Destination: Italy (14th Century)

Book: Waterfall, the River of Time triology by by Lisa T. Bergren (Young Adult)

By Jennifer Close

Imagine finding a portal that takes you back to 14th century Italy where you are immediately immersed in a battle between gallant knights and their fierce enemies. This is exactly what happened to modern day teenager, Gabriella, when she and her sister were exploring where they weren’t supposed to be in Waterfall , the first book of the River of Time trilogy by Lisa T. Bergren

Awhile back, I was at home sick and trying to find something new to put on my eReader when I saw the first book of the series was on special and free for download. After teaching high school for years, I love Young Adult fiction so of course I downloaded it. I was hooked after the first chapter and finished the book in less than a day.

Gabriella realizes that she did in fact travel back in time and she also realizes that she lost her sister in the process. She embarks on a journey to locate her sister but at the same time discovers not only a little bit more of herself but she also finds love. What I liked most about Gabriella was that she is a strong female character. She has all the typical characteristics of a teenage girl swooning over a boy (a mighty fine looking one at that!) but at the same time she is confident, strong-willed, and resourceful when it comes to finding her way around an Italy of the past. She can appreciate a beautiful gown one minute and can wield a sword the next. Every once in awhile, I felt like it was a little far-fetched that Gabi, for the most part, fit in to the 14th century so quickly and easily but it is a book about time travel after all!

Italy has never really been high on the list of countries that I want to visit even though some of my favorite books are set there. A few years ago, we went to Germany and Austria to see as many Christmas Markets as we could during a two week period…ok, as many Christmas Markets as I could see! We were based in Garmisch, Germany just a few hours north of Italy so we had planned a quick day trip over the Italian border but had to cancel it due to weather. It didn’t really bother me too much. But after reading about Gabi’s adventures, I think I am ready to plan a trip to Italy now and learn more about the history of the country.

Siena Italy Fountain of Gaia with fence

“But the Fonte Gaia of Siena, a simple rectangle, ornately carved of marble, did not demand undue attention. It allowed the public square itself to sing, like a box seat in the best part of a stadium,” says Gabi. After reading this description of the Gaia Fountain, I hopped online to see pictures of it. What an interesting fountain it is! The Gaia Fountain, or Fountain of Joy, is a rectangular shaped basin that has three sides adorned with reliefs and is surrounded by an iron fence. I can only imagine what Gaia Fountain looked like to Gabi as she looked at it shortly after its construction without that fence surrounding it.

Siena Italy Fountain of Gaia

This series does fall under the Christian fiction category as Gabi struggles with her faith and her responsibilities to her family. It is subtle so if you are not used to reading Christian fiction it isn’t in your face. As a mother and former teacher who would share this book with teenagers, I liked that it was a good clean romance with nothing too racy.  This book may also get your teenager thinking about the possibility of travel to Italy.

For me, the worst part about this book was when it ended. It was a fun young adult read that left me wanting more and I enjoyed the second two books, Cascade and Torrent, just as much as the first. I can only hope that Ms. Bergren decides to continue Gabi’s story.

Disclaimers:  It is the policy of A Traveler’s Library to disclose affiliate links. All links to the book titles in this post are links through A Traveler’s Library affiliation with Amazon. If you buy something through those links, you will be helping A Traveler’s Library pay the billls. THANKS!  All photos used here are from Flickr with a Creative Commons license. Please click on the photos to learn more. 

Jennifer and family

Jennifer Close is a regular conributor to A Traveler’s Library, writing once a month about Family Travel.  You can find her on other days at Two Kids and a Map where she talks about her own family’s travels.

Now it is the Reader’s turn: If you have teens in the family–do you think that books about foreign places might persuade them to travel? When you were younger what books influenced your wanderlust?

And perhaps most important of all, what can we say to persuade Jennifer that she MUST go to Italy??

Print PDF

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. We'll leave a light on for you.

©2012 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

Destination: California (Candyland by book)

Book: See’s Famous Old Time Candies: A Sweet Story (2005) by Margaret Moos Pick

Review and Recipe by Brette Sember

One of my family’s favorite vacation activities is to take tours of fun food production facilities. We’ve visited the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield, CA, the Byrd Cookie Company in Savannah and the Charleston Tea Plantation (home to American Classic Tea), among many others. It’s always simply fascinating to see where and how your favorite treats are made (and enjoy some samples while there!).

One food factory tour I would love to take is of See’s Candies. We sampled See’s Candies while in California and they now top my list of favorites. See’s doesn’t offer tours to their Los Angeles or San Francisco factories or to any of their other facilities, sadly. The next best thing is See’s Famous Old Time Candies: A Sweet Story by Margaret Moos Pick. This little book is just as delicious as a box of candies and is a journey not only to See’s locations, but through time as well.

Inside the cover you are immediately greeted with a montage of See’s treats, candy for your eyes. See’s is now controlled by Berkshire Hathaway and Warren Buffet wrote the preface. Diving into the book is like a trip to vintage California, something I find incredibly kitschy and fun, like an old postcard or the Hollywood sign.

I learned so much about See’s that I really do feel as if I took a tour and spent some time in one of their shops, just chatting with employees. There really was a Mary See and See’s still uses her candy recipes. They aren’t kidding when they call them old-fashioned candies. The family photos are fantastic and offer a glimpse into what California used to be like, with flowering trees and quaint homes in the background.

See’s began in L. A. in the Roaring 20’s when Californians had extra income and a feeling of celebration. What better time to start selling delicious candies? One of my favorite photos in the book is of the delivery motorcycle that was used to personally deliver orders during this time period. A tiny little country cottage with white eyelet curtains was built on the back of a motorcycle with the See’s name prominently displayed.

