Friday, April 16, 2010

Quick Reviews...

Back to the swing of things. I've fully recovered from the Read a thon, and now have a few more days off of work due to Murphy's Law and my cutting my thumb while hoping I wouldn't cut my thumb. Brilliant. So, it's time for more reviews to catch up on what I've been reading this year. I think we're up to category 5, which is Anywhere But Here, Travel Lit and Travel Guides. I love me some good travel books!

"Bronte Country", ed. by Glenda Leeming
A nice book of pictures of "Bronte Country" in Yorkshire during all four seasons. Lots (and lots) of Bronte quotes accompany each page. More of a look-y book than a read-y book.

"Carnet de Voyage" by Craig Thompson
An amusing, honest, not-quite-rose-colored travel journal of Craig Thompson's European / African publicity tour for Blankets with a side trip vacation done on his own. Love it - there are many parts of traveling that I often think myself when I'm on the road, and it's an easy read. It's nice to travel with Craig, even when he's a little whiny and self-absorbed.

"Film + Travel Europe: Traveling the World Through Your Favorite Movies" by Museyon Guides
Meh. It looked interesting (I'm a cover sucker - that sounds gross) and it was only okay. It's a small book, and it does cover all of Europe, but it was mostly blurbs mentioning that such-and-such was filmed here. The only time the talked about a movie in detail (a 5 sentence paragraph) it was an obscure or "classic" movie made in the 60's that I hadn't seen. To be honest, I was bored. Not that it's not a great idea, I was just hoping for something a little more mainstream, or current (or even better, vintage 30's and 40's stuff. How awesome would that be?), or that had some content to it.

"French Milk" by Lucy Knisley
A great book, told graphic-novel style (with a few photos thrown in), about Lucy and her Mom spending 5 weeks in France to celebrate their birthdays. From her love of French milk (hence the title), to the acute hell of life after college when everything seems to be so monumental to THE REST OF YOUR LIFE that you become paralyzed, to all of the wonderful discoveries the city of Paris holds, I relished in every minute of reading this book. It was also kind of funny to read about some things that you take for granted as common knowledge - it's such a joy to learn a new city and the quirks that make it so wonderful. Love it!

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