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[[Category:New Reviews|Travel]]==Travel==__NOTOC__ <!-- Remove --> <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE-->{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Jim PerrinAlastair Humphreys|title=West: A Journey Through the Landscapes of LossLocal|rating=3.5|genre=AutobiographyTravel |summary=Where would you go if Alastair Humphreys has walked and cycled all over the love of your life, world. And then written about it. For this book he walked and cycled very close to home and your sonthen wrote about it. As he says in his introduction, both died within the book is an attempt ''to share what I have learnt about some big issues from a short few months of each other? year exploring a small map. Jim Perrin headed West - to the scraggly patches of Nature loss, pollution, land off Irelanduse and access, closer to the setting sunagriculture, nearer to the further horizonfood system, beyond rewilding…'' One of the noise, information and opinion joys of humanity. Of course, the book for me was that question could also be answered in a more metaphoric way. Jim went inward, before coming outward. He suffered - "involuntarily, the tears have come. Who would have thought biggest thing he learned about all of these things was that death would release so many.." He alsothere are no easy answers, although he would probably hate me for saying itno single 'right or wrong', went on that every upside is likely to have a "psycho-geographical ramble" - both in life, downside for somebody and in making this bookthat there are some hard choices ahead.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1843546116</amazonuk>1785633678

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Sam Miller0957181167|title=DelhiBlue Skies and Boat Trips: Adventures in a MegacityThe Norfolk of Brian Lewis|author=Alan Marshall|rating=45|genre=TravelArt|summary=Miller is probably one 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 best people to take you on a tour walls - and was completely taken by the work of Brian Lewis. I searched online and could only find ‘used’ versions of Delhithis book and the print I wanted was ‘not available’. He's not Oh, dear - then a native so has no in-bred partisanship, but he does love few doors down from the place so will make sure you do tooapartment, but mainly because to begin I found a gift shop with he HATED it… so he will understand if you don't share his ironic good humour about a stack of brand new books - and a framed print of the shit squirter or the fact that sometimes the only way to cross the road is to take a rickshaw taxipicture I wanted.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099526743</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Brian W Pugh, Paul R Spiring and Sadru Bhanji1785633457|title=Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes and DevonCharging Around: A Complete Tour Guide and Companion|rating=4|genre=History|summary=''The Hound of the Baskervilles'' is one of the most famous mystery novels of all, and also one of the most famous English novels set in Devon. This alone would probably give more or less enough material for an entire book on connections between the story and Exploring the location which inspired it. Yet the authors have found several more links between the county, and Conan Doyle alongside those associated with him. The result has revealed much information of which even I, who have lived in the county nearly all my life, was previously unaware.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1904312861</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=David Lane|title=England 'Til I Die - A celebration Edges of England's amazing supporters|rating=3.5|genre=Sport|summary=To start with, an admission. I am an English fan of football, but I am not a fan of England’s football squad. Hardly ever would I prefer to see the Three Lions triumphant. I never got into the habit, partly because I never saw the singularly English habit of supporting the underdog as making any sense. Plus you'll never get me standing up and singing that awful tune before the match. But here are testimonies from twenty or so people who see things completely differently to me.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906796505</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewby Electric Car|author=Justine Hardy|title=In the Valley of Mist: Kashmir's Long War - One Family's Extraordinary StoryClive Wilkinson

|summary=Kashmir. Is that not the most romantic of names? To those Clive Wilkinson has a history of us entranced travelling by tales from the East, it echoes unconventional means with the same essence of myth as ''Shang-ri-la'' – and a preference for good reasonslow travel. Geographically situated in As he neared his eightieth birthday the Himalaya but with idea of exploring the abundant fertility edges of the valley, lakes and meadowsEngland in an electric car was not totally outrageous. In fact, it should be a kind of paradise. To the people who live therepleasant holiday for Clive and his wife, Joan, shouldn't it once was. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846041511</amazonuk>?

