Toward the Double Rainbow (a Hawaii Travel Tale)

Gabriella West’s personal account of a 2005 trip to Hawaii with her girlfriend reads like pages from her diary. Rather than focusing solely on the places and attractions of a vacation like Hawaii, like any explicit travel log or guide book would do, West focuses on how these places make the couple feel. She gives us the emotional connection we often seek while on vacation, whether that be with our lover or with the place itself. The two go for a massage and each have a very different encounter. Her girlfriend is spoken to by a ghost in the guest house they are staying in. They run into two strangers, a couple they’d seen on the plane over, and Gabriella surprisingly admits to them that they’ve been fighting a lot. “That happens here,” one of the men tells her, “It’s a place where feelings emerge, where you have to be real.”

And isn’t it that way with any vacation you share with your significant other? You want it to be a trip that only movies are made of, with fond hand-holding walks on the beach and romantic evenings. You want to reconnect. But you usually end up complaining about the food or fighting about who’s going to drive and who wants to do what. I’ve been there! And that’s why I related to this story so much. Too many times I’ve put the blame on the other person as to why the vacation was ruined, but I still managed to walk away with some great memories and photos to prove it. It wasn’t the trip or the person who made it a learning experience; it was the place and just being there.

Gabriella has the perfect epiphany in the end that really sums up the way trips like this really are for couples: “It seems like we are always surrounded by people who tel us in subtle ways how they see us or who we are. Traveling, we seek acceptance in the eyes of strangers and sometimes we find it. In my experience, though, it’s places and not people who bring out the best in us. A place can be spacious and holding, embracing even, while a person can be judging, rejecting, classifying and labeling. I see that judging person in myself…”

The Doge’s Daughter
.99 cents Amazon Kindle
ASIN: B005MJG4JA
95 KB

After reading Gabriella West’s short story, The Doge’s Daughter, the reader may need a cold shower or a cigarette. Venice, 1600s. West has given us a periodic piece that, though boldly sad, rings true for the way innocent boys with falsetto voices were treated during this time. Just read Anne Rice’s Cry to Heaven for a more heavier look at the world of the castrati.

Young Piero is swept away from his poor family, chosen for the royal court choir. Soon, he is also chosen by the Doge’s young daughter who is about to be married off to a prince. And while the prince is away, his wife will play and she wants Piero to be her lover. Both explore new and exciting realms of their sexuality, as Piero becomes comfortable in matters of his own heart.

West has true talent for creating strong characters, giving them life on the page just as disturbing and true as our own situations that we find ourselves in sometimes. This rings very true in one brief encounter that Piero has with a male visitor to the castle as they discuss their tastes for male or female lovers, ultimately leading to a “satisfying” conclusion for Piero.

A touch of history, a naughty erotic relationship between three partners, and an exploration of a boy and girl gracing into adulthood and love, West treats her adult readers to a hot and worthy read!

The Truth About Jack and Ray
.99 cents Smashwords
ISBN: 0011343060
24 Pages
The Truth About Jack and Ray is a melodramatic memory story. Jack sees a well-established artist named Ray mentioned in a magazine and recognizes a piece of his work on display. Suddenly, Jack remembers a part of his life 40 years earlier when he knew Ray as a struggling artist.

Jack himself was trying to be a writer at the time and moved in with starving artists Ray and Dick. A blustering relationship forms between Jack and Ray with both physical and emotion consequences which play out through the story.

Jack doesn’t “get” Ray’s abstract work, but Ray doesn’t read any of Jack’s work either. Despite Ray’s sporadic physical abuse, Jack still longs for Ray’s attention. Ray’s cockiness and selfish focus on his own work intensifies when Dick sells a piece for $5,000. When Ray’s pieces finally begin to sell, Jack accompanies him on a trip to New York where he begins to accept just how alone in the world he is and how unhealthy his relationship to Ray really is.

Despite the alluring black and white image that represents the cover of this work, the erotica here is extremely light. Ray and Jack’s lovemaking is only briefly mentioned, and even then it is often just suggested. Instead, West gives us a dark glimpse inside the mind of Jack as he processes this memory.  We also pay Ray’s head a visit though it is a tough place to be despite even Jack’s own desire to be in there.

I told the author this piece reminded me of the song “The One That Got Away” by Katy Perry. Like hearing the song, while reading this story I related to it so much in that I remember passages in my own life where I cared deeply about someone but that feeling was not reciprocated. Or the need to be around other artistic people fueled my heart despite their lack of interest in anyone’s work other than their own.

This is, at times, a haunting piece about recollections of the past and the decisions we do and don’t regret.

