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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=S Morris and N Grueninger
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|author=Alastair Humphreys
|title=In the Footsteps of the Six Wives of Henry VIII: The visitor's companion to the palaces, castles & houses associated with Henry VIII's iconic queens
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|title=Local
|rating= 5
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|rating=5
|genre= History
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|genre=Travel
|summary= It was inevitable that each of the six wives of Henry VIII would have left their mark in some way on the places they lived and visited. This book straddles several categories; history, gazetteer or guide book, and collection of potted biographies.  
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|summary= Alastair Humphreys has walked and cycled all over the world.  And then written about it.  For this book he walked and cycled very close to home and then wrote about it.  As he says in his introduction, the book is an attempt ''to share what I have learnt about some big issues from a year exploring a small map.  Nature loss, pollution, land use and access, agriculture, the food system, rewilding…''  One of the joys of the book for me was that the biggest thing he learned about all of these things was that there are no easy answers, no single 'right or wrong', that every upside is likely to have a downside for somebody and that there are some hard choices ahead.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>144567114X</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1785633678
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Adrian Mourby
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|isbn=0957181167
|title=Rooms of One's Own: 50 Places That Made Literary History
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|title=Blue Skies and Boat Trips: The Norfolk of Brian Lewis
|rating=4.5
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|author=Alan Marshall
|genre=Entertainment
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|rating=5
|summary=The debate is never-ending about how much of the author's life we can find in their pages, and what bearing every circumstance of their lot had on their outputThings perhaps are heightened when they do a Hemingway or a Greene and travel the world, but so often they have had a cause to stay in one place and writeDoes that creative spirit survive in the walls and air of the room they worked in, and do those four walls, or the view, feature in the books?  And does any of this really matter in admiring the great works of literature?  Well, this volume itself kind of relies on that as being the case, but either way it's a real pleasure.
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|genre=Art
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1785781855</amazonuk>
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|summary=There are few positive things which can be said about a substandard apartment when you’re on holiday but this time, in trying to avoid looking at a problem I found myself looking more closely at a couple of pictures on the walls - and was completely taken by the work of Brian LewisI searched online and could only find ‘used’ versions of this book and the print I wanted was ‘not available’Oh, dear - then a few doors down from the apartment, I found a gift shop with a stack of brand new books - and a framed print of the picture I wanted.
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Thomas H Cook
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|isbn=1785633457
|title= Tragic Shores: A Memoir Of Dark Travel
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|title=Charging Around: Exploring the Edges of England by Electric Car
|rating= 4
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|author=Clive Wilkinson
 +
|rating=5
 
|genre=Travel
 
|genre=Travel
|summary= Thomas H Cook, an American author valued for the quality of writing and compelling intrigues of his numerous thrillers, has written a collection of nearly thirty accounts of visits to the ''tragic shores'' of the title. There is no noticeable rhyme or reason to the order of presentation, apart from the last, and the most personal tale which links the travel report to the author's personal loss of his wife and long-time travel companion, who features in many of the chapters, as does the couple's daughter, but they all the pertain to Cook's visits to what he describes as ''the saddest places on Earth''.
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|summary=Clive Wilkinson has a history of travelling by unconventional means with a preference for slow travel. As he neared his eightieth birthday the idea of exploring the edges of England in an electric car was not totally outrageous. In fact, it should be a pleasant holiday for Clive and his wife, Joan, shouldn't it?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184916326X</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Tim Moore
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|author=Merryn Glover
|title=The Cyclist Who Went Out in the Cold: Adventures Along the Iron Curtain Trail
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|title=The Hidden Fires
|rating=4
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|rating=5
 
|genre=Travel
 
|genre=Travel
|summary= One of the results I find from travel documentaries, often on TV but also in book form, is the verdict 'rather him than me' (and it generally is a he).  Yes, I'd like to go there and see what he's seen, but I'm damned if I would risk the danger, the potential consequences and/or the effort the whole experience required.  This book is the epitome of that, for as much as I love most of the twenty countries it hits on – give me a chance, I've not quite been to them all – I wouldn't countenance making this exact and exacting tripA couple of years ago, those in the know somewhere in an office deemed the route of the entire old Iron Curtain – the fringe of the Soviet Union, plus Romania, Bulgaria etc – to be a pan-continental biking routeWith the news that he can dismiss other attempts and still have a claim to being the first person to clock the whole mammoth trip, our gutsy author undertakes it all, and thus surveys a scar across the entire continent to see if it's still visible, and what flesh it once upon a time dividedOh and he did it on a Communist-era piddly little bike, lacking in both gears and good brakes, that was designed for nothing more strenuous than conveying you around a campsite, not for 6,000 miles…
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|summary= It is always about the book, not the writer, but there are times when the author's hinterland is also the background to the book and so it is necessary to understand that context, in order to appreciate the bookMerryn Glover is of Australian parentage, was born in Kathmandu, grew up in the Annapurna and Himalayan and now lives in Badenoch in ScotlandI can think of no-one better a combination to give us a re-appraisal of Nan Shepherds work than the first Writer in Residence in the Cairngorms National Park.  Merryn walks, not so much in the shadow of Shepherd, but in her spiritI think the two would have gotten along famously.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224100211</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1846975751
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Amelia Dalton
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|isbn=B0B7289HKQ
|title=Mistress and Commander: High Jinks, High Seas and Highlanders
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|title=Conversations Across America: A Father and Son, Alzheimer's, and 300 Conversations Along the TransAmerica Bike Trail that Capture the Soul of America
|rating= 3.5
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|author=Kari Loya
 +
|rating=4
 