 {{newreview|author=Michael Booth|title=Sushi and Beyond: What the Japanese Know About Cooking|rating=4|genre=Cookery|summary=Japanese food has a tendency to sound a bit freakish or even controversial. Raw fish? Octopus ice cream? Whale meat? Yet it is slowly infiltrating the UK with sushi conveyor belt restaurants popping up everywhere and noodle bars offering Westernised bowls of steaming noodles. In this book Michael Booth takes his wife and two young children to experience the real thing, travelling across the whole of Japan tasting an enormous range of foods and learning about their history, how the foods have been produced and are cooked and eaten.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099516446</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Sara WheelerMerryn Glover|title=The Magnetic North: Travels in the ArcticHidden Fires|rating=4.5

|summary=The title of this It is always about the book suggests another travel book about adventure in , not the frozen northwriter, but Sara Wheeler mixes her tales of her own travels with some history of polar exploration and a serious examination of there are times when the author's hinterland is also the impact of visitors and of those who wish background to exploit the Arctic’s natural resources on the region book and its people. Rather than setting off on another expedition so it is necessary to understand that context, in order to reach appreciate the North Pole, she travels around bits book. Merryn Glover is of the Arctic divided between different countries and governmentsAustralian parentage, including Chukotka (Russia)was born in Kathmandu, Alaska (USA), Canada, Greenland, Svalbard (Norway) grew up in the Annapurna and Lapland (Russia Himalayan and Scandinavia)now lives in Badenoch in Scotland. There is I can think of no-one better a combination to give us a huge amount re-appraisal of material Nan Shepherds work than the first Writer in Residence in the Cairngorms National Park. Merryn walks, not so much in the book shadow of Shepherd, but Wheeler organises and presents it in a very readable, accessible styleher spirit. I think the two would have gotten along famously.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0099516888</amazonuk>1846975751

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Mark GriffithsB0B7289HKQ|title=The Lotus QuestConversations Across America: A Father and Son, Alzheimer's, and 300 Conversations Along the TransAmerica Bike Trail that Capture the Soul of America|author=Kari Loya

|summary=Mark Griffiths is one of Britain's leading plant experts. I know this because his brief biog in the front of The Lotus Quest tells me so; just as it tells me Kari (that he is the editor of The New Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening 'the largest work on horticulture ever published'. His prior works list includes five other plant book creditsrhymes with ‘sorry’, three of them for by the RHS. I shall take all of this on trust, since attempts way) wanted to find out more about the author and spend some time with his background through the usual internet search mechanisms has failed miserably. He remains as elusive as the sacred flower that is the subject of this latest work: the lotus.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184595100X</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Jason Webster|title=Sacred Sierra: A Year on a Spanish Mountain|rating=4|genre=Travel|summary=Jason Webster and his partner, Salud searched father and bought forty acres of valley and mountainside halfway up the Penyagolosa Ridge in Southern Spain, complete with period between two derelict sets of farm buildingsjobs seemed like a good time to do it. These ''mas''The decision was made to ride the Trans America Bike Trail from Yorktown, or smallholdingsVirginia to Astoria, formed the backbone Oregon - all 4250 miles of Spanish agriculture until young people abandoned rural life for towns it - in the mid-twentieth century2015. The agroThey had 73 days to do it -economics of slightly less than the EEC enforced obsolescence recommended time - but there were factors which pointed this up as more of the ''mas'' systema challenge that it would be for most people who considered taking it on. As Merv Loya was 75 years old timers retired or died, their farms were abandoned, leaving most of the land returning to wildand he was suffering from early-stage Alzheimer's.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099512947</amazonuk>

{{newreview|author=Lawrence Osborne|title=Bangkok Days|rating=4|genre=Travel|summary=Laurence Osborne Erligg Kagge is a Norwegian explorer who has hit upon 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 bizarre way travelogue about any of those epic journeys, it is instead a thoughtful exploration of what it means to save money on dentistry – pay for walk. It is a monthplenitude of unnumbered essays about walking. There is no 'contents's rent in Bangkok page and get his fillings done thereI haven't counted. In small format paperback, which works out cheaper than dental insurance in Americaeach essay is only a few pages long. During the course Perhaps then, better thought of many visits to Thailand, he meanders around Bangkok, along with various other motley foreigners, passing through hospitals, brothels and mobile restaurants selling waterbugsas a meditation rather than an essay.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0099535971</amazonuk>0241357705