Yes China!

In 1949, China’s peasantry, more than 80% of the population, was still largely individualistic, illiterate, superstitious and lived in extreme poverty. Fast forward to the early 21st century and we may understand how much China has changed in the sixty-three years since then.  Today, more than 90% are literate and learning English is mandatory in China’s public schools.

“Yes China” by Clark Nielsen is an honest memoir written by a young American going to China to teach English in an alien and foreign culture. Nielsen pulls no punches in describing himself and his experiences teaching ESL in China, and is not shy when it comes to scorching himself and his former religion in the process.

In fact, his vivid descriptions of teaching in China reminded me of my three decades as an English and Journalism teacher in US public schools.

In the late 1970s, I worked as a substitute teacher and the descriptions of the first classes Nielsen taught reminded me too much of the American grade school, then middle school and eventually high school students I taught 1975 – 2005.

For example, in 1977, I was a substitute teacher in Southern California and as the fifth-grade students I taught one day—and never to see again—flooded into the classroom at the beginning of school, one boy saw me, squealed “Sub!” and then started to chase and pummel other students while knocking over desks as if having a substitute teacher was a ticket to mayhem.

I suspect that the young Chinese students Nielsen first taught may have had similar thoughts when they saw his foreign face.

Like Nielsen, I had classes I loved to teach and others I hated to face each day, and this went on for the thirty years I was a classroom teacher.

I hate to say this but the old phrase, “kids will be kids” has a ring of truth to it even though I hate hearing it since many parents seem to use it as an excuse to do nothing to correct unacceptable behavior.

From Nielsen’s vivid descriptions of the behavior of Chinese grade-school students, I discovered that there is little difference between America’s children and China’s — it seems that “kids will be kids” in any country/culture  if the parents allow them to behave as if they were wild animals and/or barbarians.

However, similar to my experience as a teacher, Nielsen also found gold in some of his students. In fact, the last semester he taught in China, he fought back tears as he said goodbye to one of his good classes.

There are also vivid scenes, from his foreign perspective, of what it must be like to live and work in a developing country where more than a billion people still live in poverty.  Before 1949, the average life span in China was age thirty-five. When Nielsen arrived to teach ESL, that number had changed drastically. Today, the average lifespan is 73, and less than 3% live in severe poverty.

China is a developing country on steroids and Nielsen’s experiences in China reflect that. For this reason, when wanting to discover what it is like to move from a Western culture such as America’s to an alien and foreign land, it is best to read more than one memoir on that subject for a better perspective.

http://www.amazon.com/Rebel-Cause-Janet-Elaine-Smith/dp/1935188143/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1333046697&sr=1-1

For example, I found “Yes China” an interesting contrast to Janet Elaine Smith’s memoir, “Rebel With a Cause”. While Nielson rejected and abandons his Mormon religion, Smith went abroad to spend nine years as an evangelical missionary in Venezuela. She was not a Mormon and her motives were almost the exact opposite of Nielsen’s.

Before becoming an expatriate, Smith worked with Native Americans and Latinos in the US, so the culture shock was not as great, and Nielsen did not work with people living in extreme poverty as Smith did.

However, Smith was not prepared for the extreme poverty of most of the people the mission she was with were serving, and, unlike Nielsen, she used teaching English to become more of a part of the culture.

Smith was “warned” by her superiors not to minister to the wealthy class, as they would never accept the gospel. Nielsen probably worked mostly with children of middle class and wealth parents in urban China.

When Smith was approached by a bank president, a physician, a teacher and a government officer to teach them English, she took the open door as a “sign” from God and defied the orders and held free English classes out of her home.

For a richer experience and to understand the culture she was living in, she exchanged the English lessons for Spanish classes to help her learn the local vernacular of Spanish and the customs of the Venezuelan people—something Nielsen and most Western/American ESL teachers in China do not do. Instead, they arrive in China ready to criticize anything different that does not fit the Western lifestyle they are used to.

For Smith, this different attitude paid off. Later, when Smith needed help for paper work, cashing checks, medical care, etc. Venezuelans were available to help her, while her American Evangelical overseers struggled trying to find such help.

Although Nielsen meets his future wife in China—a Chinese citizen—and they both live in Utah today, I doubt that he truly understood or embraced the Chinese culture as Smith did in Venezuela due to the differences in how they approached their experiences as expatriates teaching English in a foreign land—a developing and/or third world country, which is very different from being a citizen in North America.  In Smith’s memoir, I do not sense the love-hate relationship that Nielsen had with China. He seems to have no purpose for going there to teach English other than some need to rebel and escape Mormon Utah where he grew up.

