There is great depth and honestly in Ms. Alexi's portrayal of the diverse characters in The Illegal Gardener. The novel expertly interweaves the lives of an English woman with the residents in the small Greek village she impulsively moves to. After leaving her home and children she becomes part of not only the village community but also forever changes the life of a stoic, insightful young refugee from Pakistan. Ms. Alexi's realistic account of village life - as well as the difficulties faced by both the residents and the many illegal refugees in Greece - is done with a compassionate understanding of cultural and individual differences. The author brings a guileless candor and realism to her well-developed characters' epiphanies about love, family and friendship while avoiding the banal and formulaic.
This delightful companion to Alexi's wonderful "The Illegal Gardner" takes a lighthearted and then serious look at the harm keeping secrets can do. Highly visual and beautifully described, the book sweeps the reader into Marina's life as she tries to prevent what could be a family disaster. Black Butterflies would be a perfect vacation or beach book. Recommended.
Terrific book! Casey aptly portrays an incredibly tense and dangerous story. His character research and descriptions of this tragedy are outstanding. He provides the right level of background information about the region, the people, and their emotions, without bogging down the reader. The tragedy is presented, the story is filled in, and the questions and concerns of the tragedy are presented for the reader. Well done!!
Mountaineer Maurice Herzog gives a gripping firsthand account of one of the most daring climbing expeditions in history
Read Born To Run - A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen - by Christopher McDougall book online now. You also can download other books, magazine and also comics. Get online Born To Run - A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen - by Christopher McDougall today.
Rick Steves’ Pocket guidebooks truly are a “tour guide in your pocket.” Each colorful, compact book includes Rick’s advice for prioritizing your time, whether you're spending one or seven days in a city. Everything a busy traveler needs is easy to access: a neighborhood overview, city walks and tours, sights, handy food and accommodations charts, an appendix packed with information on trip planning and practicalities, and a fold-out city map.
The astonishing saga of polar explorer Ernest Shackleton's survival for over a year on the ice-bound Antarctic seas, as Time magazine put it, "defined heroism." Alfred Lansing's scrupulously researched and brilliantly narrated book -- with over 200,000 copies sold -- has long been acknowledged as the definitive account of the Endurance's fateful trip. To write their authoritative story, Lansing consulted with ten of the surviving members and gained access to diaries and personal accounts by eight others. The resulting book has all the immediacy of a first-hand account, expanded with maps and illustrations especially for this edition.
A great book and series for the Hawaiian islands. We used this to plan our first trip to Hawaii and don't know what we would have done without it. Very insightful information and specific details on so many areas, sites, activities, hotels, restaurants, etc. The Maui book is a must for the road to Hana if you want a detailed plan on things to see and where to find waterfalls.
Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best nonfiction books of all time.
Highly recommended by my son and daughter-n-law who used last year's book to tour England, Ireland and Scotland. Excellent info and should be a must carry for someone on a budget and who wants to get the most out of their trip by capturing the culture and flavor of the area!
You can count on Rick Steves to tell you what you really need to know when traveling in Italy.
Warm, witty and often amusing, PARIS IN LOVE chronicles a moment out of time. Actually, several moments. A whole year's full, in fact. Following the death of her mother and a cancer scare of her own, NY Times Bestselling author, Eloisa James ran away to Paris, France. Stepping away from their hectic life, she and her husband took sabbaticals from their university teaching positions, sold their house and cars, packed up their two children and rented an apartment in Paris for a year. Told in a series of short vignettes (that were originally Facebook status updates) interspersed with essays, PARIS IN LOVE takes you into the heart of this family; the triumphs, failures and lessons learned during their year abroad. It's educational, amusing, sometimes heartbreaking but always life affirming and an experience not to be missed. I highly recommend PARIS IN LOVE.
If you purchase 
This was a fun but very informative decription of life as foreign school teachers in the Middle East. These British ex-pats (via their retirement home in Spain) embarked upon a year's adventure in Bahrain. The stories of spoiled school kids, sweltering heat, political unrest, and colorful characters kept me engrossed in this fun book for hours. Am eager to read the author's other works now. If one has not read others' descriptions of ex-pats in Saudia Arabia, Bahrain, etal, it would be a real eye-opener; however, the author's descriptions of their year as teachers in Bahrain certainly gives a great description of life there.
This is a fascinating analysis of what happened to Michael Rockefeller. He builds a very good case for the real reason Michael disappeared. This book is also an interesting study of the culture of the indigenous people. Well worth the read.
The best-selling Reader's Digest travel book has 40% new content including over 200 new sites, over 200 new full-color photographs, and all-new, up-to- date maps.
The format is wonderful--one simple page for each recommended location or activity. Each page includes the best time of year to travel and other recommendations. We've been to some of the selected locations, and the descriptions were very good for a one-page summary. It also helps you think of places to travel that you might not have thought of or considered. The pictures are beautiful.