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Nicholas JubberMonica Connell|title=Drinking Arak off an Ayatollah's Beard Against a Peacock Sky|rating=3.5

|summary=closed doors and how people really Monica Connell went to Nepal to do the fieldwork for her Ph.D. in social anthropology. I thinkit is important to know that. She went on a grant-supported trip, challenging the idea that both countries are defined only by 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 religious fervour fundamental aim of learning about these people and fundamentalism that is the accepted way of lifehow they lived. At She also went, presumably, with the heart academic discipline of Jubber's quest is how to find these things out, how to organise them in her mind, how to "understand" them in the epic poem context of Persian cultureher own paradigms, the ''Shahnameh'' which he soon learns all Iranians know and love how to keep enough notes and files and in doing so he unearths a vibrant culture that preceded photos to help her create some greater sense of the conversion of Persia to Islam and with it experience after the transformation of Persia into Iranevent. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0306818841</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Ian Mathie|title=The Man of Passage|rating=3.5|genre=Autobiography|summary=Ian Mathie's association Fortunately, she also went with Africa began when his father was posted to what was then Northern Rhodesia when Mathie was just four years old. School was in a convent sense of open-ness and was run by German curiosity and Italian nuns and for a while he was the only white child amongst a couple of hundred Africans. Even when he was joined by others he was still part of an ethnic minority although he didn't realise it! He was taught willingness to muck-in the local language , to break her own rules and grew up to truly connect with the local children. It was his home and was to be people of the centre of his life for decades to comevillage where she hauled up.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0955312418</amazonuk>1780600429

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Gary BlackwoodNicolas Bouvier|title=The Great Race: The Amazing Round-The-World Auto Race Of 1908Japanese Chronicles

|summary=In her latest literary outing, the now elderly and increasingly opinionated travel writer and veteran cyclist Dervla Murphy describes It never does to start a series review of trips to Cuba. The opening section deals a book with a family trip in late 2005. Readers who have followed Dervla's books quote from the beginning will have grown up with Rachelblurb, the authorbut sometimes it's daughter, who accompanied her on a number of trips between the ages of five and eighteenunavoidable. Now Dervla travels with Rachel and Rachel's three young daughtersLe Monde reviewed this book, Clodaghat some point, Rose and Zea, known for ease throughout with the book as words ''what the Trioold master craftsmen would call a masterpiece.''It is precisely that. The middle section sees Dervla return alone to spend several months trekking A masterpiece in places such the sense of the craft as well as the Sierra del Escambray mountains, and in the final third art of the book, Dervla returns writing. I'm going to hesitate to the city call it 'travel writing' because this is as much a history of Santa Clara Japan, a mythology-primer for the commemoration of the fortieth anniversary of Japanese culture as it is a personal response to living and travelling in the death of Ernesto ''Che'' Guevaracountry.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>190601146X</amazonuk>1906011044

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Jonathan Buckley, Mark Ellingham and Tim JepsonStephen Fabes|title=The Rough Guide to Tuscany and UmbriaSigns of Life

|summary=There's a general Rough Guide to Italy, but revisiting again this regional guide in the process I was brought up on maps and first-person narratives of tales of writing up our trip to Tuscany two years ago, far away places. I was reminded of how good indeed this particular Rough Guide isbirth-righted wanderlust and curiosity. Unfortunately, I bought didn't inherit what Dr. Stephen Fabes clearly had which was the guts to simply go out and do it because . I wanted also didn't inherit the kind of steady nerve, ability to supplement the general Rough Guide talk to Italy strangers and basic practicality that would have meant that I would have survived if I had been gifted with more detailed coverage of the region in which we were going to spend requisite 'bottle'. In order words I'm not the whole trip - sort of person who will get on a bike outside a London hospital and I was extremely happy with the resultnot come home for six years. Fabes did precisely that.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1843530554</amazonuk>1788161211