In fact, Nielsen’s passages that paint an unflattering picture of Mormonism reveal his true motive for going to China. I felt as if Nielsen fled to China to escape the reaction of his Mormon friends and peers after he let them know he wasn’t going to go out as a missionary, which is expected of all Mormons, and in spite of himself, once he arrived in China, he found more acceptance from the Chinese than he did in Utah. After all, he came home with a Chinese wife and that was not the reason he went to China.

Larry Jacobson has sailed around the world!  And I don’t just mean that in a literal sense.  He actually did it.  From 2001 to 2007, Larry and a small crew set out on a journey around the world on a beautiful sail boat he named Julia, after his Mom.  His book, The Boy Behind the Gate, tells his story.

The book begins with Larry describing how he fell in love with sailing as a young teen.  He became very successful in business and eventually sold his company, making enough to fund his around-the-world journey.  And the journey begins with picking the right boat, which Larry and his crew overhauled from top to bottom before beginning the trip in late 2001 – right after 9/11.

With a heart and a head full of both determination and second thoughts, Larry’s voyage begins with letting go in December of that year. It was definitely one of those moments where everyone else was questioning his decision, but Larry wasn’t listening.  Throughout the book, Larry’s hunger to succeed and to enjoy life shine through.  He’s definitely a spokes person for positive motivation if I’ve ever read one.

From California to Mexico, and eventually across the Pacific to the Marquesas Islands, I loved following Julia’s journey which is outlined on a map in the front and back of the book. The book is meticulously organized into journal entries, emails, and personal notes from Larry and from the Captain’s log – pieced together into a story that’s as smooth as, well, sailing. But it wasn’t always smooth sailing.

Much of the conflict in the book comes from rough waters, rain storms, and the ultimate fear of being on a boat in the middle of a massive ocean with no land in sight.  While it doesn’t hardly ruin the ending of the book, you will be happy to know there were no major catastrophes and everyone came back alive and unharmed.

Almost all of the catastrophes were to Julia herself.  I knew nothing about boats before reading this book, and wouldn’t even consider myself a novice after reading it, but the author does a fine job of explaining all of the wear and tear that Julia suffered on her long journey and how the crew was constantly tending to her. It’s almost as if you are learning along with them.

A bevy of friends and fellow cruisers join Larry and his crew along the way.  In fact, my only complaint early on in the book was that the relationships were not clearly defined amongst Larry and his crew.  Larry is gay and I assumed his long-time companion was joining him on board, but in fact, he stayed behind.  Instead, a “bed buddy” of Larry’s named Ken joins him for the first six months.

Being gay myself, I had to wonder about this relationship.  Besides a mention of breaking his heart when Ken left, our author focuses entirely on the voyage and keeps personal dramas off the page – which is the way this book should be.  It is indeed not about the destination, but all about the journey getting there.  We constantly read of Larry just in awe of himself and what he is accomplishing.

In fact, the book itself is quite an accomplishment.  It contains two sets of color photographs and small thumbnail images to help you distinguish which parts are emails, journal entries, or later additions. As a hardcover book, the dust jacket is stunning and as I mentioned before, the map on the inside front and back covers is a very nice touch.

This is not a how-to book or can-do book by all means, but you just can’t help but be inspired by Larry’s big heart and kind nature that shines throughout. I learned through researching the book that Larry started his own publishing company just to give this book the attention it deserved, and probably to satisfy the perfectionist in him as well. A businessman, a sailor, and now a published author, Larry has worn many hats.  And if you read his book, you will certainly be inspired by his success at all of them.

Scavenger Guides Chicago (An Interactive Travel Guide For Kids)
By Daniel Ireland
Three Leaf Press
Copyright © 2010
ISBN: 978-0-9845866-0-8
132 pages
$12.95 / Black & White at Amazon.com

When travelling, kids don’t want to see things, they want to do things. Scavenger Guides Chicago addresses that need by offering a guidebook designed and written for kids. This guidebook is meant to be used more than consulted and, ideally, become a lasting memento of a trip to the windy city. A travel guide, game, journal, photography course, and souvenir all in one.

Kids score points for each question they answer correctly or activity / experience they complete—ten points for finishing a slice of deep dish pizza for instance—and they try to earn as many as possible for the trip. At the end, their accumulated score rewards them one of three rankings—Travel Guide, Travel Adventurer, or World Explorer—for which certificates have been included in the book to be authenticated with adult signatures.