See’s was off to a great start, but then the crash came. The fledging company held on with smart moves when it came to price (reducing it) and quality (never sacrificing it). By the 1940’s See’s quaint country cottage style shops had spread all the way to San Jose and Sacramento. The photos of these shops are simply stunning. With striped awnings, black and white floors, adorable cases, white paneled walls and salesgirls in white nurse-like uniforms with giant black bow ties, See’s had created a look all its own. See’s has now become a company with stores all over the world.

The book goes behind the scenes with photos of the candy-making process in its L. A. facilities. You can walk through the process and see a wide variety of machines and workers. There’s even a “nut room” where nuts are assessed for quality before being shelled for candy making. One of my favorite tidbits from the book is that the famous I Love Lucy candy factory episode was actually filmed in See’s factory in L. A. !

The pages also include fun stories about shop openings (involving a Chinese Lion Dance and firecrackers in Kowloon and a famous jazz band in San Francisco) as well as vignettes about employees and family members. I would be remiss if I didn’t warn you that the book contains lots and lots of photos of amazing candies (honestly, I never even knew what a bonbon was and now I am going to have to order some from See’s).

See’s doesn’t share any of their recipes (a crime!) so to sate your appetite for sweets, I’m share my family recipe for fudge:

Gai’s Fudge

1 cup milk
2 squares unsweetened baking chocolate
3 cups sugar
1 teaspoon light corn syrup
Dash of salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Warm the milk over low heat and add the chocolate, stirring until it is melted and smooth. Stir in sugar, corn syrup and salt. Cook over low to medium heat until it reaches 236 degrees (soft ball stage). Remove from the heat and stir in butter. Cool, stirring until it is lukewarm. Stir in the vanilla and the nuts. Pour into an 8×8 buttered pan and cool completely, then cut into squares.

Do you have a favorite food tour from your travels?

Brette Sember is a regular contributor to A Traveler’s Library, bringing us her expertise on traveling with taste–food that inspires travel.  Brette is a super busy author, and you should check out her latest food books, The Parchment Paper Cookbook (I have been cooking from it since it arrived just before Christmas), The Muffin Tin Cookbook and The Organized Kitchen (Yep! I need that!).

Disclaimer: The links to Amazon in this post are there for your convenience, but they also are affiliate links. Anything you buy when using the links in this post, although it costs you no more, earns a few cents for Brette Sember. She thanks you.

And let me hasten to inform you that although the pictures above do portray See’s chocolates, they do not come from the book being reviewed. Instead we got the pictures from Flickr and use them under the Creative Commons License. You can click on any picture to learn more. The I Love Lucy video is one of several copies on YouTube.

Print PDF

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. We'll leave a light on for you.

©2012 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

Destination: The Imagination

Book: Cloak, by James Gough (NEW YA Fantasy– 2012)

Interview by Dr. Jessie Voigts

Have you ever seen a rat on the subway–not a real rat, per se, but maybe a half-rat, half-human? Or have you been tended to by an owl doctor– not a doctor for owls, but a doctor that just might be an owl? Such is the world that author James Gough explores, in his new young adult novel, Cloak. At once the story of Will Tuttle, his “allergies”, and his discovery of a new world – within a broader story of change, diversity, and culture, Cloak is a must-read.

Cloak takes the fantasy story plotline of a different world (e.g., Harry Potter, Narnia, Alice in Wonderland) and twists it to include the entire (and familiar) diversity of the animal kingdom, introducing all of those cultures, living side by side. Cloak is a book about culture, society, and civilization. It’s a book for all ages. It’s a book that I can highly recommend, as an intercultural glimpse into another world. And, Cloak is an excellent read, fun and intriguing and high on the can’t-put-down quotient.

James Gough, author of Cloak

We caught up with author James Gough for A Traveler’s Library, and asked him about creating a new world, how travel has inspired his writing, his best travel memories, creating a life of travel and culture for his kids, incorporating a sense of place into his book, and more. Here’s what he had to say…

 Jessie Voigts: Please tell us about your book, Cloak – and what were the biggest challenges in creating a new world?

Jim Gough: Cloak is about a society of animal people, or enchants, that have lived among us for generations. Enchants coexist in our world, but, they are expert in keeping their tales, scales, claws and fangs hidden from our view.

In enchant culture, staying hidden is an obsession and camouflage means survival… My goal is to make readers look at a beat up old ice cream truck and think, “I wonder if there is an enchant at the wheel?”

JV: How has travel influenced your writing?

JG: Traveling gives me a chance to sample other cultures, the background, the people, the accents, the traditions. I try to find out about the history of a place before visiting. That practice carries over into writing too: I make up the history of the people and the places first, to give the story depth.

… I’m a big fan of getting lost. The best way to get to know a new city is to look at a map once then just start walking until you’re totally turned around. There is something amazing about the sights and smells you can discover off the beaten path. . . When I write I create the surroundings in my head, then just wander around my brain and get lost.

To me, part of discovering a new place is with your taste buds. I always ask what dish a region is famous for then I make it my goal to sample it. When you eat what people eat, you get a glimpse into who they are. Conch fritters in Fort Lauderdale. Bacon Rolls off the streets of Chester, UK. Crawfish etouffee in Baton Rouge…

JV: How do you, as a dad, create a life of culture and travel for your kids?

JG: My three girls have become fearless travelers. I think a lot of that has to do with my wife, Kristen, who authors the blog MyKidsEatSquid, and is passionate about collecting experiences. She sees a trip or even a meal as an educational experience. That has rubbed off on me. We’ve explored pyramids and eaten street food in Mexico. My kids have no problem walking through a market where they are the only ones not speaking Spanish, Japanese, Polish.