|genre=Travel
 
|genre=Travel
|summary= Nowadays, Amelia Dalton runs a travel agency which, by the look of it, is a something of a modern version of how Thomas Cook began: excusive, tailor-made holidays, cruises and expeditions all around the world catering to those who can afford this kind of thing. ''Mistress and Commander''' shows how she got there: from an upper-middle class wife whose life involved landed gentry, boarding schools and county hunts to scrubbing stinky goop from the cargo hold of what used to be a Danish Arctic trawler, running charters to St Kilda, dealing with doubtful mechanics, lecherous skippers, and getting her own Master's ticket, by the way of family tragedy, martial drama and what seemed like the steepest learning curve related to marine engines one could possibly imagine.
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|summary=Kari (that rhymes with ‘sorry’, by the way) wanted to spend some time with his father and the period between two jobs seemed like a good time to do it.  The decision was made to ride the Trans America Bike Trail from Yorktown, Virginia to Astoria, Oregon - all 4250 miles of it - in 2015.  They had 73 days to do it - slightly less than the recommended time - but there were factors which pointed this up as more of a challenge that it would be for most people who considered taking it on. Merv Loya was 75 years old and he was suffering from early-stage Alzheimer's.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1910985171</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Michael Foreman
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|author=Erling Kagge
|title=Travels With My Sketchbook
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|title=Walking: One Step At A Time
|rating=4
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|rating=5
|genre=Art
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|genre= Lifestyle
|summary=I guess the best children's literature can do away with complete veracity, as long as it has something about it that is recognisable – a little of the spirit, heart and character of the real thing, whatever it may be.  And if that's the case then it definitely applies to children's literature illustrations, such as those provided close on two hundred times by [[:Category:Michael Foreman|Michael Foreman]]. This prolific artist leapt at a scholarship in the US when he'd completed his official, formal studies, and it would appear – huge credits list regardless – that he's never stopped moving since, as this book takes us to all corners of the world, and back home again.
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|summary= Those who have read my reviews before will know that how much I loved a book is evidenced by the number of pages with corners turned, so let me start this one with an apology to the Norfolk Library Service: sorry! I forgot it was your book not mine. In my defence, I will say that as a reader of this type of book there is something connective about noting where prior readers were inspired (provided it is subtle I'll allow creased corners, but not scribbles – for the latter we must buy our own copy – which I am about to do as soon as I have finished telling you why).
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783704721</amazonuk>
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Erligg Kagge is a Norwegian explorer who has walked to the South Pole, the North Pole and the summit of Everest. He knows a thing or two about walking. However, this isn't a travelogue about any of those epic journeys, it is instead a thoughtful exploration of what it means to walk. It is a plenitude of unnumbered essays about walking. There is no 'contents' page and I haven't counted. In small format paperback, each essay is only a few pages long. Perhaps then, better thought of as a meditation rather than an essay.
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|isbn=0241357705
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Ian Graham and Stephen Biesty
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|author=Monica Connell
|title=Stephen Biesty's Trains
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|title=Against a Peacock Sky
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=Art
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|genre=Travel
|summary=Trains look imposing, but true fans (little boys, usually from about three years old and upwards) want to know what lies beneath the skin which you can see. They want to know how it worksGetting to grips with one in real life is quite a big ask, but the next best thing is ''Stephen Biesty's Trains'' which features trains from all over the world and spanning the early steam train (complete with cow catcher) right through to the trains of the future which can reach a speed of 430 kph and don't even run on rails.  Once the train reaches a speed of 150 kph the wheels are raised and the train is held up by magnetic forces alone.
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|summary= Monica Connell went to Nepal to do the fieldwork for her Ph.D. in social anthropology. I think it is important to know that. She went on a grant-supported trip, with a relatively specific objective. She wasn't a hippy wanderer looking for Shangri-la. She wasn't a mere tourist passing throughShe went with a fundamental aim of learning about these people and how they lived. She also went, presumably, with the academic discipline of how to find these things out, how to organise them in her mind, how to "understand" them in the context of her own paradigms, and how to keep enough notes and files and photos to help her create some greater sense of the experience after the event. Fortunately, she also went with a sense of open-ness and curiosity and a willingness to muck-in, to break her own rules and to truly connect with the people of the village where she hauled up.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783704241</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1780600429
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Gavin Francis
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|author=Nicolas Bouvier
|title= True North
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|title=The Japanese Chronicles
|rating= 5
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|rating=5
|genre= Travel
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|genre=Travel
|summary=''True North'', while very much a travel book in the grand tradition of the best travel writing that combines the trip report with the so-called background information is classified by Amazon in Cultural History and it's not as much of a mis-classification as it could initially appear. Francis, a Scottish GP who ''divides his time between writing and doctoring'', starts the body proper of ''True North'' with one of the best opening lines I have read recently: ''I began to dream of the North in a stinking African hospital ward''.  
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|summary= It never does to start a review of a book with a quote from the blurb, but sometimes it's unavoidable. Le Monde reviewed this book, at some point, with the words ''what the old master craftsmen would call a masterpiece.'' It is precisely that. A masterpiece in the sense of the craft as well as the art of writing. I'm going to hesitate to call it 'travel writing' because this is as much a history of Japan, a mythology-primer for the Japanese culture as it is a personal response to living and travelling in the country.  
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846971306</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1906011044
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Peter Irvine
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|author=Stephen Fabes
|title= Scotland the Best
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|title=Signs of Life
|rating= 4
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|rating=5
|genre= Travel
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|genre=Travel
|summary= Peter Irvine's book advertises itself as ''The true Scot's insider's guide to the very best Scotland has to offer'' and has throughout its many years of existence became a bit of an institution. And no wonder. It is indeed a guide like no other and although it's unlikely to completely fulfil anybody's guidebook needs, it will offer a unique perspective and some top-notch inspiration.   
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|summary= I was brought up on maps and first-person narratives of tales of far away places. I was birth-righted wanderlust and curiosity. Unfortunately, I didn't inherit what Dr. Stephen Fabes clearly had which was the guts to simply go out and do it.  I also didn't inherit the kind of steady nerve, ability to talk to strangers and basic practicality that would have meant that I would have survived if I had been gifted with the requisite 'bottle'.  In order words I'm not the sort of person who will get on a bike outside a London hospital and not come home for six yearsFabes did precisely that.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007319657</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1788161211
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Simon Bennett
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|author=Rob Baker
|title= In Search of Sundance, Nessie...and Paradise
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|title=Toubab Tales: The Joys and Trials of Expat Life in Africa
|rating= 4
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|rating=4
|genre= Travel  
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|genre=Travel
|summary= Books are personal.  There are three things that signal good books to me: how I feel while reading them and in the enforced spaces between reading them, the degree to which I bore everyone around me for ages afterwards by quoting them and talking about them, and whether I remember how, when and where I first read them.   That last criterion can only be judged later, but on the first two ''In Search of Sundance…'' definitely qualifies.
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|summary=''"Go to Mali," they said. "The music is amazing," they said. "And you get ten hours of sunshine every day." So I did.''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1524666173</amazonuk>
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 +
Rob Baker is an ethnomusicologist. ''A what?'' I hear you cry. Well, an ethnomusicologist studies music in relation to culture, so rather like a folklorist studies the oral and written story traditions relating to a culture.
 +
|isbn=B089CSNFT7
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Colin Taylor
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|author=Christine Brown
|title=The Life of a Scilly Sergeant
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|title=Bucket Showers and Baby Goats: Volunteering in West Africa
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Travel
 