The narrative and site descriptions are informative but concise and, more importantly, written for children. The chapter on taking photographs is more involved but well-constructed; many adults would benefit from its well-articulated basic hints. The accompanying black-and-white photographs—I suspect color would have made the cost of the book prohibitive—are set at an angle, an intentional quirkiness suitable for its intended audience. The overall layout of the pages is nice to look at and the amount of white space makes them inviting even to those adverse to reading. Wide margins encourage spontaneous note taking.

The chapters are arranged by topic, such as Buildings and Landmarks and Parks and Outdoor Search, rather than geographic itinerary. The guide recommends reading the book prior to the trip for planning purposes. I would go further and say that the simplicity of this guide might make it a better tool for sketching out an itinerary than conventional guidebooks. Better yet, the kids can get involved. One chapter I’m sure would be popular is, Chicago Animal Safari, which nicely combines the two zoos and the Shedd Aquarium.

An animal safari in Chicago? You bet! Chicago is a great place to see animals! Take in a dolphin show at Shedd Aquarium’s Oceanarium, one of the city’s most popular attractions. Then get a diver’s eye view of sharks in Wild Reef. Lincoln Park Zoo is one of the oldest in the United States. Stare into the eyes of a lowland gorilla, try your hand at milking a dairy cow, then ride the Endangered Species Carousel. Lincoln Park Zoo is open 365 days a year and admission is free! Brookfield Zoo, in the Chicago suburb of Brookfield, is one of the largest zoos in the United States. It was the first zoo in America to exhibit giant pandas!

A one-paragraph description on each destination follows, along with several fill-in-the-blank questions. These are relatively easy things to complete, depending on the child’s age, but pose enough challenge to demand some effort.

Scavenger Guide Chicago is one of a planned series on American cities—a Washington, D.C. version is available—and so there will be generic elements. In fact, these make up about one-third of the book and include: blank pages for notes after each chapter; lined pages for journal entries for fourteen days, along with a sample; pages for parents to create their own clues and scores and a page to accumulate the scores; the certificates; the aforementioned photography guide; and of course introductory pages on the guidebook itself and recommendations on how to use it. This is a first edition, implying, as with other guidebook series, updated versions will be published in the future to reflect destination changes as well as, presumably, improvements based on feedback.

A website supports the book and its users / readers. It contains a blog and a feature to create a Digital Story, along with basic site information. For the type of book it is, it would be nice to have distinct web pages for kids. Perhaps this will happen once the Scavenger Guide builds up some steam.

It’s unfortunate the author did not insist on providing a hardcopy because I cannot comment on ergonomic aspects, such as the type of paper and what writing implements would work best, ease of carrying around in daypack, weight, etc. Clearly, such a book would get tossed around and would have to survive page-tearing winds, puddles, and other elements. The effect of the occasional widow and orphan is hard to assess with the electronic version; I noticed them but might not have with the physical book. I don’t know if the certificate pages are perforated or not (but I doubt it).

Scavenger Guides Chicago is targeted to parents and children but to me a natural and possibly larger audience would be schools and clubs that arrange trips to major cities. True, the guide seems geared for longer stays, but there may be a larger market there. I could see value in a customizable version too, something that’s more feasible with self-publishing.

While the contents fulfill the intent, the ultimate proof of concept will be to look at a copy at the conclusion of a trip. If still in new condition, then perhaps it hasn’t been used properly, the trip was bad, or the concept is off. A tattered, marked up, saved copy, on the other hand, would be a clear indicator of success.

David Jedeikin saved a life.  His partner of three years was in need of a liver transplant, so David agreed to be his living donor.  Shortly afterward, they broke up.  In need of a “life experience” himself, David decides to take seven months off to travel the world.  Traveling as a flashpacker, David sets out on a trip across six continents.

We learn the origins of David and Bradley’s relationship in the first eight page chapter actually entitled “Origins.”  The two are eleven years apart in age, and “in some respects come from different galaxies.”  Unfortunately, I didn’t really have any sympathy for Bradley.  He seems pompous and immature, and not very gracious toward David’s decision to be his donor. Therefore, you almost feel sorry for David, especially after this quote near the end of Chapter 1:

In every one of the places I’ve called home since striking out from my birthplace it’s been the same cycle, again and again: anticipation, hope, optimism, a new circle of friends, a new job, sometimes a new mate.  And then…disappointment.  Discord. Heartbreak. And the cycle begins anew.

Wow!  I’d want to escape and see the world too. Being a gay man myself, I could totally sympathize with David.  I’ve had guys break my heart after I gave them a ring or even my heart 100%.  But my liver?  I can’t imagine the heartbreak and turmoil David must have gone through. From California, to Denver, to his homeland of Montreal, to London, David is out of the country by page 16!  Both the reader and David have put this behind them, and we’re off to conquer the world.