I also encourage them to look at the culture around them as something to explore. There are all kinds of cultural pockets to be discovered in our own community—restaurants, markets, shops, events…

JV: When you write, how do you incorporate such a sense of place? I really felt like I was riding the subway with Will, and then heading out into the new-to-me setting of Wyoming…

JG: I smell it. Yes, it sounds weird, but if I can imagine a place well enough to know what it smells like then I feel like I can write it. Scent memory is one of the strongest recall abilities we have. So I figure if I can smell the streets of Manhattan in the rain, or a larvae nursery deep in a hidden mountain, and I can help readers smell the same thing, then the experience becomes more real for all of us.

JV: Is there anything else you’d like to share with us?

JG: Maybe just a few rules of travel that I try to live by:

• Never eat anywhere that is too clean or too polished. The greatest restaurants have a little patina and grit.
• Don’t ride if you can walk. You miss too much if you’re moving too fast.
• Smell everything. Good, bad, spicy, sweet—sniff it all. That’s where the memories come from.
• Do as they do. Locals don’t always like outsiders, so try to be as local as possible and they’ll usually give you the benefit of the doubt. There’s nothing worse than that loud guy that thinks every Peruvian should speak English just because he does.
• Do the other thing. If everyone in the world is going to visit that touristy place in the guidebook, don’t be afraid to go somewhere else.
• Bring home memories. I would much rather come back from a trip full of rich, life-altering experiences than a suitcase full of trinkets. Memories last a lot longer than t-shirts.

Intrigued? I KNEW it!!
We also interviewed Gough about the backstory to Cloak at Wandering Educators.
You can read more about his book, background, and book tour (where he can visit your class or book club) on James Gough’s website.

Dr. Jessie Voigts

Jessie Voigts is a regular contributor to A Traveler’s Library, writing about cultural travel.  You can see her other writing at Wandering Educators.

Print PDF

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. We'll leave a light on for you.

©2012 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

Destination: Ohio, 1842

Book: American Notes by Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens

It would be quite unthinkable to let this month pass without paying homage to the 2nd centenary of one of our greatest and most popular writers–Charles Dickens, born February, 1812 (probably February 7). I’ve been dipping into some Dickens’ travel writing to supplement my scanty knowledge of his novels. (I did love Bleak House, and we all know The Christmas Carol, of course.) And the travel writing is lively, detailed, and very funny in places.

I could hardly believe my good fortune to come across this photograph recently when I was in Ohio:

Dickens Drank Here, Picture from Wyandot County Courthouse, Ohio

The Golden Lamb Inn, Lebanon, Ohio

I snapped the  picture above when I was on a completely different mission–following the Shawshank Trail, and in the course of that visit, went to Upper Sandusky, Ohio, where Dickens apparently stopped for a drink.  He did not have such good luck at The Golden Lamb in Lebanon Ohio, where, he complained in a letter to a friend,” they are teetotalers” and he could not get a brandy.  The Golden Lamb, by the way still serves dinner in Lebanon (including drinks in their tavern)  and I love stopping there.

Why am  talking about Ohio on the 200th birthday of this famous ENGLISH writer.  Well, you see, when he was barely 30 years old, Charles Dickens, already becoming a well-known author, took a trip to America. (PBS has info about a TV series on Dickens travels in America. He first traveled through many states, including Ohio.)  It was 1842 and travel to America was so popular among adventurous Europeans that (my Penguin Kindle edition of Dickens’ American Notes: For General Circulation informs me) there were more than 200 guidebooks that had  been written to the wild country. Not only was it fashionable to travel to America, but it was most fashionable to criticize the country–mainly for slavery, but also for its woeful journalism.  Dickens dived enthusiastically into both, and American Notes is more DeTocqueville with a sour face than “America on 5 pence a day”. The trip also led to the publication of  Martin Chuzzlewit.  He revisited America in 1867-1868, and appended many of his critical observations and remarks from his first trip, softening American Notes in the new edition.

Dickens, whose early life story was dreary to say the least, came naturally by his subject matter of poverty and abused women and children.  And, despite his enjoyment of entertainment and a drink, he was a serious young man who spent much of his trip to America campaigning for stricter copyright laws and inspecting prisons and welfare institutions. A few years later, after slaves were freed, he appended his book to allow that America could, after all, become a civilized country.

American Notes presents a  snapshot of what life looked like in the United States before the Civil War, and reminds us of how remote the far western reaches–like Ohio–still were. Dickens talked to some Wyandot Indians in Ohio a year before they were forced to leave the Ohio for Kansas. This quote is from American Notes.  Plan a road trip to Ohio, and you can visit the restored Johnston Farm and Indian Agency .

“It is a settlement of the Wyandot Indians who inhabit this place. Among the company at breakfast was a mild old gentleman (John Johnston), who had been for many year employed by the United State Government in conducting negotiation with the Indians, and who had just concluded a treaty with these people by which they bound themselves, in consideration of a certain annual sum, to remove next year to some land provided for them, west of the Mississippi and a little way beyond St. Louis. He gave me a moving account of their strong attachment to the familiar scenes of their infancy, and in particular to the burial places of their kindred: and of the great reluctance to leave them. He had witnessed many such removals, and always with pain, though he knew that they departed for their own good. The question whether this tribe should go or stay had been discussed among them a day or two before, in a hut erected for the purpose, the logs of which still lay upon the before the inn. When the speaking was done, the ayes and noes were ranged on opposite sides, and every male adult voted in his turn. The moment the result was known, the minority (a large one) cheerfully yielded to the rest, and withdrew all kind of opposition. “

Two years later, Dickens went to Italy for a year (with stops in France and Switzerland). His daily dispatches, plus the fact that he was hosted on his trips makes him sound like today’s travel bloggers.  That trip resulted in Pictures from Italy, and I’ll talk about the delights of his views of Italy at a later time. The following year, the family went back to Switzerland to settle in for a year and he got back to writing novels and apparently never wrote up his travels there.

