Allison, Peter

Don't Look Behind You!

C. 2009

Safari guide Allison (Whatever You Do, Don't Run: True Tales of a Botswana Safari Guide, 2007) recalls his experiences with deadly animals. In ragged chronological fashion, the author takes us on a ten-year journey, from his period of guide training, to his unsatisfying experiences as a trainer of other guides, to his four-year Australian hiatus and, finally, his happy return to Africa.

Baggett, Jennifer

The Lost Girls: Three Friends, Four Continents, One Unconventional Detour Around the World

C. 2010

Jen, Holly, and Amanda are at a crossroads. They're feeling the pressure to hit certain milestones--scoring a big promotion, finding a soul mate, having 2.2 kids--before they reach their early thirties. When personal challenges force them to reevaluate their lives, they decide it's now or never to do something daring.

Bryne, David

Bicycle Diaries

C. 2009

Since the early 1980s, renowned musician and visual artist David Byrne has been riding a bike as his principal means of transportation in New York City. Two decades ago, he discovered folding bikes and started taking them with him when traveling around the world. Byrne's choice was initially made out of convenience rather than political motivation, but the more cities he saw from his bicycle, the more he became hooked on this mode of transport and the sense of liberation, exhilaration, and connection it provided.

Dempsey, Luke

A Supremely Bad Idea: Three Mad Birders and their Quest to See it All

C. 2008

It was an epiphany: The moment two friends showed Luke Dempsey a small bird flitting around the bushes of his country garden, he fell madly in love. But did he really want to be a birder? Didn't that mean he'd be forced to eat granola? And wear a man-pouch? Before he knew it, though, he was lost to birding mania.

Epstein, Nicky

Knitting in Tuscany: Fabulous Design, Luscious Yarns, Shopping Secrets, Food & Wine, Travel Notes

C. 2009

Although design comes first in the subtitle, that's not the real draw of this book for knitters. Only a few will be inspired to take on projects like a felted Etruscan jug, a rooster pillow, or an oversize vest with a Roman lad on the front. What is fabulous, however, is following  popular designer-author Epstein, as she knits her way through Northern Italy.

Fieri, Guy

Diners, Drive-Ins, Dives: an All-American Road Trip

C. 2008

Fieri, co-owner of several restaurants in Santa Rosa and Sacramento, CA, was the winner of the second season of The Next Food Network Star. He's now host of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, and his first book, with food writer Volkwein, is a spin-off from the series. Fieri has an exuberant personality, and his search for "Flavortown" led him to 60 diners, mom-and-pop cafe's, and other casual dining spots across the country.

Grann, David

The Lost City of Z

C. 2008

A masterpiece of narrative nonfiction, this blockbuster adventure takes listeners on a gripping journey into the Amazon.

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Hales, Dianne R .

Becoming Italian: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Beautiful Language

C. 2009

In this charming love letter to the language and culture of Italy, journalist Hales recounts her inebriation with Italian's sounds and her lovesickness over its phrases.

Haywood, Chelsea

90-day Geisha: My Time as a Tokyo Hostess

C. 2009

When night falls on Tokyo's Roppongi district, harried businessmen find a welcome respite from the relentless pressures of work. Here alcohol flows freely, drugs are easy to obtain, and, for a price, they can forget their cares in the company of a lovely young woman - or two or three. Canadian fashion model Haywood finds herself immersed in this surreal world when she begins a three-month stint as a Tokyo hostess.

Heat-Moon, William Least

Roads to Quoz: an American Mosey

C. 2008

The author travels about the United States, discovering more hidden spots filled with history and unusual characters.

Hessler, Peter

Oracle Bones: a Journey Between China's Past and Present

C. 2006

Hessler, who has lived in China for the past nine years and is the Beijing correspondent for the New Yorker, has written a fascinating and frequently moving account of life in modern China as seen through the eyes of an eclectic group of people, including a minority Uighur, who operates on the fringe of legality, a factory worker, a teacher, a film director, and a scholar who was destroyed by the Cultural Revolution.

Jonnes, Jill

Eiffel's Tower

C. 2009

Presents a compelling account of the Eiffel Tower's creation and a superb portrait of Belle Epoque France. As Gustave Eiffel held court that summer atop his one-thousand-foot tower, a remarkable host of artists and personalities--Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley, Gauguin, Whistler, and Edison--traveled to Paris and the Exposition Universelle (1889 World's Fair) to mingle and make their mark.

Kohnstamm, Thomas B. 

Do Travel Writers Go to Hell?

C. 2008

For those who think that travel guidebooks are the gospel truth. The waitress suggests that I come back after she closes down the restaurant, around midnight. We end up having sex in a chair and then on one of the tables in the back corner. I pen a note in my Moleskine that I will later recount in the guidebook review, saying that the restaurant "is a pleasant surprise . . . and the table service is friendly."

Lebovitz, David

The Sweet Life in Paris

C. 2009

American baker Lebovitz, alumnus of California s famed Chez Panisse, moved to Paris following his partner s untimely death. There he found a culture whose rituals and courtesies mystified him. It took him a while to get used to personally greeting every clerk and shopkeeper, to consuming every morsel of food using both fork and knife, and to coping with an uncommonly wily bureaucracy fond of enforcing self-contradictory regulations.