On the cover of the book is the following description: A true story of a living liver donation, an epic journey around the world, and a gay man’s search for himself. Unfortunately, that middle part rings more true than the rest.  Though David briefly revisits his situation with Bradley, it is not a mainstay of the book. In fact, when the author brings it up, the subject is usually dismissed after only a sentence or two, no more than a paragraph.  Instead, the book becomes more of a travel log.

In fact, his travel writing is so good David should write for Damron!  He takes his readers on the journey with him in and out of hostels and bed and breakfasts, eating up local cuisine, and catching both the touristy and non-tourist attractions across the globe from London, Paris, Amsterdam, Egypt, Copenhagen, Germany, Israel, Tokyo and more!

As for the latter part of that description, we’re not really treated to much self discovery.  Again, when David begins to tap into how he’s feeling about his previous situation, he wraps it up in just a sentence or two and quickly moves on to his next passport destination.  It doesn’t seem like we are learning much about David, and neither is he.  Instead, we are treated to history lessons of the places he’s visiting. In fact, I was a little saddened by his constant recreational use of drugs, waistline obsession, and need to get laid. I was reminded of a gay jetsetter whose physical appearance and libido are top priorities.

What did he learn from the journey?  Well, it’s wrapped up in the very last paragraph of the book.  But by then, I had stopped reading this book as an emotional journey of a living liver donor and traded it for just a good travel journal.  Jedeikin can definitely paint a picture of a place with words that makes you want to see it for yourself.  As for the rest? I guess I was just expecting a bit more depth and emotion.  I wanted to go to those places too.

By Micha Berman

Copyright © 2007
Lulu.com

$16.95 Paperback
$ 8.50 E-Book
138 pages

ISBN: 978-1-4357-0618-7

Reviewed by Special Guest Reviewer: Denny Griffie, SKI – USCG, Retired

Having spent 20 years in the United States Coast Guard and having traveled all over the world while serving on an ice breaker out of the Pacific North West for Uncle Sam, I love ocean sailing. When for our first anniversary my wife, author LK Gardner-Griffie, suggested we take a cruise I wasn’t sure I would like it or not. Not because I no longer wanted to set sail, but because I was used to being on the job while on a ship. Would I be able to make the transition to being a passenger or not? Well, I found that I enjoy being on a ship more as a passenger than I did as a member of the crew. Now I love cruising vacations and love to take one anytime we have the chance. When the opportunity came up to read and review Permanent Passenger: My Life On a Cruise Ship I was eager to see how the experience of working on a cruise ship compared to my experiences as a lead petty officer on an ice breaker. So anchors aweigh.

If you are looking for a literary discussion of living on a cruise ship containing several nuggets to ponder in a philosophical sense, this book is definitely not the one for you. But, if you are looking for a fast paced, light read, filled with personal experience, down to the nitty gritty of life below deck, then Permanent Passenger: My Life On a Cruise Ship is a good selection. Micha Berman is definitely more of an entertainer than a writer, but as I read through the tale of his adventures of working for a cruise ship line, I laughed out loud page after page. I found I could relate to Berman’s experiences in more ways than I could count and that in essence working for a cruise line was not much different than setting sail for Uncle Sam, with a few notable exceptions. The major exception is of course, that you can’t just quit Uncle Sam’s service, unless you’d like to face a court martial.

In both cases, life on ship is a microcosm of society, and it definitely is a classed society with the levels of society indicated by the decks of residence.

As I walked through these decks it dawned on me I was entering a different neighborhood, one with its own culture and rarely seen by passengers. The first sign that you had entered crew city was the obvious lack of carpeting on the floors and the sheer bareness of the shiny metal walls. The exuberant colors of the passenger halls were replaced by a stark hospital like setting and a general feeling of unadorned survival. A second clue that this was not passenger living quarters was the trash littering the floors, the most common item a shred of wet cardboard standing guard outside a crew member’s door, the last remnant of a six pack of beer. Finally in this new neighborhood, hallways also served as soccer fields. Crew members, many from Latin America, often held soccer matches in these hallways not wider than 3 feet, during their off hours, bouncing off the doors, screaming and hollering, there was no way to stop them from enjoying their national pastime.

The staff living quarters consisted of five decks, the lower the floor, the more cramped and dirty the conditions and the more unsafe it was to wander. Think of it as the United Nations with the top floors representing the rich and fortunate nations of the world like the United States, Europe and oil rich countries like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The bottom floors might be closer to third world countries such as India, Sudan, or Guatemala.