You can read the entire Dickens works for free in several places on line.

A note from Naxos Audio Books about more Dickens availability:

NAB has produced a series of Dickens podcasts. Simply download our special Dickens podcasts, which include introductions to and excerpts from the books, meet the readers of our Dickens series, or click on a cover for more information, booklet notes, reviews, audio samples, and to buy any title from the Naxos AudioBooks Download Shop.

You can also find out what Dickens 2012 events are taking place near you by visiting the Events Calendar at the official Dickens bicentenary website: www.dickens2012.org.

I read American Notes in the Penquin edition on my Free Kindle App for PC and the book cost less than a dollar. I have included links here to Amazon for your convenience, but you should know that I am an Amazon affiliate, so although it costs you no more to enter their store from A Traveler’s Library, I do make a few cents when you purchase anything. The photograph from the Johnston Indian Agency is mine, but the other photos are from Flickr, used with Creative Commons License. Click on those photos for more information.

What have you read by Dickens? Ever read his travel literature?

Print PDF

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. We'll leave a light on for you.

©2012 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

Book: White Truffles in Winter (a novel) by N. M. Kelby

This fictionalized biography of the great French chef, Auguste Escoffier– White Truffles in Winter  – is delicious, scandalous, lascivious, luscious…

The writing is lush. The author, N. M. Kelby,  paints the portrait of a man obsessed with luscious food and delicious women.  But not just any food–Escoffier prefers dishes prepared with special ingredients. And not just any women.  He marries and has children with a poet–Delphine Daffis, but they live apart for decades during which he carries on a love affair with actress Sarah Bernhardt. He sees her when she is not busy bedding various heads of state and other prominent citizens.  At the end, Auguste and Delphine come back together in Monte Carlo and that is where the book starts, as it tells the story of his life in flashbacks and contemplates his life. Underneath the romance and the food, White Truffles in Winter  explores living well,  aging, memory, and how to adequately show love.

Modern Monte Carlo

Auguste Escoffier himself narrates most of the novel and after hearing him enthuse about the poetry and sacredness of food, we begin to believe wholeheartedly in the power and the glory of a properly prepared meal. Today we credit Escoffier with inventing modern restaurant kitchen methods (dividing the work among specialized stations) and serving styles (as menus à la carte).

He wooed women with his cooking, he wrote cookbooks, and when he needed some luxurious extras, he ordered them on the hotel account and cooked the books. The details of this novel, set in Paris, London and Monte Carlo are not literally correct, but it reflects the basic outline of Escoffier’s life. As the author says, “The elegant savage found in these pages is who we all are when we address the plate.  The magician, the priest, the dreamer, the artist–it is our most hungry self.”

The “King of chefs and chef to kings”  moved from a Paris restaurant to the  Savoy in London and with his friend César Ritz, started the Carlton in London and Ritz Hotel in Paris, thus beginning the Ritz-Carlton tradition. Escoffier also headed the kitchen preparations for the Titanic and drew up the menus, but fortunately for him, let his crew sail without him.

Hotel Ritz, Paris, today

The delight of this novel lies in the dialogue and actions that are consistently believable no matter how remote the life of Mme. and M. Escoffier may be from our own reality.  Occasionally he touches down to earth–with memories of the horrible days of starvation during World War I, which the author intimates were the basis for his obsessions with food.  And with the recipe for Fried Chicken.  Don’t get me wrong, White Truffles is not a cookbook.  However Kelby describes many of Escoffier’s creations in such detail that you could recreate them in your kitchen (if only you had a few truffles on hand).

Auguste explains that fried chicken blends Scottish and African traditions. He learned to make it from Rufus Estes, a famous American black chef of the day who worked for Sarah Bernhardt .  Sarah calls Auguste’s  version, “Magic.” How different in spirit is his version from Paula Deen (who has her own problems these days.)( NOTE: I belatedly discovered that Kelby herself has something to say on the subject of Deen at her blog” At Escoffier’s Table)

Back to the fried chicken, Escoffier says:

Cut some boiled fowl into slices and marinate them in very good olive oil, the juice of a lemon and a handful of herbs fresh from the garden.  I enjoy tarragon, for a hint of licorice; lemon thyme, to bring forward the citrus note; and the slightest bit of lavender.  The fowl should marinate for at least three hours.  Flour. Fry. Garnish with fried parsley.

The cooking advice is not always so straightforward.  In explaining another poultry dish, Escoffier says, “…find a good-sized pullet.  You must be very careful with the size of the fatted chicen…You will know it when you see it.  Your heart will leap.”  This “good-sized pullet” is for a dish that “will require the maître d’hôtel, three waiters (at the very least) and a portable stovetop.”

The author has absorbed and reflects Escoffier’s fascination with everything about food.  ”Food is never as simple as one thinks it is.  It is much more dangerous–seducing completely,” he says. In the  novel’s description of settings–in this bygone era that only the super rich might come close to experiencing in the 21st century–the words are also electric.  When Escoffier goes to Belle Île to meet Sarah Bernhardt (ah, yes, the same wonderful island visited in  P.O. Box Love ) :

“…he could see what a painter en plein aire would see, what Monet had seen as he desperately held his canvas so that the insistent wind would not hurl his easel into the sea–the blue with shutters of green, all set in sharp relief against the bones of jagged steep cliffs, the gray-green sea and the coal smoke sky.  The colors were so intense he nearly wept.”

The publishers, W. W. Norton and Company, have equaled the lushness of N. M. Kelby’s writing with fine scrolling graphics at chapter heads, a sensuous cover picture and a jacket cover that feels as soft and smooth as skin.