|genre=Travel
|summary=Meet the Isles of Scilly.  (I know they should be called that – the author provides a handy guide to the etiquette of their name, their nature and location, etc.)  For our more distant readers, they're several chunks of granite rock out in the Atlantic, where Cornwall is pointing, with just 2,200 permanent residents.  They're big on tourism, and big on growing flowers in the tropical climate the Gulf Stream bequeaths them – although the weather is bad enough to turn any car to a rust bucket within years.  They're so wee, and so idyllic-seeming, especially at night, you can be mistaken for thinking there would be no need for a police presence.  But there is – at least two working at any one time.  And one of them in recent years has been Colin Taylor, who has done his official duty – alongside maintaining a well-known online existence, which has brought to life all the whimsical comedy of his work.
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|summary=In the summer of 2008, this book's author was spending her days working in an office job in the USA while spending her nights dreaming about being somewhere else, doing something else. Long story short, she ended up volunteering in Ghana, West Africa. Now coincidentally, in the summer of 2010, this review's author was spending ''her'' days working in an office job (albeit in the UK) while spending ''her'' nights dreaming about being somewhere else, doing something else, and ''she'' ended up just 3 countries away, volunteering in Sierra Leone, West Africa. So you can see why, when this book came up, said reviewer was delighted to have the opportunity to read and critique it.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>178475515X</amazonuk>
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|isbn=171024299X
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=G A Jones
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|isbn=Mourby_Rooms
|title=The Cruise of Naromis: August in the Baltic 1939
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|title=Rooms with a View: The Secret Life of Great Hotels
 +
|author=Adrian Mourby
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Travel
 