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Guy DelisleRob Baker|title=PyongyangToubab Tales: A Journey in North Korea|rating=4.5|genre=Graphic Novels|summary=Meet Guy. He's a French-Canadian animator, leaving home for a short stay in the capital The Joys and Trials of one of the world's most intriguing, unknown and alien cultures - Pyongyang, North Korea - so he can work on a TV cartoon co-production. Forced to stay Expat Life in one of the three official hotels designed for foreigners, so that the locals and people such as he do not have to mix, he see glimpses of the unique socialist dictatorship, stunning views of the buildings forced through the poverty, and thousands of unreadable faces.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224079905</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Charley Boorman |title=Right to the Edge: Sydney to Tokyo by Any MeansAfrica

|summary=Forgive me if I'm wrong'"Go to Mali, but there seems a ever-diminishing sense of surprise with Charley Boorman's continuing adventures" they said. One hopes at least "The music is amazing," they started with very daring, courageous, envelope-pushing exploits, where we might have doubted his successsaid. Now he's on his fifth trip in as many years, BBC TV crew in hand as always, and we can hardly hope for much in the way "And you get ten hours of an ordeal, or doubt concerning a failuresunshine every day. And, as he admits, this does feel much like an add-on for his Ireland-to-Sydney trek" So I did.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847443516</amazonuk>}}''

{{newreview|author=Rolf Potts|title=Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel|rating=4|genre=Travel|summary=Rolf Potts Rob Baker is a travel writer as well as a bit of a backpacker guru and his book distils his experiences in, exactly as the title suggests, ''an uncommon guide to long-term travel''ethnomusicologist. The operative word here is ''uncommonA what?''I hear you cry. Well, as ''Vagabonding'' is not really a guide as we know theman ethnomusicologist studies music in relation to culture, more of so rather like a pep-talk combined with folklorist studies the oral and written story traditions relating to a resource listculture.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0812992180</amazonuk>B089CSNFT7

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Marika McAdamChristine Brown|title=Western Balkans (Lonely Planet Multi Country Guide) |rating=3.5|genre=Travel|summary=Lonely Planet does well from its multi-country guides as members of its peripatetic, Inter-railing, backpacker audience often 'do' more than one country (Bucket Showers and sometimes a whole continent or region at least) within one trip.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1741047293</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Thomas Cook Publishing |title=European Rail Timetable Summer 2009|rating=5|genre=Travel|summary=This volume is an absolutely essential resource for anybody travelling Baby Goats: Volunteering in Europe by train. A compilation of all major train routes, it allows not only for checking train times but also planning pretty much every conceivable major journey. Theoretically, the train timetables change twice yearly, so it's worth getting an up to date book.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848481322</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Sarah Johnstone |title=Europe on a Shoestring: Big Trips on Small Budgets (Lonely Planet Shoestring Guides)West Africa|rating=4|genre=Travel|summary=''Europe on a Shoestring'' comes from the vast stable of Lonely Planet's travel guides and is very much aimed at the budget end of the market. Comparable to its nearest competitor, Let's Go Europe, it's a one-volume backpacker bible which attempts to provide the overview of a whole continent, every single country and the main destinations in each of the countries.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1741045916</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Pete Brown |title=Hops and Glory: One Man's Search for the Beer That Built the British Empire|rating=45

|summary=Being a beer writer canIn the summer of 2008, this book't be s author was spending her days working in an office job in the easiest route to respect USA while spending her nights dreaming about being somewhere else, doing something else. Long story short, she ended up volunteering in journalismGhana, West Africa. But with Now coincidentally, in the summer of 2010, this book Pete Brown has done much to counter review's author was spending ''her'' days working in an office job (albeit in the scepticalUK) while spending ''her'' nights dreaming about being somewhere else, even dismissivedoing something else, attitudes which must surround his trade and its subject matter. He has attempted to combine a history of British imperialism and the brewing industry with the comic 'quest' genre of travel writingshe'' ended up just 3 countries away, volunteering in Sierra Leone, West Africa. Against all So you can see why, when this book came up, said reviewer was delighted to have the odds, he has largely succeededopportunity to read and critique it.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0230706355</amazonuk>171024299X

