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It's Not What You Think

 

Travel the world without leaving the comfort of your living room, with these engrossing tales of adventure and travel.

In a sunburned country /
Bryson, Bill.

Noted travel writer Bryson writes an entertaining travelogue of Australia from the Outback to the cities sharing along the way humorous stories and peculiar facts about this country filled with deadly creatures and colorful characters.

Eat, pray, love : one woman's search for everything across Italy, India and Indonesia/
Gilbert, Elizabeth, 1969-

Suffering from a punishing divorce in her early 30's, Gilbert took the step of taking yearlong trip to Italy, India and Indonesia in hopes of revitalizing herself. In Italy she indulges in gastronomic adventure, in India she meditates and in Indonesia she spends time with a healer. Gilbert is animated and witty in recounting her journey.

Oracle bones : a journey between China's past and present /
Hessler, Peter, 1969-

Hessler has spent a decade in China, first as a Peace Corps volunteer recounted in his earlier book River Town, and currently as a correspondent. Hessler shares multiple meaningful anecdotes about Chinese history, politics and culture that provide insight into this complex country.

A year in Provence /
Mayle, Peter.

An English couple, Mayle and his wife, decided to fulfill their dream of leaving England behind and purchasing an antiquated farmhouse in Provence. Mayle recounts the experience of their first year, filled both with frustration and delight and draws a charming portrait of the unique culture and character of the region.

Touching my father's soul : a Sherpa's journey to the top of Everest /
Norgay, Jamling Tenzing.

Norgay was part of the IMAX team that was filming during the 1996 Everest tragedy and his father was the Sherpa who accompanied Edmund Hillary to the top in 1953. Touching on the fated events of 1996, family history, Sherpa culture and Buddhism, Norgay highlights the contrast between Western climbers and the Sherpas that assist them.

The places in between /
Stewart, Rory.

After the Taliban was overthrown, Stewart walked across Afghanistan. Surviving mostly by luck and the kindness of strangers, Stewart shares his encounters with the local people and the landscape, as well as relaying the history of the politics of this fascinating but war-torn country.

The Caliph's house /
Shah, Tahir.

Shah moves his young family from comfortable London to a dilapidated and supposedly haunted house in Morocco, where he vacationed as a child. He begins to repair the home and in doing so, becomes immersed in daily life in Casablanca, observing the exotic and colorful mix of Africa and the Middle East.

Educating Alice : adventures of a curious woman /
Steinbach, Alice.

Steinbach, author of Without Reservations, gets an enviable and odd education as she travels across the world. She takes cooking classes in France, attends a Jane Austen convention in England and learns the art of the geisha in Japan amongst other informative and educational adventures.

The sex lives of cannibals : adrift in the Equatorial Pacific /
Troost, J. Maarten.

Troost accompanied his wife to Kiribati, an island and former British colony in the Pacific. Where they expected a small paradise, they found pollution, heat and overpopulation. However, after two years they find themselves very content and apprehensive about returning home.

The city of falling angels /
Berendt, John, 1939-

Berendt, who captivated readers with his Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, here takes us on a trip to historic Venice, soon after a fire almost destroyed the famous opera house. In his usual fashion, Berendt shows readers a snapshot of the city that won't appear on any postcard, rich with eccentric characters and architectural marvels.

Paris to the moon /
Gopnik, Adam.

Moving to Paris to write for a living might seem like a dream come true, but Gopnik, who wrote stories for The New Yorker for five years about his life in France shows the challenges of living as an ex-pat with a wife and young child. His insights about globalization and cultural differences make for entertaining reading in this collection of essays and journal entries.

Dark star safari : overland from Cairo to Cape Town /
Theroux, Paul.

Theroux has written dozens of wonderful travel memoirs, and this account of his adventure traveling overland the length of Africa from Cairo to Capetown doesn't disappoint. In his typical slightly cranky way, he shares his impressions of the journey including the heartbreaking poverty he witnessed and the heartwarming people he met.

Blue latitudes : boldly going where Captain Cook has gone before /
Horwitz, Tony, 1958-

Captain James Cook's 18th century explorations of the Pacific Ocean were the epitome of high seas adventure, and author Tony Horowitz attempts to understand the man and the effect he had on the opening of the Pacific to the rest of the world, while personally retracing his journey.

The 8:55 to Baghdad /
Eames, Andrew, 1958-

Fans of both travel memoirs and Agatha Christie will find something to like in Eames' account of his journey by train and bus through Europe and the Middle East, all on the eve of the Second Gulf War.