One last food reference from White Truffles in Winter. As he feeds a “perfect scallop” to Delphine early in their marriage:

“Close your eyes,” he had said to her. “food demands complete submission.” “Do you taste the sea?”

Delphine did. Not just the salt of the sea but the very air of the moment that the shell was pulled from the sand. “A storm, perhaps. There is a dark edge to the sweetness of the meat.  What do you taste?”

“The hand of God”

Reading Escoffier:

Ma Cuisine A cookbook for people who already know how to cook, despite being titled for the housewife. No cooking temperatures and times, for example.

Auguste Escoffier: Memories of My Life This is his version of his life and it is the book he is writing during the novel, White Truffles in Winter.

Disclaimers: Links from book titles to Amazon are for your convenience, but they are affiliate links, which means that anything you buy while you are there earns a bit for A Traveler’s Library. Please do help us out that way! Thanks.  The photos here come from Flickr with Creative Commons license and you can learn more by clicking on each photo.

And what are your own feelings about food? Have you had experiences where food transported you–where it became much more than simple fuel for the body?

Print PDF

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. We'll leave a light on for you.

©2012 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

Destinations: Milan, New York City and Brittany in France

Book: P.O. Box Love: A Novel of Letters (originally 2009, but NEW in English– February 2012) by Paola Calvetti

I reviewed this delicious new romance in e-book format, and as I read P.O. Box Love, I used the bookmark function on my Sony reader to mark favorite passages (there were so many!) and to make a list of people for whom I want to buy the book (there were so many!) If you get the impression that I am recommending this gem to lovers of travel and lovers of literature, you have guessed correctly

The Belle Ile Love Nest

If you have ever been tempted to look up an old girlfriend or boyfriend, you will sympathize with Frederico. If you have doubts about revealing yourself to someone from your past, you’ll understand Emma. Did you ever have the urge to open a bookstore? You’ll love Dreams & Desires, Emma’s bookstore in Milan that specializes in romance. Paola Calvetti, the Italian author, agreed to answer some questions for readers of A Traveler’s Library, and in my first question, I get at one of the reasons this book stands apart. P.O. Box Love blows apart the assumption that romance ends at 35 or so.

A Traveler’s Library:  How did the protagonists’ age change your task as a romance writer? 

Menhir Jean, Belle Ile, Brittany

PC: The way I found Belle Île was really strange and… tied to the destiny of the book. I was in Concarneau; it was a cloudy afternoon and I was visiting its historical monuments, having a cup of tea and wandering in the alleyways. I happened to enter an ancient bookstore run by an old bookseller selling second-hand books. I asked him “do you have any books about Breton legends or rather a love legend?” “Of course”, he answered, the great story of Jean and Jeanne!”

There are literary quotations in abundance throughout P.O. Box Love. Emma ironically quotes Virginia Woolf,” how very little natural gift words have for being useful.” A sign on the wall of the store says “The only advice you can give someone about reading is not to accept any advice…” But we asked advice anyhow– for books that inspire travel.   Paola echoed the beliefs of A Traveler’s Library.

Indeed the book is a love poem to the United States, particularly since Frederico is an Italian temporarily living in New York City during September 2001 and the book deals with the shock and horror of 9-11-01. Frederico (and the author) love the Morgan Library in New York and we are treated to the history of Morgan and the architectural challenges of adapting an historic building.

A love story told in letters sounds as though it would be a simple affair, but P.O. Box Love is enriched with  literature,  architecture, the beauty of three countries, the interplay of interesting characters, including a mother and her teenage son, and the invasion of the Internet into previously hidebound practices of publishing. All these factors contribute to a winner of a book. I welcomed Frederico and Emma into my life and was sorry to say goodbye.

Follow Paola on Facebook.

Disclaimer: Links to the book on Amazon are affiliate links, meaning that anything you buy when you use the link will help support A Traveler’s Library, and we thank you very much.  The photographs here are all the property of Paola Calvetti and should not be reused without express permission.

Today’s prize, the LAST January birthday present, a copy of P.O. Box Love, goes to one person who comments, subscribes, tweets (using @pen4hire) or mentions Vera Marie Badertscher on Google+ (You can comment on this post or on an earlier post. Just do it before Wednesday, February 1, 3:00 a.m. MST. This is your last chance, also, to enter for the Grand Prize drawing.  

Print PDF

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. We'll leave a light on for you.

©2012 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

Destination: Sicily

Book: The Honoured Society: The Sicilian Mafia Observed, by Norman Lewis (Original-1964 with postscript added in 1984; reviewed edition 2003.)

If you were playing word-association, Sicily-Mafia might be your first reaction.  The Honoured Society  seems to me to be a perfect addition to a library of travel literature– if you read it along with Seeking Sicily– to understand that region of Italy. You will find many of the same themes in the two books.

Norman Lewis is best known as an outstanding travel writer. (See my review of Naples ’44). But his first wife was Swiss-Sicilian, and her father, an exile from Sicily, belonged to the Mafia. Thus began Lewis’ interest in the honoured society. His book benefits from personal experience and meticulous research in addition to Lewis’ skills as a wordsmith. Think how much he enhances the following paragraph, which could have been a dry list of facts.

“In this world one occasionally stumbles upon a place which, in the physical presence, and the atmosphere it distills, manages somehow to match its reputation for sinister happenings.  Such a town is Corleone.  A Total of 153 murders took place between 1944 and 1948 alone.” (This in a town of 18,000.)

Like John Keahey, in Seeking Sicily, Lewis traces the characteristics of Sicilian history back through its many conquerors.

Like Keahey, Lewis says, “Sicily is not Italy.”  He goes on, “nor–with the exception of the spas, the palms, and the mimosas of its eastern seaboard–is it even recognizably a Mediterranean country.”

