Maiden Voyages - Sian Evans

 Sub-title: Magnificent ocean liners and the women who traveled and worked aboard them

I'd found out about this book while listening to a genealogy zoom discussion.  The author's great-uncle was a ship's captain and her research into his life led to the book.  I have to admit, I only read about a third.  Evans goes into great detail to document the lives and history of the times of the great ocean liners and that detail became tedious.  Unlike some authors who can make history riveting ( Erik Larson comes to mind), she does a poor job of making a story out of the facts.  I found it to be a litany of "so and so" did "such and such on this date" over and over again.  A disappointment and I chose not to finish it.

Published: 2020  Read: December 2021  Genre: History

Rules for Visiting - Jessica Francis Kane

 The reviews on this one were good and I liked the concept - a woman reaches out to connect in person with her friends from the past in the age of instant communication.  It missed the mark.  The heroine, May, is strange; a detached, disconnected, landscape gardener.  The author interweaves descriptions of the personalities of various North American trees into the narrative to illustrate the choices of personalities we can adopt.  I think that what was she was trying to do.  The back story of May's life was so obscure that when it was revealed it was anticlimactic.  Some thoughtful observations kept me reading but in the end, the book fell flat

Quotes:

"Friends are God's apology for relations (Hugh Kingsmith)"

"...the Dunbar number--the maximum number of people with whom any individual can maintain stable relationships--and how, despite predictions, it hadn't gotten any bigger in the age of social media."

"A house is a physical thing that is build with wood and bricks, furnished with furniture and carpets, while a home takes time and is built with memories." 

"Perhaps a best friend is someone who...holds the story of your life in mind.  Sometimes in music a melodic line is so beautiful the notes feel inevitable; you can anticipate the next note through a long rest.  Maybe that is friendship.  A best friend holds your story in mind so notes don't have to be repeated." 

Published: 2019  Read: April 2020  Genre: Fiction 

 

Tropical Nature - Adrian Forsyth and Ken Miyata

 Subtitle- Life and Death in the rain forests of Central and South America 

I've been working on a DNA case that is related to the author of this book so I read it to see if I could get any clues. What an odd twist to research!

On page 31 I found a reference to a Marston Bates author of The Forest and the Sea.  

On page 73 there was a reference to Calaway Dodson, an orchid biologist who was the director of the Marie Selby botanical garden, a place I've visited a couple of times.

On page 132 there was reference to Henry Bates a British naturalist of the 1800s.

Finally, chapter 12 discussed the Mount Auburn Cemetery as a birder's mecca,  a factoid I found unusual. 

The book itself was a engaging introduction to the forest but did'nt convince me to put it on my traveling list.

Published: 1984   Read: February 2021:    Genre: Science 

The Flying Carpet - Richard Halliburton

Sometime in the past I'd read about the adventure stories of Richard Halliburton and added his name to my TBR list.  In a dusty old bookstore on our way back from Alaska this summer, I finally found one of his books.

Richard Halliburton was a son of well-to-do English parents who in the 1920s explored the world on foot, by sea and land and wrote about his adventures.  He was a superstar who wrote in a romantic, exaggerated style that won the fascination of the public in his day.

The Flying Carpet was the name he gave to his bi-plane that he used to travel from California to NY and then transport by ship to England where he embarked on a world tour of exotic locations from Timbuktu to Persia and Turkey and on to the Taj Mahal and Mt Everest, eventually returning to the U.S.

I was transported to the time and places and attitudes of the 1920s and thrilled with his spirit of can do optimism and daring-do.  If I run across other of his writings, I'll read them as well.

Published: 1932 (originally) 1982 ed.  Read: 2019  Genre: Adventure

Contents May Have Shifted - Pam Houston

Isn't that a catchy title?  That and the recommendations made me take this off the check-in shelf at a campground.  A very adventurous young woman is constantly traveling the world while trying to find and keep a meaningful relationship.  Roughly based on the author's life, it was a good read.  She used a technique called fractured narrative where she tells brief snippets of the story that your mind stitches together as your reading.  I liked learning about new places to visit and explore.


Published:  2012   Read: July 2019  Genre: Memoir

People of the Book – Geraldine Brooks

A book conservationist is hired to examine and repair an ancient Jewish book, the Sarajevo Haggadah.  The story tells of her discoveries of minute evidence of its past hidden in its pages which are explained in flashbacks to their origins.  The story is based on a true precious relic that has been a symbol of the various faiths living in harmony for centuries.  This is a work of historical fiction, so the author creates fictional characters to populate the facts.

Brooks has written other books of historical fiction: March which tells the story of the father of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women; Nine Parts of Desire, which I don’t think I’ve read and Year of Wonders, about a town during the Black Plague. 

People of the Book tells of the terrible tragedies of wars and hatred and the enduring strength of the people who persist despite the hardship.  I learned more about all religions – Jewish, Christian, Muslim and how much they are intertwined.  A wonderful read, highly recommended.