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Rough Guides Mourby_Rooms|title=Rooms with a View: The Rough Guide to AmsterdamSecret Life of Great Hotels|author=Adrian Mourby

|summary=This Rough Guide is as comprehensiveAdrian Mourby has given us a flying visit to each of fifty grand hotels, up to date and well researched as most if not all Rough Guides seem to be. I have used numerous examples from fourteen regions of their guides and I found them to be among the best if not world, with the best ones there arehotels in each section being arranged chronologically rather than by region, which helps to give something of an overall picture. They do seem to have moved upmarket So what makes a bit since I hotel 'grand'? The first started hotel to use them call itself 'grand' was in Covent Garden in 1774 and it ushered in the early 90s - but they still provide 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 best balance in descriptions covering practicalitiesAmericas, contextmove to the United Kingdom, historycircumnavigate Europe, sightseeingbriefly visit Russia and Turkey then northern Africa, entertainmentIndia and Asia. Australia, drinkingit seems, clubbing and even (in Amsterdam at least) dope smokingdoes not go for the grand.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1843538091</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Alistair Duncan 1908745819|title=Close to Holmes: A Look at the Connections Between Historical London, Sherlock Holmes and Sir Arthur Conan DoyleSurfacing|author=Kathleen Jamie

|summary=It is huge: 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 only in space , but in time and structure; and in rarely do we ask them why they thought so unless it turns out that we didn't like the non-material sphere 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 complex interplay author considering ''an older, less tethered sense of meanings, symbols and significancesherself.'' Older. Less tethered. MillerThat's booknot a bad description of where I am. Add to that my love of the natural world, intentionally combining cultural of those aspects of the poetic and political historylyrical that are about style not form, art criticism and travel writingsubstance most of all, about connection. Of course, manages this book had my name on it. It was written for me. It would have found its way to reflect that hugeness without weighting the reader down with too much austere detailme eventually. I am pleased to have it fall onto my path so quickly.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1861979088</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Guy Delisle1912242052|title=Burma ChroniclesO Joy for me!|author=Keir Davidson|rating=43|genre=Graphic NovelsArt|summary=What we have here are a male househusband and artist, and his MSF doctor wife, and their life in Burma or Myanmar ''Oh Joy for me!'' gives Coleridge credit for roughly a year. We get being ''the first person to see the life in walk the country, from the racks of bootleg softwaremountains alone, not because he had to the animation class he leadsfor work, to their efforts to get into the lush country clubsas a miner, to their baby being adored by every passing girl. We see the state of the countryquarryman, with its horrid drugsshepherd or pack-horse driver, HIV/AIDS but because he wanted to for pleasure and malaria problems, hidden beyond the gentle Buddhist retreatsadventure. We see the Delisles' interaction His rapturous encounters with this singular country - the censored presstheir natural beauty, and the fact that their road is only made more busy because its literary consequences, changed our view of the roadblock diverting everyone away from Aung San Suu Kyiworld''s house a block away.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224087711</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Iain McCalmanWoolf_Great|title=Darwin's ArmadaThe Great Horizon: Four Voyagers to the Southern Oceans and Their Battle for the Theory 50 Tales of EvolutionExploration|author=Jo Woolf

|genre=BiographyHistory|summary=A look at Darwin's journey on The Beagle, as well as Jo Woolf has compiled a brilliant set of fifty short insights into the lives and achievements of some amazingly brave people. Their fearless journeys by Joseph Hookerhave helped us unlock many of the mysteries of the wildest parts of our world, Thomas Huxley and Alfred Wallacealso 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. Darwin's Armada provides a broad overview that strikes This book could be viewed as a different tone taster which encourages us to other books in a crowded marketseek out and read more about some of the most iconic explorers. Casual readers who usually steer clear of non-fiction will enjoy itTheir stories are pretty incredible and Woolf does them justice.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184737266X</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Patrick WrightHailstone_Berlin|title=A Journey Through RuinsBerlin in the Cold War: The Last Days of London 1959 to 1966|author=Allan Hailstone

|genre=Politics and SocietyHistory|summary=My good mood evaporated when Sue, my Bookbag partner, asked me if I'd read and review A Journey Through Ruins. She was right to ask because Thatcher's Britain is certainly an area of interest to me. The thing is, times are depressing enough. Margaret HildaBerlin in the Cold War: 1959-1966's neo-liberal legacy is crashing around us. Jobless queues are lengthening. Roofs are disappearing from over people's headscontains almost 200 photographs taken by author/photographer Allan Hailstone in his visits to the city during this period. The rampant cronyism and venal images provide an insight into the changing nature of our economic the divide between East and political elites are slowly exposing themselves West Berlin and a glimpse into life in ways likely to send my blood pressure soaringthe city during the Cold War. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0199541949</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=David GrannStewart_Marches|title=The Lost City of Z: A Legendary British Explorer's Deadly Quest to Uncover the Secrets of the AmazonMarches|author=Rory Stewart