|genre=Travel
|summary=There's brave, and there is brave.  I may well have been born in a coastal county but certainly would baulk at the idea of setting out to sea with four colleagues in a 37'-long boat.  Boats to me are like planes – the bigger the better, and the safer I feel as a result. But luckily for the purpose of this book, George Jones was born with a much different pair of sea-legs to mine, and took to the waters of the English Channel, the North Sea and beyond in ''Naromis'' with brio. But – and this is where the further definition of bravery comes in – he did it in August 1939, knowing full well that he would be sailing full tilt into the teeth of war.
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|summary=Adrian Mourby has given us a flying visit to each of fifty grand hotels, from fourteen regions of the world, with the hotels in each section being arranged chronologically rather than by region, which helps to give something of an overall picture. So what makes a hotel 'grand'? The first hotel to call itself 'grand' was in Covent Garden in 1774 and it ushered in the beginning of a period when a hotel would be a lifestyle choice rather than a refuge for those without friends and family conveniently nearby. The hotels we visit all began life in different circumstances and each faced a different set of challenges. We begin in the Americas, move to the United Kingdom, circumnavigate Europe, briefly visit Russia and Turkey then northern Africa, India and Asia. Australia, it seems, does not go for the grand.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1899262334</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Paul Thurlby
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|isbn=1908745819
|title= NY is for New York
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|title=Surfacing
|rating= 5
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|author=Kathleen Jamie
|genre= Emerging Readers
 
|summary= Long gone are the days when children didn't travel, and picture books had to be about animals. And while your pre-schoolers might not be planning solo trips to the States any time soon, it's never too early to get them and older siblings interested in other places and other cultures. ''NY is for New York'' is a themed alphabet book, based around the city that never sleeps, and it's chock full of facts and figures about a city I love, teaching me many new things I didn't know about a place I'm familiar with from visits and TV shows and many, many Manhattan books.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444930311</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author= Duncan Gough
 
|title= Sketches of Spain
 
|rating= 2.5
 
|genre= Travel
 
|summary= I salute Duncan Gough for many things: for his spirit of adventure, his willingness to trail the backroads, his desire to document these and share them and encourage others to follow in his wheel-ruts.  I love his willingness to engage with locals and fellow-travellers.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1785899759</amazonuk>
 
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{{newreview
 
|author= Will Jones
 
|title= How to Read New York: A Crash Course in Big Apple Architecture
 
|rating= 5
 
|genre= Travel
 
|summary=New York is home to some of the most iconic and instantly-recognisable pieces of architecture in the world. The city is a mishmash of architectural styles, a place where Classical and Colonial meet Renaissance and Modernist. The result is a glorious fusion that works perfectly and upon closer inspection has a plethora of secrets just waiting to be revealed. Welcome to New York...
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782404104</amazonuk>
 
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{{newreview
 
|author=Chris McIvor
 
|title=The World is Elsewhere
 
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=Autobiography
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|genre=History
|summary=As a Country Director, Chris McIvor has worked for a number of years at Save the Children. 'The World is Elsewhere' covers his time there and, his journeys across a number of countries. It is a beautiful mix of autobiography and travel. It also captures his philosophical thoughts on international aid. He reflects on both the good and the bad with a very easy, conversational writing style that makes the book truly captivating. I read from cover to cover in a single sitting, unusual for a reviewer. Such was the draw as he laid himself bare.
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|summary=Sometimes when people suggest that you read a certain book, they tell you ''this one has your name on it''. Mostly we take them at their word, or not, but rarely do we ask them why they thought so unless it turns out that we didn't like the book. That's a rare experience. People who are sensitive to hearing a book calling your name, rarely get it wrong. In this case, I was told why.  The blurb speaks of the author considering ''an older, less tethered sense of herself.''  Older. Less tethered. That's not a bad description of where I am. Add to that my love of the natural world, of those aspects of the poetic and lyrical that are about style not form, and substance most of all, about connection. Of course, this book had my name on it. It was written for me. It would have found its way to me eventuallyI am pleased to have it fall onto my path so quickly.
  |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1910124346</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Mark Vanhoenacker
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|isbn=1912242052
|title= Skyfaring
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|title=O Joy for me!
|rating= 2
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|author=Keir Davidson
|genre= Travel
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|rating=3
|summary= I didn't grow up dreaming of flying planes, but I did grow up dreaming of flying ''in'' them on a regular basis, and I still love air travel. There's something a little magical about it, and no amount of delays, go arounds, aborted landings or missing luggage will change that. And yes, I've had all of those in the last six weeks. Mark Vanhoenacker had a childhood dream to become a pilot, and though he took a detour into academia, and then another into business, that dream never left. Now on his third career (at least) he flies for BA, writing in his spare time. This book brings those two worlds together, aviation and publishing, as he takes the reader on a journey from earth to sky and back again, with the bird's eye view only a pilot can muster.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099589850</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Paul Jarvis
 