Mayes, Frances

Every Day in Tuscany

C. 2009

In this sequel to her "New York Times" bestsellers "Under the Tuscan Sun" and "Bella Tuscany," the celebrated "bard of Tuscany" ("New York Times") Frances Mayes lyrically chronicles her continuing, two decades-long love affair with Tuscany's people, art, cuisine, and lifestyle.

McGregor, James H.S.

Paris from the Ground Up

C. 2009

This new installment in McGregor's "From the Ground Up" series (e.g., Washington from the Ground Up) again offers the literary traveler an option to the brief historical sketches found in most travel books. Readers can use this as a well-researched but accessible history of Paris, tracing the story of the City of Light from its earliest residents, the Gauls and the Parisii, to the present day.

Meyer, Michael

The Last Days of Old Beijing

C. 2008

A fascinating, intimate portrait of Beijing through the lens of its oldest neighborhood, Dazhalan. Meyer examines how the bonds that hold the neighborhood together are being torn by forced evictions as century-old houses and ways of life are increasingly destroyed to make way for shopping malls, the capital's first Wal-Mart, high-rise buildings, and widened streets for cars replacing bicycles. Beijing has gone through this cycle many times, as Meyer reveals, but never with the kind of dislocation and overturning of its storied culture now occurring as the city prepares to host the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Osborne, Lawrence

Bangkok Days

C. 2009

Bangkok is the sponge that absorbs "those who have lapsed into dilettantism," writes Osborne (The Accidental Connoisseur) in recounting his time in the fabled city of recreational sex and Buddhism.

Petrusich, Amanda

It Still Moves: Lost Songs, Lost Highways, and the Search for the Next American Music

C. 2008

In this musical road trip, Petrusich lights out into the country to discover what constitutes American music and the ways that it influences the music that has come to be known as Americana.

Rich, Katherine

Dreaming in Hindi

C. 2009

On one level, Rich's capacious memoir of the time she spent in India learning the Hindi language is about just that: the inevitable confusion that ensues when an adult well beyond college years tries to learn a second language.

Rosendo, Joseph

Where to Go When: Americas : North, Central, South America & the Caribbean

C. 2008

Answering the difficult questions that today's adventurous travelers ask-where's the best place for a beach holiday in March? What are my options if June is the only time I can take a holiday? I'm getting married in November, where would be the perfect place for a honeymoon?-this is the perfect book for anyone planning a vacation or a longer adventure. Find out about the best time to go to each destination, the best places to see, and the best things to do. Whatever you want to do, you can-and in any month of the year.

Root, Robert

Following Isabella: Travels in Colorado then and now

C. 2009

Isabella Bird traveled through Colorado in 1873, documenting her journey in her book A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains. Here, Root (English, Ashland U.) retraces the journey and incorporates discussion of her life and travel book in his description of the state's history, environment and nature, flora and fauna, and his impressions of the mountains and the different areas she visited.

Spurling, Hilary

Pearl Buck in China

C. 2010

Born in 1892 to beleaguered American missionaries, intrepid and book-loving Pearl Sydenstricker was shaped by the miseries of Chinese rural life, from floods to disease, famine, and war. Sadly, her marriage to John Lossing Buck, a pioneering agricultural economist, was oppressive; her concern for their mentally disabled daughter wrenching; and her grief over the Chinese people's epic suffering and her own exile was devastating.

Thubron, Colin

Shadow of the Silk Road

C. 2007

Thubron, a gifted writer with over a dozen books to his name, has written a vivid account of his journey, often under intimidatingly iffy circumstances, across the full length of the ancient Silk Road, from China to the Mediterranean. Rich in history, readers will be transported by stories of ancient empires and sobered by their present realities as witnessed by the indefatigable author.

Vanderhoof, Ann

The Spice Necklace

C. 2010

The Lesser Antilles trace a graceful arc marking the eastern boundary of the Caribbean Sea. Vanderhoof and her husband sail their boat serenely among these islands, but unlike most tourists, they actually take the time to debark and get to know the islands' residents at a much deeper level. Vanderhoof tells tales of their excursions, days spent in the teeming markets where she learns much about the culinary possibilities inherent in these islands' produce.

Weiner, Eric

The Geography of Bliss

C. 2008

NPR correspondent Eric Weiner shares his experiences and insights as he traverses the globe on a quest for a people exhibiting signs of contentment, peace, serenity . . . in other words, happiness.

Weiss, Miranda

Tide, Feather, Snow: a Life in Alaska

C. 2009

In this exceptional book, Weiss, who grew up in the Baltimore suburbs and moved to Homer, AK, with her boyfriend, gives us an intimate look into the lives of Alaskans living in small coastal communities. Unlike most "life in..." memoirs, which leave the reader viewing from the outside, Weiss takes us there with her delightful prose style, giving us the feel of the people, the place, and the kind of life that draws nourishment from the land and sea.

White, Phil & Carol

Live Your Road Trip Dream: Travel for a Year for the Cost of Staying Home

C. 2008

Authors White provide a how-to guide to planning extended road trips for readers who want to leave it all behind for a while. Written in a conversational and humorous style, the book discusses how to pay for a year away from home, how to disentangle from commitments (what to do with the house, for example), how to plan on the go, and how to deal with emergencies.

Wood, David

Around the World in 80 Rounds

C. 2008

Former standup comedian and humor columnist Wood sold his condo in Seattle and set out on a yearlong global golfing journey. He tells a highly entertaining tale of his trip through 22 countries far off the beaten path from the typical golf vacation.