Although the Mafia’s first appearance may not be clearly marked in a timeline of history, there is no question that the Spanish Inquisition, while Sicily sat under the thumb of Spain, played a large part. Since the Inquisition not only punished, but confiscated property, the aristocrats enthusiastically joined the Inquisition, both to enrich themselves and to protect their property. For 300 years, in the 15th-18th centuries, property was taken in this way.  The Mafia became the protector of the poor by the only avenue open to them–vendetta.

Part of the delight of reading Lewis lies in his ability to make amazing and detailed connections. He traces the fatalism and vendettas of the Sicilian culture back to African tribal rituals and to the desert tribes of Arab lands. Remember the horse’s head at the beginning of  The Godfather? African tribal rituals included depositing of a beheaded dog or sheep on an enemies doorstep.

“Without realizing it, they have killed each other as far back as anybody can remember, and still kill each other, not so much out of bloodthirsty sentiment, but from economic necessity.  There has never been enough to go around, so the vendetta becomes a device for keeping down the population.”

The Mafia’s survival has depended upon an agility in adapting to economic circumstances.  In the early days, serious money could be made in manufacturing phony religious relics and selling the seats in church and devotional candles. But land was the real base of operations.Feudal systems survived in Sicily long after the Middle Ages died in the rest of Europe. The land-holding aristocracy utilized the Mafia as protectors of the land and enforcers and later to ensure votes for conservative politicians. A rupture developed when the land-holders decide it is in their best interest to support Mussolini who set out to destroy the Mafia.

New allies popped up with World War II. Because the Mafia were anti-Mussolini, the United States army enlisted them to help defeat the Italians. Imported American gangster Lucky Luciano was given authority, and the brotherhood’s business practices turned to controlling the black market  (with American support) and, after the war, to Luciano’s favorite business–heroin. The traditional Mafia leaders in Italy would not support his other business–prostitution. That was not honourable in their eyes.

I was amazed to learn that after the war when Sicily struggled with the question of their relationship to a newly independent Italy, the Mafia leaders favored becoming the 49th state of the United States. (Hawaii and Alaska had not yet joined the U. S.)

The Mafia power through alliances that had lasted for centuries began to crack in the 1960′s and the postscripts to the book describe the rather pessimistic scene in the early 1980′s.  Today, according to John Keahey, in Seeking Sicily,  the Mafia has been reduced from a powerful organization that dominates Sicily to more or less independent outlaws, no longer supported by church, state and journalists. However, a website called Mafia Today recently ran an article stating that the Sicilian Mafia is the most successful business in Italy today in the face of economic disaster for  legitimate business. It seems it will never end. At least the Mafia wars no longer threaten travelers and it is once more safe to book your travel to Sicily.

I hope you’ve enjoyed our week in Sicily.  If you’d like to read some contemporary travel experiences on the island, check Hecktic Travels blog for their series on Sicily; Travel Solo for top things to do in Sicily and Joe’s Trippin’ about Southern Sicily.

More reading on Sicily:

 I Siciliana by Adrian Cole–travels with the Mafia in Sicily.

The same author writes about Norman Lewis in Italy and Spain in Tender Beginner: A Twentieth Century Witness. He says of Lewis’ relationship to Sicily:

“…a life-long attachment to the island, its people and its problems, and in the tradition of the greatest of writers, what is left after the descriptions and the anecdotes and the details is a sense not just of place, but more importantly of the human relationships which underwrite the whole endeavor of being a traveler, and dependent on the generosity of strangers. “

Is Mafia the first thing YOU think of when you hear Sicily? Would it concern you enough that you might not travel to Sicily?

Disclaimers: The links to Amazon make it easier for you to purchase books, however because A Traveler’s Library is an affiliate of Amazon, we earn a few cents for every purchase–even though it does not cost you any more.  All Pictures here come from Flickr with Creative Commons license. Click on picture to learn more.

CONTEST OVER! The Giveaway prize today goes to one person who comments, subscribes, tweets or mentions us on Google+. It is a copy of On the Road to Babadag: Travels in the Other Europe by Andzej Stasiuk, a stylish travel book about middle Europe.  (You can comment on this post or on an earlier post. Just do it before Monday, January 30, 3:00 a.m. MST. This is your next to last chance to win. See complete rules here.)

Print PDF

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. We'll leave a light on for you.

©2012 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

Castle of Erice, Sicily, Photograph by John Keahey

Sicily Week at A Traveler’s Library

Destination: Sicily

Book: Seeking Sicily (NEW November 2011) by John Keahey

John Keahey‘s effort to understand Sicily starts with a book, (But of course!) and continues with repeated travels and extended stays in Sicily. His wander lust, he tells us, was born even earlier, in a Carnegie Library. Clearly we are going to like this guy!

He says in Seeking Sicily, that he wanted to read native Sicilian writers, and started with Giovanni Vergas’ Cavalleria Rusticana and Other Stories, which descries rural life in 19th century Sicily. Luigi Pirandello, writing in the 19th and 20th century, added more understanding.

Photo by John Keahey

Then came the most important Sicilian writer, Leonardo Sciascia (1921-1989). The main base of Keahey’s operations and home of his favorite literary key to Sicily is Racalmuto.  This small town was birthplace and home base for Sciascia. Like many western Sicilians, Sciascia had Arab root. He once told a journalist that his family name was originally XaXa, “an Arab word meaning a soft material or netting.” Keahey visits the Fondazione Leonardo Sciascia, Sciascia’s grave, and his country home.

Keahey thinks Sciascia was a cynic until Sciascia scholar (and the author’s grand daughter) corrects him. “Oh, no, no, no,” she says with finality. “He was skeptical! Cynical has another meaning in Italian. To say someone is cynical is to say he has no principles!”