Published:  2008  Read: June 2018  Genre: Historical Fiction

The Amateur Emigrant - Robert Louis Stevenson

This is an old book written after the author had travelled from Scotland to America in the "economy" berths of the ship called the second cabin to observe and experience the journey among the working class people.

Robert Louis Stevenson was 28 years old on this journey and had yet to write his books (Treasure Island, Kidnapped, The Strange Case of  Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde) or poems (A Child's Garden of Verses).  It is the first part of a trilogy on his travels to and through America.

The book offers a glimpse of what it was like to travel to America in the late 19th century and the everyday people that made the journey.  One passage caught my attention.  The author is reflecting on the workmen he met while aboard:

Culture is not measured by the greatness of the field which is covered by our knowledge, but by the nicety with which we can perceive relations in that field... whether great or small.  Workmen...did not perceive relations, but leaped to a so-called cause, and thought the problem settled.  Thus the cause of everything in England was the form of government, and the cure for all evils was, by consequence, a revolution.  

...the true reasoning of their souls ran thus--I have not got on; I ought to have got on; if there was a revolution I should get on.  How?  They had no idea.  Why? Because --because--well, look at America!

To be politically blind is no distinction; we are all so, if you come to that.  At bottom, as it seems to me, there is but one question in modern home politics, though it appears in many shapes, and that is the question of money; and but one political remedy, that the people should grow wiser and better. 

My workmen fellow-passengers were as impatient and dull of hearing on the second of these points as any member of Parliament...  They would not hear of improvement on their part, but wished the world made over again in a crack, so that they might remain improvident and idle and debauched, and yet enjoy the comfort and respect that should accompany the opposite virtues; and it was in this expectation...that many of them were now on their way to America. 

The book was not published until after Stevenson's death at 44 and was thought shocking by his family that he would travel in this fashion and that certain passages were too graphic.

For a genealogical twist, I looked up and recorded Stevenson and his parents in Ancestry so I could search for the record of his trip and I found it, though the recorder wrote his name as "Stephenson" on the manifest when he arrived in America.

Published: 1895 (this edition, 1998)  Read: July 2016  Genre: Memoir

Dear American Airlines - Jonathan Miles

A quick read that I picked up at the used bookstore.  The protagonist is a former alcoholic poet, now translator, who is on the way to redeem himself by walking his daughter down the aisle at her wedding when his flight is cancelled and he is stuck in O'Hare overnight.  Out of frustration, he writes a letter to AA revealing a life of great plans and poor execution, joys and disappointments (mainly in himself) and a quest for meaning and sustained hope.

It's funny and relatable, having spent unintended time waiting in airports over the years.  An enjoyable read.

Published:  2008  Read: May 2016  Genre: fiction, humor

Becoming Odyssa - Jennifer Pharr Davis

Sub-title: Adventures on the Appalachian Trail

I picked this up on the library's "Get Outdoors" shelf.  My husband has hiked the trail to various lengths for several years and I was interested in reading another person's account.

Before reading, I knew nothing about the author.  The jacket told me she'd become a record holder in hiking the trail in the fewest number of days.  This story is about her first hike at the tender age of 21 after finishing college.  She was naive and inexperienced and sheltered and the hike changed her life.

I enjoyed the fast pace of the story, with each chapter beginning with an introduction to the next stretch of the trail and then her experiences traversing that stretch.  She chose to hike alone for most of the way, reflecting on her reactions, her thoughts and her ability to persevere.

As my husband, who also read the book, pointed out, everyone hikes their own hike.  Just like life; we all have our own view of how we experience our existence and those with share it with.

Published:  2010  Read: March 2016  Genre: Adventure, auto-biography

Lobster Chronicles - Linda Greenlaw

Sub-title: Life on a very small island

This is a little gem I picked up in the used bookstore.  The author grew up on a small island in Maine, worked many years as a fisherman and then captain of a fishing boat in the ocean and in this story returns to her hometown to try lobster fishing.  She's real and honest and loving of her neighbors, family and friends.  The life of a lobster-woman is the backdrop to the relationships of the people of the tiny island.  A quick read from a spunky gal.

Published:  2002   Read: June 2015  Genre: Auto-biography

Swimming to Antarctica - Lynne Cox

Tales of a Long Distance Swimmer

This is a memoir of the many open water swimming records achieved by the author since age 16.  It's fascinating to me how she thinks when taking on physical challenges, how she pushes her limits and continues to set new goals.  The writing is awkward and choppy at times but her spirit, will and determination to make a difference in the world is inspiring.

Lynne Cox swam the English Channel, Cape of Good Hope, Bering Strait and several other never before attempted distances as well as over 1 mile in the Antarctic Ocean - 38 degree water!   And, in just a swimsuit, cap and goggles.  The book tells how she prepares for her swims, what it is like to swim in these places and the crew that supports her.  She has written two other books, most recently one on Roald Amundsen's Antarctic expedition that I will be adding to my TBR.

Published: 2004   Read: June 2012   Genre: Non-Fiction