Tracks by Robyn Davidson - Book Review 331

 

This book won the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award in 1980.  It was the first such award which lasted until 2004.

I loved learning about the feral camels of Australia, the history and fringe industry around them.

I've always been fascinated by Australia.  It seems an invert of Canada to me.  In 1977 Davidson went on a cross-country walk with a dog and four camels across the Northern Territory and Western Australian deserts.  From Alice Springs to Woodleigh and Hamelin Pool on the western shore of the continent. 

She wrote about the deplorable treatment of the Australian Aborigines.  The rampant sexism. The subsistence living of cattle stations and their impact on the land. The craziness of tourism. 

Through it all she had to deal with the desire to complete the trek on her own terms and dealing with circumstances that changed how she approached the journey. 

Wild camels and her growing fame while on the trip were circumstances difficult to deal with.  But she did. 

It is a story of perseverance and adaptation to the land.

The narrative was not at all what I expected and that was a good thing.  Being challenged to see the world through another person's eyes and mind can be altering.  

This is why I read.

To Leave It on the Mountain by Maaza Mengiste - The New York Times Style Magazine, May 15, 2022

This issue of the magazine focuses on travel, particularly on places returned to after a long absence. 

This recollection centers on a childhood illness while traveling with the author's mother to Mount Pilatus, Switzerland.

What happens when a place is associated with a bad memory?  Many may not return.  Sometimes going back can be a tonic that can only be appreciated once the old memories are examined and compared to the new experience. 

It's not unusual to avoid a place where an unhappy event happened.  But is it the fault of the place?  No, it's just what the place itself represents.  Giving the place a second chance may be an opportunity to give the memory some perspective. 

There was a warmth to the story that I took to immediately.

North to the Orient by Anne Morrow Lindbergh - Book Report #316

How refreshing this book was from the previous book review!

It was beautifully written, honest and romantic.  In the 1930's flight was still very much in its infancy, the realm of adventurers.

I loved the gentleness of her writing and how she and her famous husband, Charles, were surveying routes to China for the planned commercial aviation business.

The flight went from the east coast of the USA, up to Churchill on the Hudson's Bay, across the high north of Canada and Alaska to the Kamchatka peninsula, Japan and finally China.  All of this in a two-person float plane with barley any infrastructure or radio communication.  Amazing.

For an 86 year-old book it read very well.

I was especially taken by how Ms. Lindbergh rankled at the expectations of the media.  Being a woman they were only concerned about what she was wearing and what she packed for lunch.  It's nice to see how her pioneering worked to promote and push forward social equality.

I highly recommend this book.  I restored my faith in humanity and in story telling.

Himalya by Michael Palin - Book Report #310

Once again, with charm, respect and genuine curiosity Palin travels into lands filled with mystery and legend, at least to this Canadian reader.

  

I personally did not engage with this adventure as I had his other travels.  There was a more religion, spirituality and superstition in the groups of people he met than I had interest in.  That says more about me than it does about the people or the narrative.  Spiritualism is just not for me.

That said, there was plenty to be learned at the border crossings and the history of previous occupations, wars and political influence.

My favourite passage of the book summed up the entire experience and perhaps all of his explorations.

 

"The enjoyment of the world is immeasurably enhanced not just by meeting people who think, look, talk and dress differently from yourself, but by having to depend on them. The trio of Bangladeshi fishermen who learnt the arcane art of television filming in a little less than half an hour are only the last of a long list of those who had every reason to think that we were completely mad, but who decided, against all the odds, to be our friends instead."

Michael Palin's website - https://www.themichaelpalin.com/

Michael Palin's travel website - https://www.palinstravels.co.uk/

Michael Palin

Dissapointment River By Brian Castner - Book Report #303

Finding and Losing the Northwest Passage

I love stories like these.  

This is a real-life, modern-day, canoe journey of the Mackenzie River.  The author decided to follow in the footsteps of Alexander Mackenzie who paddled the river in the hopes of finding an inland Northwest Passage.  "The Mackenzie river is the longest river system in Canada, and includes the second largest drainage basin of any North American river after the Mississippi." (Passage from Wikipedia)

From his starting point at Great Slave Lake all the way to the Arctic Ocean Brian Castner weaves his voyage to that of Mackenzie's.  At certain points in the trip Castner and Mackenzie stood on the same spots, on the same dates, 227 yeas apart.   

Blending history to the modern day by replicating an event, is an effective way to bring history alive and to compare the two worlds.  At times, the author is vividly imagining what Mackenzie and his party went through only to be knocked back into the present by the passing of a speedboat or a container ferry.

In many ways, life has not changed at all in the Canadian north in 1779 Mackenzie was trying to find his fortune, the industry of the day were furs.  Today, oil, gas and mining dominate.

