Suggested Reads for Spring Break

These are in no particular order, except for alphabetical, so expect the first to be as good as the last!

“The Bonadventure: a Random Journal of an Atlantic Holiday” By Edmund Blunden

"This little book is not intended for anything beyond the statement on the title page.  I am sorry myself that there are no adventures of blood-curdling sort in it; but I could not go out of my way, nor do tramps find time, it seems, for propitiating cannibals."

~Edmund Blunden in his authors note

 “For Lust of Knowing: Memoirs of an intelligence Officer” By Archie Roosevelt

This is a charming, anecdotal report of a life spent in intelligence work in the Middle East and Africa. Grandson of one president and nephew of another, Roosevelt says little about his specific activities in World War II military intelligence and post-war CIA work, but portrays the history and atmosphere of the region in lively sketches.

~American Library Association

 “I fly for news” By Larry Rue

When Larry Rue, star newspaper correspondent, became the first newspaperman to fly his own plane, he piled up more experiences in a short time than many correspondents accumulate in a lifetime.  Rue's recital of cheating death from the dangers of the air and the implements of war on the ground, combined with a succinct survey of the political situation in a score of countries, abounds in humor and puts I fly for News in a rank of its own.

~The Pittsburgh Press

 “Living With Cannibals and Other Women’s Adventures” By Michelle Slung

The spirit of adventure sweeps through the chapters of this exciting volume as we encounter the inspiring, sometimes tragic, often humorous tales of adventurous women -- from the 18th century to the 21st century.  Selected from National Geographic's rich archives, this colorful group portrait pairs female adventurers of the past with their contemporary counterparts -- in a "then and now" approach.

~from library catalog

 “My Old Man and the Sea: a father and son sail around Cape Horn” by David Hays

A story of adventure on a small boat, for fathers, for sons, and for those who love them. On this voyage the father relinquishes control, the son becomes the captain, and before long they are utterly alone, with only the huge waves of Cape Horn, a compass, a sextant, a pet cat, and the tiny boat they've built together.

~from library catalog

 “National Geographic expeditions atlas”

The National Geographic Expeditions Atlas is an intimate and lively retrospective of the Society's extended family, both past and present. Here are the adventurers, scientists, and others who for more than a century have epitomized the Society's enduring mission to explore our world and everything in it.

~from library catalog

 “Other Routs: 1500 years if African and Asian Travel Writing” edited by Tabish Khair

Hoping to mitigate the "almost total erasure of non-European travel accounts" that results in a Eurocentric view of the globe, Khair (Univ. of Aarhus, Denmark) and his fellow editors showcase travel writing by international travelers of Asian and African origin. The editors offer 33 carefully excerpted travel accounts that range chronologically from the 5th century CE to the late 19th century.

~American Library Association

“Prose” by Elizabeth Bishop, edited by Lloyd Schwartz

Among the pieces in Prose, never before published, is Bishop's original text for the Life World Library book on Brazil, which was heavily edited.  "They rewrote wholesale things [Bishop] had written and she hated the book."  Schwartz put together the bulk of what Bishop intended. "This is the closest we can get to what she wanted, and it is really quite remarkable," he said.

~PBS Newshour

“The Royal Road to Romance” by Richard Halliburton.

When Richard Halliburton graduated from college, he chose adventure over a career, traveling the world with almost no money.  The Royal Road to Romance chronicles what happened as a result, from a breakthrough Matterhorn ascent to being jailed for taking forbidden pictures on Gibraltar. "One of the most fascinating books of its kind ever written."

~Detroit News

 “A Tramp Abroad; Fallowing the Equator; Other Travels” by Mark Twain

It was as a humorous travel writer, in The Innocents Abroad and Roughing It, that Mark Twain first became widely known, and at the height of his career he returned to the genre in the works collected here. Like those earlier books, the frequently hilarious A Tramp Abroad (1880), based on his family's 16-month sojourn in Europe from April 1878 to August 1879, blends autobiography and fiction, facts and tall tales.

~from library catalog