As the assistant cruise director, Berman was fortunate enough to live on the top level, which meant he was the sole occupant of his nine by nine quarters. In the below decks, often times there were two or three to a room of that size or smaller. Permanent Passenger: My Life On a Cruise Ship is a very personal account of life on a cruise ship as crew, and contains an intimate look at what the life entails in a humorous style down to the bowel habits of the author. Since I am easily amused by bathroom humor and there were many parallels to life on an ice breaker, I identified with Berman which helped to make this an enjoyable read. The book also contains Crazy Cruise Trivia between chapters citing facts such as how much chicken, steak, and ribs may be consumed during the course of the day by the passengers. The book winds up with the Ten Commandments of Cruising:

1. Get on, Live it up, Get off
2. Get off the ship whenever you can
3. Have Goals
4. Eat out at every port
5. Always be friendly to crew
6. Avoid alcohol and gambling
7. Don’t forget the passengers
8. Enjoy the sea, moon, and stars
9. Stay suspicious
10. Develop a few close friends

Permanent Passenger: My Life On a Cruise Ship is a good book for someone considering working for the cruise industry because it gives an insider viewpoint. Of course, Berman’s perspective is that of someone who has one of the cushiest jobs on the ship. There might be a completely different perspective from someone who has served on a cruise ship as a member of the kitchen or cleaning staff. Another industry related book, Cruise Confidential, is written by someone who spent his stint as kitchen staff which provides an additional angle to life on a cruise ship. As lead petty officer on the ice breaker, I was in charge of the ships stores and my primary job functions occurred when we were in port, so I was known as a passenger by my shipmates. Hat’s off from one permanent passenger to another for pleasurable read.

Preview Permanent Passenger: My Life on a Cruise Ship on Amazon.com

I love an adventure story.  I’m not talking about the jarring action packed adventure with lots of guns and running, destined for an R rating if it makes the big screen, but instead a personal kind of adventure for one person that ends up being a life changing personal journey for them.  And that’s exactly what happened to Janis Letts.

On page one, she’s living in the Australia “bush” in the Central Queensland Gemfields as a tour guide for an underground sapphire mine.  A historical cottage infested with white ants is where she makes her home.  She best sums up her livelihood like this:

The greatest strength of the community is its people, an abundance of colourful characters from all walks of life.  What we lack in physical comfort we make up for in diversity.

What Janis doesn’t know is that those words are about to become a strange metaphor for the journey she is about to take.  Her oldest son, Cameron, resides in China.  He’s married, has a son, and is about to open his second English school.  He persuades his mother to get a tourist Visa and to come to China to meet her new grandchild for the first time, and to be a teacher in his school.  On page 2, Janis announces “I’m going to China!”  And she persuades her younger son, Hamish, to join her.

The difficulties Janis will face start almost immediately, the biggest being the language barrier. But right from the start, Janis remains determined and keeps a sense of positivity about all of this. She’s also a masterful story teller.  I hate a coworker’s vacation story that runs long because they have to tell me hour by hour what they did each day.  As I’ve already pointed out, Janis announces her intentions on page 2 of this book, on page 4 she’s battling through airport crowds to get on a plane, and on page 6 her plane is touching down in Beijing.  She constantly keeps the story moving throughout, revealing Chinese culture from an outsider’s respectful point of view.

Janis’s story is full of small nuances that really make the reader stop and ponder what she is experiencing, from everyone’s strange smoking habits (Cameron explains its a cultural thing) to every rumor you’ve heard before about Chinese food, from nonexistent customer service and no rules for “waiting patiently in line for your turn,” to Chinese in-laws like you have never met before, Janis never offers her own personal opinion about what she sees or hears.  She simply points out that its there and that it’s noteworthy.  Most of the time I found myself giggling at her perceptions because although she never offers a biased opinion, you just know that inside her head she’s probably saying, “Oh no!  What the heck have I gotten myself into?!”

But this is no vacation.  Being a stranger in a strange land definitely has its consequences.  Cameron does a good job of warning his mother to “trust no one” and to never give out their home address.  Cameron advises her that the school can’t afford to employ her full time and that she will have to find other part-time work (or not to panic because work will find her).  I was stunned when he warns his Mom to be careful of people who approach her with work because she could be “whisked away by white slave traders.”  Like Janis I was asking, “Do they still exist?”  Janis attacking a pickpocket with an umbrella literally made me laugh out loud, but I was relieved in the end that she didn’t lose her wallet.