I was thankful for the trip Brian Castner took and glad he chose to write about it.  I was thrilled to shoot the rapids with him from the safety of my couch.  I was happy to learn a bit more about Canadian history and to simply answer the question as to how the river got its modern name.  It is traditionally known as the Deh-Cho by the way.  I was also very happy to learn that no way in hell would I want to take a similar trip.

This was a terrific story.

Brian Castner's website - https://briancastner.com/

Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw by Will Ferguson - Book Review #279

Travels in Search of Canada

Sometimes, especially around July (read Canada Day) I pick up, buy or borrow a book about Canada.

I've known of Will Ferguson for years and especially this book; the title has always stood out.  This time, I ran across an article that described him as Canada's Bill Bryson whom I adore.

Good enough for me.  I typed in his name on the EPL website and found Beauty Tips.

Part travel book, part memoir and part history it was a perfect read to inflate my pride in this underrated country.

There was plenty of humour that made me seek out my wife so I could read her passages.  This happened quite often, as it turns out.

In the ten chapters, he covers, almost every province, New Foundland and Labrador has two entries, Furguson explores the smaller, more interesting places tying the history of a place to his personal experience there.

I found myself keeping the book in sight at all times because I was always interested.  The writing is crisp, self-deprecating and always respectful.

It was a joy to read.

Recommended for every Canadain and anybody interested in understanding Canadians a bit more.

Will Ferguson's website - https://www.willferguson.ca/

Will Ferguson

Extreme Frontiers: Racing Across Canada by Charley Boorman - Book Report #255

Being Canadian it’s always interesting to get a foreign perspective on my home.

I was happy to read that the people Boorman met along the way were open, helpful and friendly. 

From region to region he tried to participate in activities that reflect the land, history and people. 

To be honest, I found the narrative a bit clunky during the first third but that was just me adjusting to his voice.  Once I got comfortable with his writing style I found myself smiling and engaging with the book.  I was reading it at every opportunity and tore through it rather quickly.

Honestly, the bit where he was mountain climbing in the Rockies made my heart race.  There were some scary parts of that climb where I was glad it was him doing it and not me.

It’s a rare occurrence to be sad that you are reaching the end of a book, which is a real compliment to Boorman. I wish he would have taken a dip in the Pacific, turned around and rode all the way back again.

I was happy to see he has many more books to his credit and I am looking forward to reading them.  However, I have both The Long Way Round and The Long Way Down which I haven’t read yet.  Having seen both adventures on DVD, I’m sure there will be some interesting perspectives in them.  It’s good to know I still have some Charley Boorman to read.

This is a comfortable read where, by the end, you will feel like you’ve met a charming, honest and good man.  That is excellent company to keep.

Charley Boorman’s website - http://www.charleyboorman.com/

Charley Boorman

Sailing Alone Around the World by Captain Joshua Slocum - Book Report #203

I really did not know what to expect from this century-old story.

Sometimes I go on binges at the library, exploring titles and adding them to my "for later" list, I've got over 700 on it.

I decided to go back to the first entry, in audio books, to see what was there.

What a lovely story!  Captain Slocum was a terrific writer with a knack for wit and observation.  I was taken first by the audacity of the trip - around the world in a sailboat, alone!  I was also very taken by the generosity of the community of sailors, folks of power at port, the helpfulness he found along the way and his undying optimism.

I was completely taken in by this story.  His trip around Cape Horn was one of the most thrilling of adventures, and that was only a part of the journey in total.  But Cape Horn stands out in this trip.

I highly recommend this book.

Since I enjoyed it as an audiobook I will be seeking out a paper copy to add to my shelves.

If you enjoy travel or books of adventure, this is a must read.

Captain J Slocum onboard the Spray

Destination: Prince George by David Webb in British Columbia Magazine

I've decided that magazine articles should be included.  I am on a bit of a non-fiction kick these days and want to include periodicals.

Prince George is a city that I only have a fleeting knowledge of.  I usually pass the distance marker for it at the junction of highways Trans Canada 16 and BC 5, at Tête Jaune Cache, about 275 kms east of there.  That is the extent of my experience with the place.  It is, sadly, only a name on a highway street sign to me.

After reading the article I find myself intrigued.  Thinking it was only a mill town I had no interest in it all.  But now I see there is much, much more going on.  There is a fresh food and craft beer scene emerging along with well-established back country adventures opportunities.

I tried to find a link to the article but it is only available in the current print edition of British Columbia Magazine.  Get out in the world and find a copy of the physical copy.  The magazine is a beautiful read, from cover to cover, and is well worth the effort to find.

David Webb - http://theworldwidewebb.ca/

British Columbia magazine - https://bcmag.ca/

David Webb

Bill Bryson's African Diary by Bill Bryson - Book Report #194

This is a lovely little 50-page book where all the proceeds go to support the Care charity.

