Travel Recent Picks

September 2009

The title-underlined links will take you directly to our catalogue.
Some featured items are linked via a book cover to enable you to read more reviews.

Land of the high flags : Afghanistan when the going was good, by Rosanne Klass.
"When the going was good, a young American woman travelled to the then-remote country of Afghanistan. A classic memoir in the tradition of Rebecca West, Rosanne Klass' "Land of the High Flags" is an insightful account of the land and its proud people. She was the first woman to teach boys from the country's villages, at a time when Afghan women were still kept hidden behind veils. Klass writes of Afghan traditions, of stark, splendid landscapes, and of the enduring friendships she made at a time when Afghanistan was reaching out to a hopeful future. Hailed by critics when it first appeared, this reissue of a classic includes additional new sections telling of her return to Afghanistan as a journalist - and of what became of the friends she brought to life for her readers. This is a vivid portrait of Afghanistan as it was before Afghan life was blasted into ruins like the great Buddhas of Bamian by the wars and the Taliban." (Amazon)

On the couch : tales of couchsurfing a continent, by Fleur Britten. (2009)
"Couchsurfing is a global community of over a million people in 232 countries that offers couches, beds and body-sized horizontal surfaces via the internet for fellow members to bunk down on for the night. Couchsurfing is everywhere, from Kazakhstan, where there are 124 empty couches for the daring traveller, to Antartica where 30 cold couches are available. It's free, it's friendly and it's the new way to travel. Fleur Britten, Sunday Times features writer is about to lose her couchsurfing virginity. Starting out in Moscow and taking the Trans-Siberian Railway with a couple of stops in Siberia and Ulan Ude, she'll then fly to Beijing and travel through China, crossing into Kazakhstan. Finding couches in the unlikeliest of places finally arriving back in London to play host to other couchsurfers. With the promise of 'couch available' rarely entailing a couch alone, with stories of meals, unofficial local tours and a family-like welcome, she will explore the unique couchsurfing community and so-called 'couchsurfing spirit'." (Amazon)

Eleven minutes late : a train journey to the soul of Britain, by Matthew Engel. (2009)
"Britain gave railways to the world, yet its own network is the dearest (definitely) and the worst (probably) in Western Europe. Trains are deeply embedded in the national psyche and folklore - yet it is considered uncool to care about them. For Matthew Engel the railway system is the ultimate expression of Britishness. It represents all the nation's ingenuity, incompetence, nostalgia, corruption, humor, capacity for suffering and even sexual repression. To uncover its mysteries, Engel has traveled the system from Penzance to Thurso, exploring its history and talking to people from politicians to platform staff. Along the way Engel ('half-John Betjeman, half-Victor Meldrew') finds the most charmingly bizarre train in Britain, the most beautiful branch line, the rudest railway man, and - after a quest lasting decades - an Individual Pot of Strawberry Jam. "Eleven Minutes Late" is both a polemic and a paean, and it is also very funny." (Amazon)

Viva South America! : a journey through a restless continent, by Oliver Balch. (2009)
"Simon Bolivar once inspired a continent to rise from its serfdom and throw off the shackles of Spanish rule, setting the course for independence, freedom and equality. "Viva South America!" sets out to discover if that dream lives on. Is it fair to describe a land as 'independent' while poverty still enslaves millions, where violence lurks in the shadows and where lawlessness gnaws away at progress? Did the Liberators fail? Or are leaders such as Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Bolivia's Evo Morales resurrecting those long-ago ideals? Armed with a reporter's notebook and an open mind, the author hits the road in search of answers. With the ghost of Bolivar as guide, the quest takes the reader off the tourist trail and into the weird and wonderful worlds of South American culture and society. By stepping into people's homes and into inmates' prison cells, by climbing onto dance floors and over road blocks, Oliver Balch unearths untold stories from the front line of South America's contemporary fight for freedom." (Amazon)

Seeing Central Park : the official guide to the world's greatest urban park, by Sara Cedar Miller. (2009)
"For more than 150 years, Central Park has been the centerpiece of New York City, drawing more than 25 million visitors each year. In Seeing Central Park, Sara Cedar Miller, the official historian and photographer of the Central Park Conservancy, takes readers through America's most popular and celebrated park, where natural and manmade features are interwoven into a spectacular work of public art. Combining superb research and writing with breathtaking photographs, Seeing Central Park is not only a gorgeous gift book, but also a guide through every significant design feature in the park, from the largest, such as the Reservoir, to the smallest, such as the intricate carvings in the stonework surrounding Bethesda Terrace. Seeing Central Park also reveals many newly renovated and restored designs, including Bow Bridge, which has been canonized in countless films, and the Minto Tile Arcade near the famous Bethesda Fountain." (Amazon)

Delhi : adventures in a megacity, by Sam Miller. (2009)

Dublin, by Polly Phillimore & Andrew Sanger. (2009)

Sardinia, Duncan Garwood. (2009)

Vietnam, by Nick Ray, Yu-Mei Balasingamchow, Iain Stewart(2009)

Morocco, by Paul Clammer ... [et al.]. (2009)

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