Janis’s small accomplishments make her so proud, and I found myself smiling with pride and happiness for her.  In a letter she writes to her mom, she mentions having to catch a cab after work without her son there to translate.  Cameron wrote down their home address for her and told her to speak it rather than show it to the driver for practice in tackling the language.  “I can speak Chinese!” she exclaims when she arrives home safely at the correct gate.  “You make it all sound so easy,” her mom writes back.

The first page of each chapter presents a photo from Janis’s adventure with a caption explaining what the photo is, almost as if you have sat down with her to thumb through a memory book or photo album.  The photos really help set an overall tone and add depth to her story as her daily adventures unfold. Over time, Janis becomes very accustomed to her surroundings, her job as a teacher, and to Chinese life in general.  Her appreciation for the culture shines in the end when she photographs some mah-jong players and states:

As an outsider, I feel strangely honoured that I’m not a tourist, but a significant family member.

My only complaint about the story – and it is a minor one – is that the ending is very rushed.  The epilogue sums up the end of Janis’s story in half a page with her returning home to Australia, staying in contact with Chinese family members via phone and computer, and the arrival of a new grandson.  After reading 300 pages of Janis’s year long fascinating journey in China, I would have liked a more thorough glimpse into how she felt in the end when she returned home and had time to reminisce about  “the dragon.”   But like I said, that is very minor.  The 300 pages I spent with Janis on the streets of China were captivating, filled with teary eyes and lots of laughs; this author has done an amazing job of bringing the reader along with her on a trip neither will forget.

Read a preview of this book at Google Books.

There are two types of dreams: those so bizarre and imaginative, and so out of reach that we think of them as nothing more but dreams.  These sleep stories can be a buffet for a writer.  Then, there are those dreams that are within our grasp, but often we are too busy to consider reaching for them.  Maybe we choose to write about them as well instead of actually attempting to achieve them.  Not Mark Callaghan.

I recall with some clarity the moment I knew that I didn’t want to sit in an office and dream up inventive ways of wasting time until 5pm any longer.

And so begins a book about one man’s longing for adventure at a time in his life when he is weeks away from saying good-bye to his twenties and realizes he’s already punched too much time on the clock for someone else.  So in 2005 while sitting on the toilet and playing video games on his cell phone, Mark has an epiphany.  In celebration of his 30th birthday, he’ll travel the world and see 30 countries – one for each year of his life.  After selling everything he can on Ebay and maxing his credit cards to fund the trip, Mark isn’t even on his first flight when he gets a call from his travel agent telling him his “around-the-world” ticket has been canceled.  He’s able to book another flight, but things aren’t looking up for him so far.  But that doesn’t stop him from grabbing Clive the backpack (Mark gives names to his inanimate belongings – there’s a cute 1/2 chapter that talks about this) and gets on a plane!

First stop – Estonia where Mark offers an in-depth look at hostel living – vying for the bottom bunk, living in communal quarters and meeting others, and “talking on the porcelain telephone” (the only toilet in the place, mind you.)  In Sooma, Mark stays in a hut-like community center swarming with unattended children (Think Children of the Corn, he says) only to find out that he is the only one staying there.  The entire place is empty.

Those bloodthirsty children have murdered all the other travelers.  Possibly.

Since he’s the only guest for the night the receptionist informs him he should take a walk through the bog to occupy his day.  It’s a 5km trail, but it is also 6km away.  The receptionist offers to drive him out to the trail, but Mark will have to find his own way back.  While on the trail, Mark remains leery of witches rumored to inhabit the bog and ends up crashing a party of croaking frogs while imitating Paul McCartney’s The Frog Chorus. He catches a ride back with a local Estonian who stops and picks him up. Not able to speak the language, Mark becomes really good at playing charades in order to communicate.

Mark’s off-the-wall commentary and quirky details are what make this type of book so much fun to read.  We’ve all sat through Gramp’s vacation slides to the Rocky’s or a coworker’s photo albums from their honeymoon cruise, but nothing beats the minute details that stick out in our minds above all else like DJ Tomas, the Lithuanian bus driver taking accordion music requests on the way to Warsaw, or Mark’s bus trip to Auschwitz with a group of frat boys.  Some of my favorites from the book were a toe nail clipping episode in a hostel in front of a scantily clad American girl, the train of terror, and some ‘massage, lady, boom-boom’ in Siem Reap.

Mark pushes you through each country quite quickly, often leaving out details when you might have wanted more of them, but he doesn’t bore you with philosophical self discoveries while out on the mountain tops.  You know Mark’s purpose for the journey right from the start, so there are no hidden meanings to life to be uncovered in his travels although I’m sure he experienced plenty.

