memoirs    7. Travel    8. Travelers    9. University of Notre Dame   

Reviews (1)

Explorations of the soul
The author of this intensely personal collection of essays has backpacked into many of the country's wildest and most remote wildernesses.His stories of those trips make engrossing reading, but the book is as much about interior journeys as exterior ones, as the subtitle telegraphs.Temple writes elegant and thoughtful prose that has echoes of Loren Eiseley, Edward Abbey, Colin Fletcher and William Least Heat Moon.It is a journey into the soul that lies at the heart of this book. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Body, Mind & Spirit    3. General    4. Hiking    5. Nature    6. New Age    7. Religious aspects    8. Spiritual    9. Spiritual Healing    10. Spiritual biography    11. Spirituality - General    12. Sports    13. Temple, Kerry    14. Travelers    15. United States    16. Religion / General    17. Religion / Spirituality   

Reviews (2)

Not like Slocum's but still entertaining
I really enjoyed the story of the Bernardin family's voyage even though it was quite a bit different than I expected.I guess I thought it would cover the exact route as the original Spray (instead of Cape Horn they went through the Panama canal) and I assumed the Spray would not have an engine (but it did.) I thought there would be some exciting moments of drama (but here was very little, depending on your definition.)Even so, it was a very enjoyable read and a good voyaging and family story.

A thoroughly enjoyable, attention engaging travelogue
Sailing Around The World: A Family Retraces Joshua Slocum's Voyage is a thoroughly enjoyable, attention engaging travelogue by expert sailor Guy Bernardin, about his embarking upon a grand journey across the waves with his wife and 3-year-old-son, and learning about the thrill of life itself in the process. Black-and-white photographs and descriptive text immerse the reader in the ups and downs of a captivating journey. Sailing Around The World is highly recommended reading for armchair travelers and anyone who has every contemplating the adventure of sailing around the world. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1944-    2. Bernardin, Guy,    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Personal Memoirs    5. Sailing    6. Sailing - General    7. Special Interest - Family    8. Sports    9. Sports & Recreation    10. Travel    11. Travelers    12. Voyages around the world    13. Bernardin, Guy    14. Journeys    15. Slocum, Joshua    16. Travel & holiday guides   

Reviews (14)

I wanted more
First let me say that I have the utmost respect for Paula Huntley and her husband, for what they did, and for the lives they touched. Her writing was just enough to show the day to day lives of these people who have gone through so much. I wish more people would take a more active role in the world around them. It would be a better world if they did.
Both more and less than it�s cracked up to be
The Hemingway Book Club of Kosovo is a wonderful tale of the virtues and rewards of volunteering to help those in countries less fortunate (at least for the present) than the US; at the same time, it's not exactly great literature or great writing. However, that's not what it's advertised to be, and it's not the aspiration of the author to compete with the writers of great literature. For how it came to be (a collection of emails to friends and family during the 8 months the author spent teaching English in Kosovo), this book more than meets its goal. Couldn't put this down...
I learnt a lot from and was infinitely moved by Paula Huntley'sjournal of the eight months she and he husband spent working in post-war Kosova.Understated, beautiful writing and none of the straining for effect that mars so many memoirs.She was clearly writing straight from the heart.I rarely do this but as soon as I finished the book, I found her website and donated something to the scolarship fund for young Albanian Kosovars.A fascinating and inspiring story of some very resilient people. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Description    3. Description and travel    4. Diaries    5. Eastern Europe - Balkan Republics    6. Europe - Russia & the Former Soviet Union    7. History    8. History: World    9. Huntley, Paula    10. Kosovo (Serbia)    11. Personal Memoirs    12. Travelers    13. Biography & Autobiography / General    14. Reading Group Guide   

Reviews (1)

Absorbing perspectives on American civilization
Written by Knut Hamsun (1920 Nobel Prize winner for his novel "The Growth of the Soil", and who later became infamous for betraying his country of Norway to support the Nazis even as Vidkun Quisling did), Knut Hamsun Remembers America: Essays And Stories 1885-1949 is inherently interesting presentation of thirteen essays and stories based on Hamsun's experiences during the four years he spent in the United States when he was a young man. Translated into English and edited for a contemporary readership by Richard Nelson Current, these individual pieces reflect the negative side of "Yankeeland" all too well, though they are not unilaterally anti-American, and some even recall fond images. Knut Hamsun Remembers America is recommended for its gripping and absorbing perspectives on American civilization, while reflecting Hamsun's anti-Americanism in his perceptions and writings. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1859-1952    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Civilization    6. European - Scandinavian    7. Hamsun, Knut,    8. Literary    9. Norwegian (Language) Contemporary Fiction    10. Personal Memoirs    11. Translations into English    12. Travel    13. Travelers    14. United States    15. United States - General    16. Collections & anthologies of various literary forms    17. Northern Europe, Scandinavia    18. Norwegian    19. Other prose: 19th century   

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Essays & Travelogues    3. Europe - Italy    4. Personal Memoirs    5. Travel    6. Travelers    7. Voyages And Travels    8. Travel / General   

Reviews (3)

EFE
Educational Funny and Entertaining.This is a good easy read, and if going to the island, after reading the book, I'd like to meet the author.

A breeze to read
This is a delightful little book, well worth reading if you plan to visit any of the Virgin Islands, especially St. Croix.The author's style is light, and yet packed with relevant and carefully researched information about the subtleties and nuances of Crucian life as well as the history, geography, flora and fauna, and much more, all of which can help visitors to appreciate this island and its culture far more than a "tour book."It leaves the reader feeling like a sweet little Caribbean breeze has just passed by...

Considering a Caribbean retirement � Read this first.
No typical tourist guide is this. Emy Thomas provides a refreshingly frank account of life in St. Croix. She deals directly with the pleasant � the beaches, the people, the pace of life � and the sometimes unpleasant � hurricanes, and occasional crime.Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Personal Memoirs    5. Travelers    6. Women    7. Women's studies   

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Travelers   

Reviews (8)

Superb-- Much More than a Travel Memoir
The Olive Season, the sequel to Carol Drinkwater's The Olive Farm, transcends the travel memoir genre to create a searing personal narrative.
Don't get ripped off
THE OLIVE SEASON and THE OLIVE FARM are excellent as is THE OLIVE HARVEST.When I recently saw A CELEBRATION OF OLIVES, I thought C. Drinkwater published a new book and ordered it.I received it today and was disappointed to find it's a double volume of THE OLIVE SEASON and THE OLIVE FARM combined, both of which I have.According to Amazon.com readers who buy A CELEBRATION OF OLIVES also buy her other books.I feel like I was duped and cannot return the book.

The passion continues, but with a tear
In the Olive Season, Carol Drinkwater continuous Michel and her dream-come-true olive farm experience in the south of France. Other reviewers of her first book, as well as this reviewer, hoped for a sequel and Carol did not disappoint them. Although the book can be read and enjoyed without reading The Olive Farm, this reviewer strongly recommends that readers first read the Farm, as it provides the necessary backdrop and introduction to characters that enhances the enjoyment of the Season. Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Description And Travel    5. Drinkwater, Carol    6. Essays & Travelogues    7. Europe - France    8. France    9. General    10. Homes and haunts    11. Provence    12. Provence (France)    13. Social life and customs    14. Travelers    15. Western Europe - History +    16. Travel / Essays & Travelogues