CARE invited Bill Bryson to visit Kenya to see what life is like there and how the charity is working to help the people.

I was expecting that it would be dominated by the gloom of deep poverty and it was certainly described.  But then there is the effervescent personality of Bryson himself that can't help but see the quirks of humanity and the good that is all around.

I was happy that he wrote the book in the manner that has won him his dedicated audience.  It is a charming thing to follow a middle-aged and bewildered white guy into a wholly alien situation.

His intelligence, compassion and eye for the humanity of a given situation make this a book to search for and buy.

Recommended.

Bill Bryson's Wiki page - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Bryson

CARE website - http://care.ca/

Bill Bryson

The Road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson - Book Report #193

On the 20th anniversary of the publication of Notes From A Small Island, Bryson revisits the U.K. by following a path of his creation.

The Bryson Line describes the longest distance between two communities using a ruler.

What I love about Bill Bryson is that his books are less about the locations he visits and more about the people he meets and those that have been influential in the places he chooses to visit.

He is terrific at describing his interactions with the person behind the counter or a fellow tourist.  He also makes the effort to research who a building is named after or how a museum curated the treasures he has come to see.

It's a wonderful way of looking at the world because people are people no mater where they live or when.  Thorough it all there is his biting wit that I find inviting.

The book was lovely.

Bill Bryson

The Bryson Line

Sahara by Michael Palin - Book Report #162

13/15/2016

What a wonderful opportunity to enjoy a book by the likes of Michael Palin and to have it read by to you by the man himself.

His voice lends itself to narration so well that I was sad when it was all over.

As in most of these kinds of journeys the trips seldom come about without a hitch, detours are encountered, weather, borders, conflicts, bureaucracy, breakdowns and scheduling all come to play in this circumnavigation of the great Sahara desert.

After listening to parts of the audio book I would spend time with the large format coffee table book and peruse the pictures to actually see whet Palin described.

But it is the people that join him along the way that makes this story so special.  The generosity of strangers to the traveler has shown itself in his and many other travel writers to be consistent through the world.

People are generally open and inviting and even eager to share their way of life.  It just goes to show that governments do not necessarily represent the people of a particular region.

We are more alike than we are led to believe.

That is the power of these kinds of travels: to show us that we are all human.

Recommended.

Around The World In 80 Days by Michael Palin - Book Report #138

If you listen to the news you must feel, as I do, that we are living in a pretty shitty place and a pretty shitty time.  The world is not like that.  As a matter of fact it is much, much better than what we are being bombarded with in the media.  I'm not saying terrible things are not happening, they are, but it's not the only thing going on.

Because I needed to let some sunshine in and feel good about things I've turned to a few books that focus on the good that people do.

To start off I returned to my hero Michael Palin.  It was way, way back in 1988 that Michael took the challenge the BBC offered him to travel around the world following the path of Jules Vern's character Phileas Fogg.  Could the journey be done in modern times given how the world had changed since the book was published in 1873?

This book is the companion to the TV series and it is best if you take the time to watch that to get the full experience.  I read the paperback edition that holds a copyright of 1999. The original hardback was published in 1989.

The book is presented as a series of journal entries and included two sets of pictures of his journey.  Not only does Palin describe the places he saw and the food eaten but he also describes his own doubts of his ability to pull off being a presenter.  He also goes to describe the adventures of his crew, lovingly called Passepartout, after Fogg's companion in the novel.

The overwhelming generosity of strangers and the openness of people is something I found surprising and touching.  A wonderful tonic to restore your faith in humanity.

Michael Palin has made a positive impact on the world.

Michael Palin has two websites.  The first one is dedicated to his travels and you can read each book on-line!

http://www.palinstravels.co.uk/

The second one is also very, very interesting if your are interested in the man himself.  Wonderful. Check out his Ramblings page.  Also wonderful.

http://www.themichaelpalin.com/

Michael Palin

Book Report #37 - Golden Gate Bridge

Golden Gate Bridge

History and Design of an Icon

by

Donald MacDonald and Ira Nadel 

Sue and I are taking a trip to San Francisco so I thought I'd read up on the place a little bit.

One of the first icons to pop into my mind were; the streetcars, the Transamerica Pyramid, Alcatraz, Lombard Street, the Presidio and The Golden Gate Bridge.

I found this little book in the Edmonton Public Library and found it to be very informative.  What surprised me the most was the complete lack of archival photos; the book was illustrated completely with original sketches.  These drawings proved to be very informative and clear but I would have liked to have the sketch and a photo to make the examples stand out.

In any event the book proved to be up to date and complete; it touched on every subject I was interested in.

I'm glad I read it.