|genre=BiographyHistory|summary=For Lieutenant-Colonel Percy Fawcett there was more to The Observer quote on the front of the Amazonian jungle than El Doradopaperback edition of Stewart's latest book observes ''This is travel writing at its finest. His target was a treasure of a different nature – a lost city '' Perhaps, but to be discovered because call it was a city, not for any spurious material wealth 'travel writing' is to totally under-sell it might hold. Could This is erudition at its finest. Stewart has the background to do this: he had an entire civilisation have been founded international upbringing and followed his father in both the Army and the inhospitable tracks of rain forestForeign Office, and then (to his father's, bemusement, shall we say) became an MP. Oh, and left remains he might find fame walked 6,000 miles across Afghanistan in locating? As this brilliant biography shows, Fawcett was 2002. A walk along the best man around to find itScottish borders should be a doddle by comparison.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847374360</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Rachel CuskBristow China|title=The Last SupperChina in Drag: A Summer in ItalyTravels with a Cross-dresser|author=Michael Bristow

|genre=TravelAutobiography|summary=So, there's this family, right, and Having worked for nine years in Bejing as a journalist for the parents have itchy feetBBC, so they pack everything up and say goodbye author Michael Bristow decided to write about Chinese history. Having been learning the doglocal language for several years, and leave CliftonBristow asked his language teacher for guidance - the language teacher, Bristolborn in the early fifties, and drive down to Italy and live offered Bristow a fine and different compelling picture of lifein Communist China - but added to that, and the plumbing might not be the best but the neighbours and the scrumping and the wine are all Bristow was greatly surprised to die for and it all comes right find that his language teacher also enjoyed spending his spare time in ladies clothing. It soon becomes clear that the end with lifetale told here is immensely personal -affirming brilliance.  There will be many people shuddering at that completely false description of this book.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571242561</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Pip Cheshire and Patrick Reynolds|title=Architecture Uncooked: An Architect Looks Around New Zealand Holiday Houses|rating=5|genre=Travel|summary=This book immediately impresses by its clearly written, yet intelligent writing, and its photography that captures both the structure and the spirit also paints a fascinating portrait of the holiday homes scattered around the New Zealand countryside.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1869621549</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Dean Starnes|title=Roam|rating=4|genre=Travel|summary=Languages, customs, rituals, fascinating things to do, places to see, people to visit – all in the one book, covering almost every nook and cranny throughout of the world's most intriguing nations. This is a travel book covering, well, pretty well everything.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1869507118</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Tim MooreHurst_Norfolk|title=I Believe in YesterdayOn My Way: My Adventures in Living HistoryNorfolk Coastal Walks|author=John Hurst

|genre=HumourArt|summary=Common opinion has it that the television programme ''Time Team'' did It was pure serendipity: after a lot for five-hour drive, we were, annoyingly, left with an hour to fill in Blakeney before we could have the public image of archaeologists – bringing them out of their holes keys to our holiday cottage. There was an art exhibition in the groundchurch hall, so we went in - and making them seem like exciting, interesting people with found a good way display of putting their knowledge acrossthe most gorgeous pictures. However it was clearly a much harder task when it came to those background artistes they I'd cheerfully have sometimes, walking up bought every one and down in Roman centurion gearhung them on our walls, or living the historical lifestyle as but thought that I would have to make do with a re-enactmentcouple of greetings cards when I saw ''On My Way: Norfolk Coastal Walks'' and I couldn't resist buying it.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224077813</amazonuk>