|title=Mapping the Airways
 
|rating=4.5
 
 
|genre=Art
 
|genre=Art
|summary=Before I start, there is nothing wrong with being an anally retentive trainspottery type.  Having said that, do you see what on the front cover of this first edition marks this book out as being completely and utterly for the trainspottery type?  It is the fact that the foreword is both credited, and dated.  Yes, unless a major change was imminent and the Executive Chairman of BA was going to be someone else within weeks, this book gladly states that March 2016 was when he put finger to laptop and came up with his page-long contributionHave you ever known such attention to detail?  I guess it's to be expected, when the book concerns such a singular entity as the visual history of charts and maps as used by the airlines that became British Airways.
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|summary=''Oh Joy for me!'' gives Coleridge credit for being ''the first person to walk the mountains alone, not because he had to for work, as a miner, quarryman, shepherd or pack-horse driver, but because he wanted to for pleasure and adventureHis rapturous encounters with their natural beauty, and its literary consequences, changed our view of the world''.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1445654644</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Cees Nooteboom and Laura Watkinson (Translator)
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|isbn=Woolf_Great
|title= Letters to Poseidon
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|title=The Great Horizon: 50 Tales of Exploration
|rating= 4
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|author=Jo Woolf
|genre= Travel
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|rating=3.5
|summary= A serviette, a glass of champagne taken outside a fish restaurant in the open-air Viktualienmarkt in Munich, all taken to celebrate the first day of spring, prompt Cees Nooteboom into Proustian reverie. Upon the paper napkin is written in blue capitals the word POSEIDON, the Greek god who has preoccupied Nooteboom's thoughts for several summers. The blue colour reminds him of the sea viewed from Mediterranean garden of his villa in Menorca. Taking this prompting as a moment of benign synchronicity, he later begins a correspondence with this sea-deity. He seeks to inquire how this somewhat unreliable ancient Greek Olympian sees aeons of time and sends him letters and legenda; meditations and stories to be read, both poetic and tragic, from the arts and the contemporary world. He is not expecting a reply.
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|genre=History
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782066209</amazonuk>
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|summary=Jo Woolf has compiled a brilliant set of fifty short insights into the lives and achievements of some amazingly brave people. Their fearless journeys have helped us unlock many of the mysteries of the wildest parts of our world, and also given us an understanding of what it is like to be faced with the most terrible conditions and still have the determination and grit to carry on. This book could be viewed as a taster which encourages us to seek out and read more about some of the most iconic explorers. Their stories are pretty incredible and Woolf does them justice.
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Tony Hawks
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|isbn=Hailstone_Berlin
|title=Once Upon a Time in the West… Country
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|title=Berlin in the Cold War: 1959 to 1966
|rating=3
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|author=Allan Hailstone
|genre=Travel
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|rating=4
|summary=I have often complained in a jokey voice to my partner about life in the sticks, and the way she moved me from an inner-city flat to slumming it in the suburbs with fewer busses, no takeaways within walking-and-keeping-food-hot distance, and no 'Polish' shops for a can of beer whenever you fancy one. Things are different with Tony Hawks, as here he has purposefully decided to up sticks from London to Somewhere, Devon – a tiny village where the people who built their own homes decades ago still live in them, where slugs are a lot more of a problem for the wannabe lettuce-grower than they are for the metropolitan commuter, and where village halls have the power to turn you into both a Pol Pot dictator if you get on their committee and into a quivering, bruise-inducing wreck if you're the wrong gender at a Zumba class…
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|genre=History
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444794809</amazonuk>
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|summary=''Berlin in the Cold War: 1959-1966'' contains almost 200 photographs taken by author/photographer Allan Hailstone in his visits to the city during this period. The images provide an insight into the changing nature of the divide between East and West Berlin and a glimpse into life in the city during the Cold War.
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Chris Townsend
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|isbn=Stewart_Marches
|title= Out There
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|title=The Marches
|rating= 4
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|author=Rory Stewart
|genre= Animals and Wildlife
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|rating=5
|summary= Chris Townsend has been ''Out There'' as a long distance walker for almost four decades. For most of that time he has been equally ''out there'' as a champion of the outdoors. He is the author of many books, many accounts of his treks, and his web site and blogs receive many thousands of visits. Here, for the first time, he gathers his thoughts and experience into a single volume, singing a hymn of praise for the Wild, and stirring defence against human predation.  
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|genre=History
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1910124729</amazonuk>
+
|summary=The Observer quote on the front of the paperback edition of Stewart's latest book observes ''This is travel writing at its finest.'' Perhaps, but to call it 'travel writing' is to totally under-sell it. This is erudition at its finest. Stewart has the background to do this: he had an international upbringing and followed his father in both the Army and the Foreign Office, and then (to his father's, bemusement, shall we say) became an MP. Oh, and he walked 6,000 miles across Afghanistan in 2002. A walk along the Scottish borders should be a doddle by comparison.
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Kathleen Winter
+
|isbn=Bristow China
|title=Boundless: Adventures in the Northwest Passage
+
|title=China in Drag: Travels with a Cross-dresser
 +
|author=Michael Bristow
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Travel
+
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=Luck has a lot to do with this world. It was probably luck that let Kathleen Winter fill the post of unofficial writer-in-residence on a ship coursing through the Northwest Passage.  It was doubtless luck that someone had told her to be ready and packed to accept any invite life might give you, only days beforehand.  Some fortune meant she had grown up in Newfoundland, and so knew the weather, conditions and liminal locations and wildlife she might encounter.  It's bad luck that between when she travelled, in 2010, and filled her pages with talk of Sir John Franklin's lost boats and lost bones, and 2016, when I read this paperback version of the results, his prime ship has been found (if not what people allege will be revealed). It's vitally fortuitous, however, that someone with her writing nous was able to travel the waters before something else, much more permanent, changed – the heinous climate change problems that are certainly upsetting the world up there.
+
|summary=Having worked for nine years in Bejing as a journalist for the BBC, author Michael Bristow decided to write about Chinese history. Having been learning the local language for several years, Bristow asked his language teacher for guidance - the language teacher, born in the early fifties, offered Bristow a compelling picture of life in Communist China - but added to that, Bristow was greatly surprised to find that his language teacher also enjoyed spending his spare time in ladies clothing. It soon becomes clear that the tale told here is immensely personal - yet also paints a fascinating portrait of one of the world's most intriguing nations.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>009958719X</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Julia Bradbury
+
|isbn=Hurst_Norfolk
|title=Unforgettable Walks
+
|title=On My Way: Norfolk Coastal Walks
 +
|author=John Hurst
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Travel
+
|genre=Art
|summary=I've long been a fan of Julia Bradbury's walking programmes on television - I credit her with sparking my own interest in walking - so the news that there would shortly be another series of programmes ''and'' a book to accompany the series was music to my ears. This time she's looking at Britain's best walks with a view and she roams through Dorset, the Cotswolds, Anglesey, the Yorkshire Dales, the Lakes, Cumbria, the South Downs and the Peak DistrictUnless you're in Scotland there's something reasonably close to just about everyone, with a good spread around all points of the compass.
+
|summary=It was pure serendipity: after a five-hour drive, we were, annoyingly, left with an hour to fill in Blakeney before we could have the keys to our holiday cottage. There was an art exhibition in the church hall, so we went in - and found a display of the most gorgeous picturesI'd cheerfully have bought every one and hung them on our walls, but thought that I would have to make do with a couple of greetings cards when I saw ''On My Way: Norfolk Coastal Walks'' and I couldn't resist buying it.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1784298840</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 +
 +
Move on to [[Newest Trivia Reviews]]

