I’m super impatient with expat memoirs. And I have a deep dislike for the kind of travel writing that’s all introspection and metaphysical. When I agreed to read and review Café Tempest: Adventures On a Small Greek Island
I did not know it was an expat slice of life read in the voice of a main character who, among other things, is writing about yoga mantras. Had I known that, I’d have rejected the book out of hand, thinking it yet another “me and my feelings in a land of wacky, colorful locals” story.… continued…
When we think about Asia, it’s really easy to romanticize the life, the people there — I think. It’s easy to be aggravated by the Starbucks even while we’re heading there to get Frappucino because good lord, it’s hot and I’m jet lagged and there is nothing that would be more reassuring right now than caffeine and air conditioning and yes, I am speaking from experience, this means YOU, Singapore.
I think it’s also nearly impossible to create any kind of real picture of the young woman who’s making your coffee, to imagine where her family is from and how maybe, this is a really good job for her or hey, maybe not.… continued…
It’s not like I set out to read a book about poop. I’m on the reviewer’s list for Holt – I LOVE being on their list! – and they send me stuff to read. Jason, the guy at Holt who lets me know when new, travel related things are coming out suggested that I might be interested in The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters
because, he said, it’s sort of a travel related read.… continued…
Sunsets and Shooting Stars: A Cape Cod Memoir
is a light-hearted and sentimental collection of memories of visits to Cape Cod by Rick Seidel. Seidel uses nice descriptive language to put you in the back of the family’s rusty truck on the way out to the cape and his characters are three dimensional enough, but I couldn’t help but feel I was reading a book written for those who were there. As an outsider who doesn’t know the region or the people, I wasn’t engaged enough to stick with it.… continued…
Flying Ruinair in Germany is like shopping in Aldi but knowing there is a Marks and Spencer or a Sainsbury store nearby where the prices are also Lidl.
I wasn’t sure what was bugging me about Ruinair
until I came across that particular passage. The book is funny, snarky, self deprecating, all thing things I like in travel writing. I laughed out loud a few times and it’s clear that Paul Kilduff, the author who schleps himself about Europe on a oddball tour of non-destinations and second cities, loves to travel and sees past the shiny airport propaganda.… continued…