Sciascia, who frequently went against the popular trends of the day, says in one of his books, “Skepticism isn’t an acceptance of defeat,” but a margin of safety, of elasticity.”

And what does this have to do with Sicily? Plenty, it turns out. I helps explain the rise of the Mafia, the resistance to thinking of themselves as Italian, the surprising influence of the Arabs and why Sicily is painted as “irrational.”

Keahey explains the sculpture on the street of Racalmuto (pictured above) by saying,  ”Sciascia, in bronze, ‘walking’ along Racalmuto’s main street, a regular practice of his. He always had a cigarette in his right hand, but the sculptor removed it ‘to protect the eyes of young children who may bump into it.’

From his reading and his travels, Keahey provides us with important clues to Sicilian personality and culture.

1. Sicily has almost never experienced self-rule, being the target of Carthagenians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Spainards, French, and Italians.
2. As residents of a perpetual colony, the people turned inward, trusting only family–not authority.
3. Sicilians are not Italians. The author says, “Sicilians might be viewed in America and elsewhere as ‘Italians,’ but in their hearts and souls they are Sicilians.”
4. The people of Sicily perceive their location as north of Africa rather than south of Italy.
5. The original power of the Mafia grew out of close association with the authorities, and their more recent power came most notably from the Americans after the Allied invasion of World War II. (And we’ll be talking more about the Mafia this coming Friday. Their story is told by a famous travel writer.)

Seeking Sicily starts in Palermo at the ruins of  Palazzo Lampedusa, palatial home of  yet another author, Guiseppi di Lampedusa (1897- ). Travel note: the palazzo was bombed in World War II and after standing in ruins for many years, is currently under partial restoration. Lampedusa’s novel The Leopard is characterized as “a must read for anyone who wants insight into Sicilians and how they became who they are, separate both culturally and emotionally from the rest of Italy.”  (Stay tuned. On Wednesday this week we’ll talk about the 196 3 movie, The Leopard, starring Bert Lancaster.)

Painted Cart, Photo by John Keahey

But fear not, this book is not all academic analysis and literary review.As we accompany the author of Seeking Sicily, he experiences the grinding heat of summer, the joys of natural landscape and ancient ruins, and the rought-edged gray look of Palermo (suggesting a Norman heritage rather than a Roman one).  He meets one of the few remaining cart painters, who decorates two-wheeled carts with vividly colored scenes, as seen above. Of this picture, he says, “A chance encounter with the real thing, on a Sunday morning drive, in the area of Partinico along SS113, perhaps 20 kilometers southwest of Palermo.”

Keahey even devotes a chapter to food and recipes.

In each place we learn more about Sicilian culture. In addition to the books and authors mentioned in the text, the author provides a lengthy biography and a detailed index, making it easy to find everything in you want to know about Sicily.

Perhaps I’m an easy sell, because I’ve always been fascinated by Sicily–particularly by the outstanding Greek ruins–but this book has me definitely yearning to book passage sooner rather than later.

Although I have never been to Sicily, I did go to Italy. If you’re looking for reading other than Sicily, I listed these suggestions for Italian reading a while back. The Browser.com interviewed one of “my ” Italian authors, Tim Parks, who picks Italian novels, one of which is Sicilian.

You have four chances to win a copy of Seeking Sicily (which was given to me by the publisher). Be sure to check the rules, and remember that if you already have a subscription, you need to tell me in the comments that you want that extra entry every day for your reward. You have from now until 3:00 a.m. MST Wednesday, January 25 to enter today’s contest.

Disclaimers: the links to book titles are a convenient way for you to shop at Amazon. Just know that if you use them, even though they don’t cost extra, A Traveler’s Library will earn a few cents on each purchase, and we thank you! The video book trailer is the publisher’s creation and comes from You Tube. All photos used here are used with the consent of John Keahey. They are his property.

Print PDF

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. We'll leave a light on for you.

©2012 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

NOTE: The Arizona State Alumni magazine wrote about Kristin Espinasse in December 2011.  You can read it here.

Destination: France

Book: Blossoming in Provence by Kristin Espinasse

You might think at first glance that a beautiful blond from Arizona who goes to Paris to study and winds up marrying an impossibly handsome Frenchman who starts a successful vineyard where they live in Provence and have two children….you might think that is pretty much a fairy tale life.

Well, yeah, but fortunately for all us dreamers, Kristin Espinasse spills all the difficulties of marrying France along with her tempting photographs of the life of Provence. Before you start hating her for her life, and because she is an accomplished writer and photographer, please read what she has written. In Blossoming in Provence, her sequel to Words in a French Life, we learn, for instance, that the impossibly handsome Frenchman doesn’t just pack light on a weekend trip, he packs in a trash bag and leaves his toothbrush at home because he can always use hers. (Now those are two tips I’ve never seen the numerous travel blog posts on packing light.)

A riot of daiseys, Giverney

And then there are the children, who have grown up in full public view as Kristin has blogged about their life for the past seven years. From correcting her French vocabulary when they were in grade school (rolled yeux. “Oh Maman!”) or they spill a mint drink all over the floor she has just cleaned for guests, and as they enter their teens, we regular readers of the French Word a Day blog begin to worry that they will soon leave home and blog.

But lest you think all she talks about are the annoyances of expat life, I must hasten to say that Kristin turns every one of her vary personal experiences into a lovely and positive  life lesson.  Not only that, but each one is a French lesson as well! As she is making sense of her life in France, we are meeting irrisistable characters like her mother (who now lives in Mexico), Jean-Marc’s family–who, trust me, are NOTHING like the French family in Le Mariage. And that is why I am breaking with the January tradition and not giving away the book I’m reviewing today. I CANNOT part with it.