Latest revision as of 11:59, 26 December 2023

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Review of

Local by Alastair Humphreys

5star.jpg Travel

Alastair Humphreys has walked and cycled all over the world. And then written about it. For this book he walked and cycled very close to home and then wrote about it. As he says in his introduction, the book is an attempt to share what I have learnt about some big issues from a year exploring a small map. Nature loss, pollution, land use and access, agriculture, the food system, rewilding… One of the joys of the book for me was that the biggest thing he learned about all of these things was that there are no easy answers, no single 'right or wrong', that every upside is likely to have a downside for somebody and that there are some hard choices ahead. Full Review

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Review of

Blue Skies and Boat Trips: The Norfolk of Brian Lewis by Alan Marshall

5star.jpg Art

There are few positive things which can be said about a substandard apartment when you’re on holiday but this time, in trying to avoid looking at a problem I found myself looking more closely at a couple of pictures on the walls - and was completely taken by the work of Brian Lewis. I searched online and could only find ‘used’ versions of this book and the print I wanted was ‘not available’. Oh, dear - then a few doors down from the apartment, I found a gift shop with a stack of brand new books - and a framed print of the picture I wanted. Full Review

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Review of

Charging Around: Exploring the Edges of England by Electric Car by Clive Wilkinson

5star.jpg Travel

Clive Wilkinson has a history of travelling by unconventional means with a preference for slow travel. As he neared his eightieth birthday the idea of exploring the edges of England in an electric car was not totally outrageous. In fact, it should be a pleasant holiday for Clive and his wife, Joan, shouldn't it? Full Review

