Reader's Place: July 2019
See you in the piazza: new places to discover in Italy, by Frances Mayes. 2019. 914.5 MAY
An evocative, recipe-complemented travel narrative through thirteen regions of Italy, from Friuli to Sicily, that identifies the cultural and historical gems enjoyed by locals.
Greek to me: adventures of the comma queen, by Mary Norris. 2019. 306.442 NOR
Comma Queen Norris, author of the best-seller Between You & Me (2016) has made a series of trips to the Mediterranean, where she swam in the foaming seas that spawned Aphrodite and practiced her Greek tongue with a myriad of Greek suitors. The book is a delicious intersection of personal essays, etymology, and travel writing.
Evening in paradise: more stories, by Lucia Berlin. 2018 FIC BERLIN
This wonderful posthumous collection from Berlin (A Manual for Cleaning Women) ranges from short, one-page stories about the poor and working class to longer romantic tales about the disaffected daughters of aristocrats in South America. Homesickness and geography are central to Berlin's work.
I might regret this: essays, drawings, vulnerabilities, and other stuff, by Abbi Jacobson. 2018 814.6 JAC
When Abbi Jacobson (of Broad City fame) announced to friends and acquaintances that she planned to drive across the country alone, she was met with lots of questions and opinions: Why wasn't she going with friends? Wouldn't it be incredibly lonely? The North route is better! Was it safe for a woman? The Southern route is the way to go! You should bring mace! And a common one; why?
Horizon, by Barry Lopez. 2019. 813.54 LOP
A globe-trotting nature writer meditates on the fraught interactions between people and ecosystems in this sprawling environmentalist travelogue, ranging from camping on the Oregon coast while considering the exploits of British explorer James Cook; examining archaeological sites in the high Arctic while reflecting on the harshness of life there; hunting for hominim fossils in Kenya while weighing human evolution; scuba-diving under an Antarctic ice shelf while observing the rich marine biota.
100 parks, 5,000 ideas: where to go, when to go, what to see, what to do, by Joe Yogerst, 2019. 363.68 YOG
A guide to the best parks in the United States and Canada, including activity and accommodation information; nearby attractions; top ten lists; and local fare..
Compiled by Ina Rimpau