101 Places NOT to See Before You Die
Catherine Price
I was a bit disappointed that many of the places Price lists are related to a personal anecdote (albeit hilarious), don’t really exist (hell) or you would not be able to experience yourself (being a bull at the running of the bulls). However, there are plenty of doozies I have to agree wholeheartedly with: Wall Drug, Times Square on New Year’s Eve, the Inside of a Chinese Coal Mine, The Grover Cleveland Service Area, etc. Despite not quite living up to the standard “101 places…” template, the book is still very amusing, as are the guest comments from other writers like AJ Jacobs. Yes, there are many hellish places that didn’t make it in (Gary, IN, I’m looking at YOU!) this still give you a ...
Star Island
Carl Hiaasen
Hiaasen’s newest title, Star Island, is by far my favorite since Skinny Dip. Using the trite and oft-seen story of a starlet going off the rails, Hiaasen drags Cherry Pye, a mediocre singer filled with blind ambition, had her double Ann, into the psychotic world of The Captain’s Florida. Never one to disappoint, Hiaasen’s characters careen widely from one-near miss to another. The bad get theirs in the end and the good get a nasty vindication. Cheaper than drugs and just as shiny and confusing.
The Last King of Scotland
Giles Foden
I was sad to discover that The Last King Of Scotland is a piece of fiction. Read it anyway. The plot is so unbelievable as to be highly believable. Picking up speed as the madness of dictator Idi Amin spins out, young Dr. Nicholas Garrigan is drawn into war, sickness and a fantasy world created by a madman. Excellent, enthralling read.
American Shaolin
Matt Polly
Chinese kung-fu is one of the most glorious examples of obsessive-compulsive behavior in the history of human culture.
There is a certain type of person who needs something to hang onto, make their own and Focus On (yes, with caps). For some reason, martial arts (and religion) seem to draw these folks to them. Polly is a kind of uber-obsessive in that he actually moved to China to study kung-fu at the Shoalin temple. Like anything portrayed in Hollywood movies it is both completely different and yet exactly as portrayed. Polly’s outsider exuberance and overwhelming desire to fit in is at times rather sad and pathetic. Yet I can’t help admire him for giving his all and truly immersing himself in his quest for knowledge. He ...
The Pyrates
George McDonald Fraser
Despite some of his later anti-global warming diatribes, Michael Crichton was for the most part an excellent writer. Which is why I’m sure he came to his senses and chose never to release his book Pirate Latitudes. Published posthumously, the book seems to be ripped straight from Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean… the ride. The plot is nearly nonexistent and every pirate related legend is crammed haphazardly into the book. Stories of the kraken and headhunter tribes are tacked on like literary post-its. After wading through this dreck, I had to reread an old favorite (and far superior book) The Pyrates.
Rivaling Terry Pratchett for the...
Off the Tourist Trail
Eyewitness Travel
This is SUCH a dangerous book if you like to travel. Here are a thousand alternative trips and places to visit off the standard tourist trail. Usually less expensive than the big names, much less-visited and often harder to get to, these destinations are so very tempting. Find alternatives to the over-touristed Machu Picchu in Isla del Sol which is much more intact and barely visited. Visit Lalibela, a stone church carved into the ground, as opposed to tourist-packed Petra. There are cheaper tropical islands, festivals of every sort, canyons, falls and train routes. Oh so tempting!