Restaurant sign in Brittany

If you, as I did, once studied French, but got away from it and want to brush up a bit, freshen your vocabulary with today’s slang–you’ve come to the right place.  Blossoming in Province presents selections from the French Word a Day blog. Each includes some French expressions within the little story and a list at the end. (On the blog you can also get pronunciation help from one of her native French speaking family). So loyal are Kristin’s followers that they comment vigourously, suggesting corrections or alternatives to the words and expressions she presents. AND the blog readers helped her select and edit the entries for this book.  Which may explain why this little book strikes me as so much more worthwhile than many made-from-blog books.

Just one teeny suggestion. I would like to have a complete vocabulary list at the end of the book, as well as the list at the end of each chapter. And maybe next time (there has to be a next time) we could have a brief vocabulary of generally useful phrases to go with the specialized ones in the stories?

You don’t have to know French, or even want to learn it to enjoy this book and its mother blog, though. Want to enjoy beautiful photography of France that will have you  booking a flight? Love dogs? She rarely posts without mentioning her two beautiful goldens. Are you a writer or wanna-be writer? She shares her learning process as she becomes a writer. Or do you just like a little inspiration for finding the good things in your life and fully enjoying it?  Travel Library or not, you will thoroughly enjoy Blossoming in Province, its predecessor Words In a French Life and Kristin Espinasse’s blog, French-Word-a-Day.

Disclaimers: Kristin sent me a review copy of her latest book, but I had already bought the first book and am a subscriber to the blog, so obviously one review copy will not sway my opinion. Photos are my own, although they are not in Provence, they are in France. I excuse that fault since I have not been to Provence, and since Kristin does also used photos from other parts of the country. Links to book titles take you to Amazon, where by some sort of miracle although you spend no more, I earn a few pennies from each purchase. Thanks!

So although I’m holding back Blossoming in Province, I have to offer you SOMETHING, don’t I?  Strictly your choice if you wish to accept it.  Another terrific book for travelers is The Portuguese, A Modern History, reviewed here. If you would like to have this review copy, let me know in the comments below, or in a tweet or on Google+ or all three. Keep in mind that people who have subscribed to the blog, and told me that in a comment are winning lots of things, because they get an automatic entry every day. But you have to TELL me!

Print PDF

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. We'll leave a light on for you.

©2012 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

Family Travel Friday

Visiting a dairy

Destination: Hit the U.S. Highways

Books: Kids Love Travel Guides by George Zavatsky and Michele Zavatsky

By Jennifer Close

When deciding which book to write about this month, I chose Kids Love I-75. Then I thought about sharing some information about Kids Love Florida. I was standing so close to my travel bookshelf that I couldn’t help but pull Kids Love I-95 off of the shelf. As I stared at these books, I decided to just share my love for the whole series by George and Michele Zavatsky.

My name is Jennifer and I am addicted to the Kids Love Travel books.

Jennifer Loves Kids Love Books

The Kids Love Travel Guides series has both Interstate Guides and State Guides. I particularly like the Interstate Guides because if you are going to spend some time driving I-75 and I-95, these are the books for you. Even in the age of smart phones and quick access to information, I love these Interstate Guides because they are filled with various stops at the many exits off of the Interstate. Both books include information about the different activities that can be found at each exit, hours, admission, whether they have food or restrooms, and more. The maps found throughout are my favorite parts of the book. Each map pictures the exits, what can be found at the exit like hotels, picnic areas and rest stops, and shows how far it is to the next exit.

Mayfield Dairy, Braselton, Georgia

Kids Love I-75 travels along the interstate from Michigan to Florida. We throw this book in the car anytime we will be on I-75. While traveling north on I-75 during one road trip, we were able to make family rest stops a little bit more exciting. When we were planning our trip, we referenced the book and realized that the Mayfield Dairy was right of the interstate. Instead of a quick bathroom stop where the kids ran around a grassy area, we were able to tour the Mayfield Dairy and treat ourselves to ice cream before the rest of the long trip.

The State Guides cover family friendly activities in the following states: Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland and DC, Michigan, Missouri, The Carolinas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and DC, Wisconsin and Tennessee. Kids Love Floridais broken up into the different regions of the state and includes activities for children. Each activity lists a brief description of what you and your family can do, admission prices, hours of operation, website address, phone number, location and any other pertinent information you might need before your visit. The best part about these books is that each activity has been kid-tested and kid-approved by Mrs. Zavatsky and her family.

The state guides are great for not only families who live in these states but also for families who are going to be visiting. We are planning a trip to Maryland and Virginia this summer so I am trying to decide whether or not I should get both state books or stick with the state in which we are going to spend the most time. I will probably just end up getting both books!

The Kids Love Travel Guides cost about fifteen dollars each and several are available for purchase via download from the Kids Love Travel website.  ( You can get some guides on sale for $12.95 right now at the Kids Love Travel website)

Note from Jennifer: I received  review copies of Kids Love I-95 and Kids Love I-75.  As always, my opinions are my own with no outside influences. Photographs belong to Jennifer. Please respect her copyright.

The giveaway books (plural) today are perfect for a road trip:  Kids’ Love I-95 (new edition) and Drive I -95 by Stan Posner and Sandra Phillips-Posner (2007 edition). Today’s prize  books go to one person who comments, subscribes, tweets or mentions us on Google+ before the deadline.  (You can comment on this post or on an earlier post. Just do it before Monday, January 16, 3:00 a.m. MST. If you already subscribe by e-mail and want an extra entry as a subscriber, be sure to tell me that in the comments. See complete contest rules here.)

Print PDF

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. We'll leave a light on for you.

©2012 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.