Book Board Chat

Travel Books - Holiday Gift Suggestions

By Beth Harpaz

Is there an avid traveler on your gift list? Or someone who loves reading about faraway places and other cultures? Here are a few ideas and recommendations:

Pauline Frommer, a travel book writer, lists Map Head, by Ken Jennings the legendary “Jeopardy!” winner. He is a very witty, insightful writer and has written an entertaining and educational book about maps.

City Secrets, a new series of small hard covers for travelers, has new guides out this year for London, Rome and Florence/Venice, with City Secrets Manhattan due in late November. “Writers, artists, curators, and others reveal their favorite strolls, hidden gardens, buildings, shops, and restaurants“, says Pat Carrier of the Globe Corner Books in Brookline Village, MA.

Her other suggestions include City: A User's Guide to the Past, Present, and Future of Urban Life by P.D. Smith - “a collection of essays about urban life on everything from skyscrapers and shantytowns to street food”, She recommends two cookbooks with a sense of place, Mourad: New Moroccan, by Mourad Lahlou and Saraban: A Chef's Journey Through Persia by Greg and Lucy Malouf.

Lonely Planet has published a series for children on Paris, London, Rome and New York. These paperbacks are packed with tidbits on local history, geography, the arts and pop culture. Not For Parents: Paris, Everything You Ever Wanted To Know, for example, mentions everything from crepes and the origins of plaster of Paris to a look at a bizarre showcase for taxidermied animals. Lonely Planet's new books for adults include Great Journeys, a coffee-table book about “the world's most spectacular routes,” from the trail to Peru's Machu Picchu to America's classic Route 66. New also is a collection of stories by celebrities called Lights, Camera, Travel! including Brooke Shield's tale of her wintertime visit to the Arctic.

Distant Lands, a travel bookstore in Pasadena, California is recommending Lonely Planet's 1000 Ultimate Sights as the “quirkiest” of new travel must-see books. “If you like golden things, for example, there's a section on `Golden Greats,' encompassing such attractions as the Golden Buddha in Bangkok, the Golden Mummies in Egypt's Western Desert, and Dawson City's Bonanza Creek. Another favorite topic is ‘Most Eye-Opening Workplaces' and `Most Astounding Ego Trips,' from Versailles in France to a 65-foot-tall monument to North Korea's Kim Il Sung. They also recommend Monumental Paris by Herve Champollion. The panoramic photos bring you to many hidden corners ... gardens, canals, parks, and secret waterways that make Paris one of Europe's most endlessly fascinating and enchanting cities.”

Also on Distant Lands' list: Braun & Hogenberg's Cities of the World: Complete Edition of the Colour Plates of 1572-1617 which offers snapshots of how people lived in cities in Europe, Africa, Asia and Central America in drawings and text.

There is a new edition of 1,000 Places to See Before You Die. This version adds 200 new entries, including countries not in the original edition, like Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Nicaragua, Qatar and Mozambique, plus suggestions for lodging and food. An interactive companion for “1,000 Places” offers photos, maps and a way to log your past and future travels. The full app is free with a code included on the first stickered printing of the book.

America's Great Railroad Stations is the perfect gift for train buffs, a coffee-table book with 250 photographs plus vintage black-and-white pictures and text by Ed Breslin. The book tells the story of the role these buildings played in the lives of the people and cities they served, from Beaux Arts monuments in New York and Washington to adobe structures in the Southwest, from the Union Pacific to Michigan Central. Another beauty is The World's Must-See Places: A Look Inside More Than 100 Magnificent Buildings and Monuments with photos and 3-D cutaways and diagrams of places like Beijing's Forbidden City, Mexico's Chichen Itza and Jerusalem's Dome of the Rock.

The Scattered Tribe: Traveling the Diaspora from Cuba to India to Tahiti & Beyond is Ben G. Frank's account of Jewish communities from a new synagogue in Tahiti that serves expats and tourists to the nearly gone remnants of North Africa's once-thriving Jewish communities. The survey includes the likes of Vietnam, India and Burma. And the snapshots offered will interest readers with a passion for Jewish history.

A new book is out for fans of Manhattan’s High Line: High Line: The Inside Story of New York City's Park in the Sky by Joshua David. The first half is a written conversation about the discovery of the old rail line and how it was shepherded against all odds through city bureaucracy from a decaying dinosaur to a vibrant public space. The second half is a collection of photos, both historic and recent, showing the High Line's history and transformation.

Finally, Travel + Leisure is out with lovely photos and engaging text in Europe: The Places We Love, from the “Sweet Life in Capri,” to “Secret Villages” like Norcia, Italy, and Marvao, Portugal.

http://www.nativetimes.com/life/travel/6367-books-for-the-traveler-holiday-gift-suggestions