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Review of

The Hidden Fires by Merryn Glover

5star.jpg Travel

It is always about the book, not the writer, but there are times when the author's hinterland is also the background to the book and so it is necessary to understand that context, in order to appreciate the book. Merryn Glover is of Australian parentage, was born in Kathmandu, grew up in the Annapurna and Himalayan and now lives in Badenoch in Scotland. I can think of no-one better a combination to give us a re-appraisal of Nan Shepherds work than the first Writer in Residence in the Cairngorms National Park. Merryn walks, not so much in the shadow of Shepherd, but in her spirit. I think the two would have gotten along famously. Full Review

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Review of

Conversations Across America: A Father and Son, Alzheimer's, and 300 Conversations Along the TransAmerica Bike Trail that Capture the Soul of America by Kari Loya

4star.jpg Travel

Kari (that rhymes with ‘sorry’, by the way) wanted to spend some time with his father and the period between two jobs seemed like a good time to do it. The decision was made to ride the Trans America Bike Trail from Yorktown, Virginia to Astoria, Oregon - all 4250 miles of it - in 2015. They had 73 days to do it - slightly less than the recommended time - but there were factors which pointed this up as more of a challenge that it would be for most people who considered taking it on. Merv Loya was 75 years old and he was suffering from early-stage Alzheimer's. Full Review

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Review of

Walking: One Step At A Time by Erling Kagge

5star.jpg Lifestyle

Those who have read my reviews before will know that how much I loved a book is evidenced by the number of pages with corners turned, so let me start this one with an apology to the Norfolk Library Service: sorry! I forgot it was your book not mine. In my defence, I will say that as a reader of this type of book there is something connective about noting where prior readers were inspired (provided it is subtle – I'll allow creased corners, but not scribbles – for the latter we must buy our own copy – which I am about to do as soon as I have finished telling you why).

Erligg Kagge is a Norwegian explorer who has walked to the South Pole, the North Pole and the summit of Everest. He knows a thing or two about walking. However, this isn't a travelogue about any of those epic journeys, it is instead a thoughtful exploration of what it means to walk. It is a plenitude of unnumbered essays about walking. There is no 'contents' page and I haven't counted. In small format paperback, each essay is only a few pages long. Perhaps then, better thought of as a meditation rather than an essay. Full Review

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Review of

Against a Peacock Sky by Monica Connell

5star.jpg Travel

Monica Connell went to Nepal to do the fieldwork for her Ph.D. in social anthropology. I think it is important to know that. She went on a grant-supported trip, with a relatively specific objective. She wasn't a hippy wanderer looking for Shangri-la. She wasn't a mere tourist passing through. She went with a fundamental aim of learning about these people and how they lived. She also went, presumably, with the academic discipline of how to find these things out, how to organise them in her mind, how to "understand" them in the context of her own paradigms, and how to keep enough notes and files and photos to help her create some greater sense of the experience after the event. Fortunately, she also went with a sense of open-ness and curiosity and a willingness to muck-in, to break her own rules and to truly connect with the people of the village where she hauled up. Full Review

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Review of

The Japanese Chronicles by Nicolas Bouvier

5star.jpg Travel

It never does to start a review of a book with a quote from the blurb, but sometimes it's unavoidable. Le Monde reviewed this book, at some point, with the words what the old master craftsmen would call a masterpiece. It is precisely that. A masterpiece in the sense of the craft as well as the art of writing. I'm going to hesitate to call it 'travel writing' because this is as much a history of Japan, a mythology-primer for the Japanese culture as it is a personal response to living and travelling in the country. Full Review

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Review of

Signs of Life by Stephen Fabes

5star.jpg Travel

I was brought up on maps and first-person narratives of tales of far away places. I was birth-righted wanderlust and curiosity. Unfortunately, I didn't inherit what Dr. Stephen Fabes clearly had which was the guts to simply go out and do it. I also didn't inherit the kind of steady nerve, ability to talk to strangers and basic practicality that would have meant that I would have survived if I had been gifted with the requisite 'bottle'. In order words I'm not the sort of person who will get on a bike outside a London hospital and not come home for six years. Fabes did precisely that. Full Review

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Review of

Toubab Tales: The Joys and Trials of Expat Life in Africa by Rob Baker

4star.jpg Travel

"Go to Mali," they said. "The music is amazing," they said. "And you get ten hours of sunshine every day." So I did.