Ireland, Cambodia, Australia, New Zealand, Buenos Aries, Chile, Italy, Peru…this book is an “off the beaten path” non-touristy paradise.  Sure, Mark saw the David statue in Florence just like everyone else, but he made it a point to experience much more than what anyone would find in their travel brochure. Unfortunately, the book does come to an abrupt ending where “normality and routine suddenly kick in.”  Mark is back at work again and earning a paycheck.  His stories of adventure are growing dust.  BUT…the answer to the question, “Is there more to life than this?,” has been answered.  Indeed there is.

And as Mark puts it, anything can happen.

I would have enjoyed pictures to accompany each country (Mark was nice enough to send me a few to include in this review).  But overall this is a great book for anyone who ever received Dr. Seuss’s Oh, The Places You’ll Go as a graduation gift, for the would-be tourist, or simply for anyone stuck behind a desk all day and too busy dreaming about what they’d really like to do in life.  It will motivate you to take chances and enjoy the journey along the way.  One of the best, and most inspiring, books I’ve read all year!

]]> http://llbookreview.com/2008/11/review-45-30-a-sense-of-adventure-and-no-sense-of-direction-by-mark-callaghan/feed/ 0 http://llbookreview.com/2008/07/review-26-28-llbrs-search-for-america/ http://llbookreview.com/2008/07/review-26-28-llbrs-search-for-america/#comments Thu, 31 Jul 2008 00:00:19 +0000 Shannon Yarbrough http://lulubookreview.wordpress.com/?p=152 Well, here it is folks.  Few people answered our call, so we were forced to search Lulu for America on our own.  In celebration of our independence as a nation, as a people, as authors, the Lulu Book Review was in search of that one Lulu book that embodies America and its freedoms.

We did keyword searches for things like “apple pie” and “red, white, and blue.”  We read preview after preview, and finally narrowed the search down to 3 Lulu books which we believe best represent the type of book we were looking for.  So, here they are in no particular order. An American celebration of POD books…

Open America
by Kristin Abraham
Copyright: © 2007
$34.99 Paperback
$5.00 Ebook

In 2005 artist Abraham and her musician husband set out across the country determined to visit all 50 states, attempting to unite the country through art, a journey they called The Nomadic Project.  They worked out of their car and Abraham created a painting in each state to capture its essence and beauty.

This book is a collection of all 50 paintings accented with entries from her travel journal.  If you love a good coffee table book or you are a travel enthusiast, this book offers some nice insight to our beautiful country.  There are local backroads here you’ll want to see for yourself one day!

6333 Miles – A Strange Journey Through Small Town America
by Nico Ammann and Rebecca Barkin
Copyright: © 2008
$34.90 Hardcover
$9.90 E-Book
ISBN: 9780615206899

Yep, this is another travel story, but instead of all 50 states we are treated to the backroads of only 5 small towns across the southern US starting in Jerome, Arizona, going down to Luckenbach, Texas; then crossing over to New Orleans, up to Clarksdale, Mississippi, and ending in the outer banks of North Carolina.  This is a haunting travel log reminiscent of great southern lit geniuses such as Truman Capote and Flannery O’Connor, accompanied by odd angle photographs of the local sites and local folk.

I think I was drawn to this book, not just because of the brilliant cover depicting the familiar blinking arrow sign (often missing letters in the true south, if teenagers haven’t rearranged the letters to spell bad words), but because there is a part of me in this book.  Being from Tennessee, I know these places.  I know these people, and I know this dirt roads.  Just as the back cover suggests….bikers, bibles, and bad decisions.  With a touch of murder mystery, some downhome fried cooking, and those strange front porch banjo playing strangers who you are afraid to ask for directions, this book is a brilliant rebel flag waving farce.

4th of July Recipes
by Timm Miller
Copyright: © 2008
$6.95 E-Book

Besides sparklers and bottle rockets, the 4th of July for me as a kid meant barbecue and watermelon.  It wouldn’t be an American holiday without the food, right?  That’s why I’ve chosen Timm Miller’s 4th of July Recipes as my third “America” highlight.

There’s a nice history of Independence Day for an introduction, followed by Red, White, and Blue Pie, baby back ribs, macaroni salad, and much more, and that’s just in the preview.

Your picnic table will be overflowing with yummy treats and hot eats from this book.  Many of our holidays follow traditions.  Each of our families have their own when it comes to certain events, and many of those holidays and traditions would not be complete without certain comfort foods.  Miller does an excellent job of helping you to try new simple recipes, and maybe create some new traditions of you own.  Check out his bookstore for more of those cool 3D covers too!

So that’s it!  Yeah, these three books focus mainly on travel and food, but it doesn’t get more American than that, does it?