Boy With a Flute in Cambodia

Of course we know that the really big winners are all those lucky kids  in Preah Vihear in Cambodia who will get a new school.  But there are other winners, too. Everyone who donated through the raffle or otherwise, can feel really good about what we have accomplished. WE BUILT A SCHOOL AND EQUIPPED IT!!! If you missed the raffle, you can still send a check to American Assistance for Cambodia (AAfC). To make it easy, Passports With Purpose has a Paypal donation page.

Oh, yes, some people own raffle prizes donated by travel bloggers and their business partners.

Of course you would like to know who won the fabulous two-night stay at the Monteleone Hotel in New Orleans and the Periscope Book Light in a Book Cover plus a wonderful book?

Hotel Monteleone

MONTELEONE HOTEL, Literary Landmark Hotel, two-night stay  winner is: lbaran@pcsedu.com

Funny names people have nowadays, huh?  UPDATE: I guessed the lbaran stood for Librarian, and concocted a school the edu tied to. HOWEVER, the real name is Laura Baran, and she says: I’m a curriculum developer for a company that writes Science, Math, Robotics and Engineering curriculum using LEGO and KNEX. Yeah, really.. it’s what I do. www.pcsedu.com I play with toys and robots at the office.

When I asked why she entered the contest, she said: I love travel and wanted to see if I couldn’t convince my husband we needed a trip away from Idaho. (Where we are.) I donated to the school because education is important to me. It’s my job and I’m on the board and members of many local non-profits focusing on education and children.

That’s great, Laura, thanks for your contribution, and I know you’ll enjoy New Orleans (although Idaho is pretty darned nice, too.)

Periscope Book Cover with Light

PERISCOPE BOOK LIGHT IN A BOOK COVER and MISTRESS TO THE SUN , historic novel winner is:rozwrite55@yahoo.com

Okay, the winners name is Roz (Rosalyn, Rozalynne–???) UPDATE: Rosalind Cummings Yeates, who blogs as Far Sighted Flygirl is the winner. She was one of the travel writers who participated in Passports with Purpose, so this is a nice bonus for her. As soon as she contacts me, I’ll send her the prize directly. Roz, please contact me at vmb at atravelerslibrary dot com [Tuesday update: See Roz' comment below.]

Congratulations to everybody!! And Thanks, also!

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

Books: You Buy ‘em!

Boy With a Flute in Cambodia

Because the Khmer Rouge routinely slaughtered anyone in Cambodia who was educated, the country needs to restore literacy to its nation, but how can that happen when children are wandering the dusty roads instead of going to school? It is heart breaking. But you can help.

Passports With Purpose: Build a School in Cambodia

As I explained last week, I have joined an effort by a group of travel bloggers to raise money to build a school in Cambodia. Dozens of bloggers will be participating. The money raised goes directly to AAfC, American Assistance for Cambodia’s Rural Schools Project, to build a school.

What You Can Do

For each $10 in donations that you make to AAfC, you will will be entered to win a prize (or prizes) of your choice. The raffle opens on today, November 30th and closes on December 21. (Complete rules appear on the Passports With Purpose website, and you can see all of the prizes offered at that same addresss) 100% of all donations go directly to AAfC a 501 (c)(3) charity. And if you want to see first hand how the project works, see this video from ABC News.

What A Traveler’s Library is Offering for a Prize

Although I encourage you to go to the Passports with a Purpose website and contribute for lots of chances on various items, I know you’re really going to like what I came up with here. TWO NIGHTS AT THE:

Hotel Monteleone

YEP! TWO NIGHTS AT THE 4-star HOTEL MONTELEONE in the FRENCH QUARTER in exciting NEW ORLEANS. VALUE $600!

You have heard me rave about the Monteleone before, when I talked about Literary New Orleans here, and at Girls Getaway. I think of the Monteleone as my home in New Orleans, and if you win this prize, you will find out why I love it.

Fine print:

Two (2) night, two (2) persons stay in deluxe accommodations as guests of the historic Hotel Monteleone in the heart of the French Quarter in New Orleans. This offer is for room charges only and excludes Friday and Saturday nights. This offer is valid from December 1, 2009 – November 30, 2010 and does not apply during Special Events such as Sugar Bowl, Mardi Gras, French Quarter Festival, Jazz Fest, Bayou Classic, etc. Total value $600.

This prize is available only to residents of the United States. (Sorry Canada, but you have different laws).