Rob Baker is an ethnomusicologist. A what? I hear you cry. Well, an ethnomusicologist studies music in relation to culture, so rather like a folklorist studies the oral and written story traditions relating to a culture. Full Review

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Review of

Bucket Showers and Baby Goats: Volunteering in West Africa by Christine Brown

4.5star.jpg Travel

In the summer of 2008, this book's author was spending her days working in an office job in the USA while spending her nights dreaming about being somewhere else, doing something else. Long story short, she ended up volunteering in Ghana, West Africa. Now coincidentally, in the summer of 2010, this review's author was spending her days working in an office job (albeit in the UK) while spending her nights dreaming about being somewhere else, doing something else, and she ended up just 3 countries away, volunteering in Sierra Leone, West Africa. So you can see why, when this book came up, said reviewer was delighted to have the opportunity to read and critique it. Full Review

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Review of

Rooms with a View: The Secret Life of Great Hotels by Adrian Mourby

4star.jpg Travel

Adrian Mourby has given us a flying visit to each of fifty grand hotels, from fourteen regions of the world, with the hotels in each section being arranged chronologically rather than by region, which helps to give something of an overall picture. So what makes a hotel 'grand'? The first hotel to call itself 'grand' was in Covent Garden in 1774 and it ushered in the beginning of a period when a hotel would be a lifestyle choice rather than a refuge for those without friends and family conveniently nearby. The hotels we visit all began life in different circumstances and each faced a different set of challenges. We begin in the Americas, move to the United Kingdom, circumnavigate Europe, briefly visit Russia and Turkey then northern Africa, India and Asia. Australia, it seems, does not go for the grand. Full Review

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Review of

Surfacing by Kathleen Jamie

5star.jpg History

Sometimes when people suggest that you read a certain book, they tell you this one has your name on it. Mostly we take them at their word, or not, but rarely do we ask them why they thought so unless it turns out that we didn't like the book. That's a rare experience. People who are sensitive to hearing a book calling your name, rarely get it wrong. In this case, I was told why. The blurb speaks of the author considering an older, less tethered sense of herself. Older. Less tethered. That's not a bad description of where I am. Add to that my love of the natural world, of those aspects of the poetic and lyrical that are about style not form, and substance most of all, about connection. Of course, this book had my name on it. It was written for me. It would have found its way to me eventually. I am pleased to have it fall onto my path so quickly. Full Review

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Review of

O Joy for me! by Keir Davidson

3star.jpg Art

Oh Joy for me! gives Coleridge credit for being the first person to walk the mountains alone, not because he had to for work, as a miner, quarryman, shepherd or pack-horse driver, but because he wanted to for pleasure and adventure. His rapturous encounters with their natural beauty, and its literary consequences, changed our view of the world. Full Review

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Review of

The Great Horizon: 50 Tales of Exploration by Jo Woolf

3.5star.jpg History

Jo Woolf has compiled a brilliant set of fifty short insights into the lives and achievements of some amazingly brave people. Their fearless journeys have helped us unlock many of the mysteries of the wildest parts of our world, and also given us an understanding of what it is like to be faced with the most terrible conditions and still have the determination and grit to carry on. This book could be viewed as a taster which encourages us to seek out and read more about some of the most iconic explorers. Their stories are pretty incredible and Woolf does them justice. Full Review

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Review of

Berlin in the Cold War: 1959 to 1966 by Allan Hailstone

4star.jpg History

Berlin in the Cold War: 1959-1966 contains almost 200 photographs taken by author/photographer Allan Hailstone in his visits to the city during this period. The images provide an insight into the changing nature of the divide between East and West Berlin and a glimpse into life in the city during the Cold War. Full Review

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Review of

The Marches by Rory Stewart

5star.jpg History

The Observer quote on the front of the paperback edition of Stewart's latest book observes This is travel writing at its finest. Perhaps, but to call it 'travel writing' is to totally under-sell it. This is erudition at its finest. Stewart has the background to do this: he had an international upbringing and followed his father in both the Army and the Foreign Office, and then (to his father's, bemusement, shall we say) became an MP. Oh, and he walked 6,000 miles across Afghanistan in 2002. A walk along the Scottish borders should be a doddle by comparison. Full Review

link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/Bristow China/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21

Review of

China in Drag: Travels with a Cross-dresser by Michael Bristow

4star.jpg Autobiography

Having worked for nine years in Bejing as a journalist for the BBC, author Michael Bristow decided to write about Chinese history. Having been learning the local language for several years, Bristow asked his language teacher for guidance - the language teacher, born in the early fifties, offered Bristow a compelling picture of life in Communist China - but added to that, Bristow was greatly surprised to find that his language teacher also enjoyed spending his spare time in ladies clothing. It soon becomes clear that the tale told here is immensely personal - yet also paints a fascinating portrait of one of the world's most intriguing nations. Full Review

Hurst Norfolk.jpg

Review of

On My Way: Norfolk Coastal Walks by John Hurst

4star.jpg Art

It was pure serendipity: after a five-hour drive, we were, annoyingly, left with an hour to fill in Blakeney before we could have the keys to our holiday cottage. There was an art exhibition in the church hall, so we went in - and found a display of the most gorgeous pictures. I'd cheerfully have bought every one and hung them on our walls, but thought that I would have to make do with a couple of greetings cards when I saw On My Way: Norfolk Coastal Walks and I couldn't resist buying it. Full Review

Move on to Newest Trivia Reviews