{{newreview|author=Brian W Pugh and Paul R Spiring|title=On the Trail of Arthur Conan Doyle: An Illustrated Devon Tour|rating=4|genre=Biography|summary=This slim volume, comprising just four chapters, is both a detailed chronology of the life of Arthur Conan Doyle and, for those that want to follow in the footsteps of ACD (I adopt the authors' abbreviation gladly), 'The Complete Arthur Conan Doyle Devon Tour' – locations that inspired The Hound of the Baskervilles and more.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846241987</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=William Gray|title=Adventure Travel (AA Travel Guides)|rating=4|genre=Travel|summary=Last Friday, my local branch of Cotswold Outdoor had several travel guides and physical activity handbooks on the shelves, but nothing similar to this book, a compendium of physically active travel, with some nods to responsible tourism. The format of information on activities, well-written taster articles and plenty of attractive photos make for an inspiring armchair read for dreamers and planners. 'World class' locations are always debatable, but I found interesting suggestions in several sections. I loved the book enough to brush off the toast crumbs so that I can present it to one of my adventurous offspring this Christmas, but I'm very much afraid the easy-opening pages may give the game away!|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0749555815</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Daniel Everett|title=Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes|rating=5|genre=Travel|summary=I nearly didn't select this book to review as I thought it was about snakes - I was expecting some kind of Bear Grylls* adventure travel survival book for the Amazon. How-to-survive-in-the-jungle-armed-with-only-a-sharp-stick-and-a-six-pack sort of thing. Fortunately, I looked into the content a little further, and found that this is an anthropological and linguistic study of the life of the Pirahas, a tribe living in the remote Amazonian jungle. The title comes from the fact that the Pirahas don't have a word for ''goodnight'' – their nearest equivalent when they are leaving someone for the night is ''Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes''.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846680301</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Paul Theroux|title=Ghost Train to the Eastern Star|rating=4|genre=Travel|summary=Some 30-odd years ago Paul Theroux, then half the age he is now, travelled overland across Europe and Asia. The result was 'his best known book' (apparently) – ''The Great Railway Bazaar''.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0241142539</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Martin Buckley|title=An Indian Odyssey|rating=5|genre=Travel|summary=More than a quarter of a century ago Martin Buckley went to Sri Lanka and then Move on to India. It was time off before settling down to the business of earning a living. Two things happened to him – he fell in love with India and knew that he wanted to stay there - and he discovered the ''Ramayana''. Valmiki's epic was written round about 500 to 700 BC – much the same time as Homer's ''Odyssey'' (the title of this book is a very clever play on words) – but it still holds a central place in the hearts and minds of Indians although it is strangely unknown in the West. ''Ramayana'' – The Wanderings of Rama – tells the story of Lord Rama's search for his kidnapped wife and his subsequent battles with Ravan. Much of it is certainly myth. Some may well be based on fact, but it's inspirational and has achieved the status of Holy Writ.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0091925762</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Stephen Clarke |title=A Year in the Merde|rating=5|genre=General Fiction|summary=''A Year In The Merde'' was recommended to me by a friend whose sense of humour is very much on a par with mine. I read it a couple of years ago and decided, on discovering that Stephen Clarke had written a couple of not-to-be-missed follow-ups, that I would treat myself to the tale once more as a warm-up exercise to prepare me for the ''beaucoup de merde'' to come.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0552772968</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Fran Sandham|title=Traversa|rating=5|genre=Travel|summary=When you reach the end of Fran Sandham's solo walk across Africa, as he finally dips his toe into the Indian Ocean, you need to go back to the beginning and start again.  Lots of books make you want to do that. In this case, you actually need to: in order to fully understand the man, and so many of the things he says and does along the way. Otherwise, you're in danger of thinking this guy was a fool for even trying to attempt a solo walk across the African continent.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0715637673</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Christina Thompson|title=Come on Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All|rating=4.5|genre=Travel|summary=Subtitled ''an unlikely love story'', this was an interesting and inspiring memoir written by an American academic, who met and fell in love with a Maori - and what a beautiful tale it tells! Referred to as a 'contact' encounter (i.e., chance meeting) it sounds almost like a fairy tale, and in part it is - but a fairy tale which includes huge amount of hard work too.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0747582521</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Nicola J Watson |title=The Literary Tourist|rating=3.5|genre=Travel|summary=''As our resident travel writer this might interest you…'' came my introduction to this book. Misguidedly as it turned out, for the emphasis in Watson's work is much more heavily on the ''literary'' than on the ''tourist''.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0230210929</amazonuk>}}[[Newest Trivia Reviews]]