A COMBO PRIZE: LIGHT UP YOUR READING LIFE AND READ A GOOD BOOK:

Periscope Book Cover and Built-in Light

And so that you won’t be looking at a blank leather cover:

Mistress of the Sun

You can read more about the Periscope Book Cover here (it is number 3), and my review of Mistress of the Sun here. The Periscope Book Covers come in various sizes, but this one will wrap your standard hard back or trade paper back book in soft brown leather. An ingenious double lamp (an LED) on a periscoping arm, pull up out of the “spine” of the cover to illuminate both pages so you can read in bed without bothering the person on the other side or read in a darkened airplane cabin. You can fit your favorite book in the cover, but if you like historic fiction, or love France, you’re going to love the book I’m sending to go with your book cover. I will ship a copy of the book to the winner, and Periscope will ship their book cover directly to you.  Value $59.95 for book cover; Mistress of the Sun $26.00 list price.

This combo prize is available only to residents of the United States. (Sorry Canada, you have different laws.)

LAGNIAPPE

On your trip to New Orleans, you learn about lagniappe, that little something extra. Here’s the little something extra from A Traveler’s Library.

Since we are all about libraries here, I am pledging to contribute a bookshelf full of books to AAfC when Passport With Purpose hits the goal of $13,000. That is a $150 contribution to AAfC, and with your help, I would like to send more than one bookshelf. Would you like to contribute another bookshelf? Think about getting your book club, or your family to pitch in, and e-mail me directly at vmb @ atravelerslibrary.com, since this is a complement to Passports with a Prupose and will not show up on their web page. But please make your $10 donations to Passport With a Purpose first!!

Now run on over to the Passport With Purpose web site and choose the gift or gifts that your $10 donations are going to go for. I know my two are fabulous, but there are others just as wonderful in the total list.

Read more about the Rural Schools project in a personal account of participation in the program by the NYTimes columnist Nicholas Kristof.

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

Destination: New Orleans

New Orleans , more than just Mardi Gras, supports more than a dozen quirky independent bookstores, two major literary festivals, four publishers, a specialty tour of literary sites and a thriving literary colony. You cannot ask for a better destination for a traveling reader.  A traveler who reads cannot ask for a better destination.

Kenneth Holditch, called Professor by his friends, knows every café, bar, waiter, and historic plaque in the Quarter. Retired from New Orleans University, Holditch walks through the French Quarter pointing out the nesting places and watering holes of writers who once lived here and talks about the latest crop of literati.

When I went with him,  Holditch started his tour with a statue on Canal Street, the commercial avenue that separates the French Quarter from the business district. Not many cities raise statues to imaginary people, particularly a pudgy fellow wearing a hunting cap with earflaps. But a bronze Ignatius Reilly, the outrageous hero of The Confederacy of Dunces, waits under a clock just as he does in the opening scene of the novel. By the time John Kennedy Toole’s book had achieved Pulitzer Prize fame, the author had committed suicide. Holditch says, “I think he captures New Orleans, the accents and the different language patterns—from the Irish Channel to the Faubourg Marigny.”

The seventeen-story Hotel Monteleone,  on the National Historic Register, has always served as the hangout for literary figures. The Monteleone family has hosted many writers—Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, Ernest Hemmingway, Eudora Welty and William Faulkner. More recent guests include Winston Grooms, the creator of Forrest Gump, and Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Ford (Independence Day). Many of the authors included the Monteleone in stories, prompting the Friends of Libraries USA to name the hotel a Literary Landmark. That honor has been bestowed on only three other hotels—New York’s Plaza and Algonquin and San Antonio’s Menger Hotel. Monteleone is a good place to stay during Mardi Gras, or any week of the year.

…Tomorrow we will talk more about Faulkner and Williams; and Wednesday turn to the proliferation of modern authors, including Anne Rice and a plethora of mystery writers.

What are your favorite reads for New Orleans?  I can never get too much of that wonderful city, so feel free to give me more books to add to the library shelves.

Find more at A Traveler’s Library about New Orleans:

Surviving in New Orleans

Literary Hotel

New Orleans as Seen by Faulkner

Classic New Orleans Restaurant

Book Lover’s NOLA

Book Stores

Faulkner and Williams

Photograph credits 1) and 2) Wallace Gobetz, from Flickr under Creative Commons License; 3) courtesy of Monteleone Hotel.

Note: If you are going to New Orleans and would like a literary tour, e-mail me (vmb at atravelerslibrary.com) and I will give you the contact information for the person now leading tours for Dr. Holditch.

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