![]() |
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
|
Your cart is empty |
||
|
Books > Travel > Travel writing > General
After ten years living abroad, Tarquin Hall wanted to return to his native London. Lured by his nostalgia for a leafy suburban childhood spent in south-west London, he returned with his Indian-born, American fiance in tow. But, priced out of the housing market, they found themselves living not in a townhouse, oozing Victorian charm, but in a squalid attic above a Bangladeshi sweatshop on London's Brick Lane. A grimy skylight provided the only window on their new world: a filthy, noisy street where drug dealers and prostitutes peddled their wares and tramps urinated on the pavements. At night, traffic lights lit up the ceiling and police sirens wailed into the early hours. Yet, as Hall got to know Brick Lane, he discovered beneath its unlovely surface an inner world where immigrants and asylum seekers struggle to better themselves and dream of escape. Salaam Brick Lane is a journey of discovery by an outsider in his own native city. It offers an explicit glimpse of the underbelly of London's most infamous quarter, the real-life world of Monica Ali's bestselling novel.
Expectation meets Julie and Julia, The Yellow Kitchen is a brilliant exploration of food, belonging and friendship. London E17, 2019. A yellow kitchen stands as a metaphor for the lifelong friendship between three women: Claude, the baker, goal-orientated Sophie and political Giulia. They have the best kind of friendship, chasing life and careers; dating, dreaming and consuming but always returning to be reunited in the yellow kitchen. That is, until a trip to Lisbon unravels unexplored desires between Claude and Sophie. Having sex is one thing, waking up the day after is the beginning of something new. Exploring the complexities of female friendship, The Yellow Kitchen is a hymn to the last year of London as we knew it and a celebration of the culture, the food and the rhythms we live by. Praise for The Yellow Kitchen: 'Rich and thoroughly intoxicating, The Yellow Kitchen is a sensual journey into friendship, food and female sexuality, full of complex, fascinating characters and bold ideas. I loved it' Rosie Walsh 'A heady mix of politics, friendship, sex and food, poignant, provocative and utterly distinctive' Paula Hawkins 'An exquisite novel - beautifully rendered, powerfully told, and so deeply felt. I urge you to read this novel - you will never forget it' Lucia Osborne-Crowley 'Mixing female friendship, romance, loss, redemption, and memorable meals, The Yellow Kitchen is the perfect recipe for a flavorful literary feast. With subtle dashes of wit and generous sprinklings of honesty, Margaux Vialleron has crafted a brave and tender tale' Kim Fay, author of Love & Saffron 'The Yellow Kitchen is so warm and convivial in atmosphere, and its discussion of the politics of the UK and their impact very poignant. It portrayed beautifully the sense of adventure of being a certain age, with its rush and richness and emotional confusion, and I found it such a satisfying read' Emily Itami, author of Fault Lines
First Published in 2002. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
New York Times bestseller - "Thrilling, tender, utterly absorbing . . . Every chapter shimmered with truth." --Cheryl Strayed From travel writer Jedidiah Jenkins comes a long-awaited memoir of adventure, struggle, and lessons learned while bicycling the 14,000 miles from Oregon to Patagonia. On the eve of turning thirty, terrified of being funneled into a life he didn't choose, Jedidiah Jenkins quit his dream job and spent the next sixteen months cycling from Oregon to Patagonia. He chronicled the trip on Instagram, where his photos and profound reflections on life soon attracted hundreds of thousands of followers and got him featured by National Geographic and The Paris Review. In this unflinchingly honest memoir, Jed narrates the adventure that started it all: the people and places he encountered on his way to the bottom of the world, and the internal journey that prompted it. As he traverses cities, mountains, and inner boundaries, Jenkins grapples with the questions of what it means to be an adult, his struggle to reconcile his sexual identity with his conservative Christian upbringing, and his belief in travel as a way to "wake us up" to life back home. A soul-stirring read for the wanderer in each of us, To Shake the Sleeping Self is an unforgettable reflection on adventure, identity, and a life lived without regret.
Italian Days is one of the richest and most absorbing travel books ever written"a journey down the Italian peninsula that immerses us in the inexhaustible plenty of that culture and the equally bountiful intelligence and sensibility of its author. Barbara Grizzuti Harrison, noted essayist, journalist, and fiction writer, brings us a fascinating mixture of history, politics, folklore, food, architecture, arts, and literature, studded with local anecdotes and personal reflections. From modern, fashionable Milan; to beautiful, historic Rome with its modern traffic and, even today, its sudden displays of faith; to primitive, brooding Calabria, Barbara Grizzuti Harrison reveals in all its glory and confusion her Italy, the country of her origins, where the keys to her past are held by those who never left. Beautifully and eloquently rendered, Italian Days is a deeply engaging travelogue, but it is much more as well. It is the story of a return home"of friends, family, and faith"and of the search for the good life that propels all of us on our journeys wherever we are.
Human encounters with the natural world are inseparable from the history of travel. Nature, as fearsome obstacle, a wonder to behold or a source of therapeutic refuge, is bound up with the story of human mobility. Stories of this mobility give readers a sense of the diversity of the natural world, how they might interpret and respond to it and how human preoccupations are a help or a hindrance in maintaining bio-cultural diversity. Travel writing has constantly shaped how humans view the environment from foreign adventures to flight-shaming. If much of modern travel writing has been based on ready access to environmentally damaging forms of transport how do travel writers deal with a practice that is destroying the world they claim to cherish? This Element explores human travel encounters with the environment over the centuries and asks, what is the future for travel writing in the age of the Anthropocene?
Five decades ago, award-winning author Herbert Gold traveled to Haiti on a Caribbean version of the Fulbright Scholarship. The journey proved to be a turning point in his life. Fifty years later, his attachment to the tiny Caribbean nation-his second home-remains as passionate and powerful as ever. Now, in Best Nightmare on Earth, he explores the secret life of this vibrant, volatile, violent land. "Beautiful...bizarre...dangerous...exotic, a Garden of Eden fallen into despair, a tiny nation of unimaginable misery and unpredictable grace, an island where life is a kind of literature, a world of "unlimited impossibility." This is Herbert Gold's Haiti, a country of extraordinary paradox and remarkable extremes-of gingerbread dream houses and wretched slums, of brutal repression and explosive creative energy. Where else, he asks, can you run into evil spirits on the back roads, or find the goddess of fertility and orgasm represented by a photo of a tap-dancing Shirley Temple? Where else is there such generosity amid such corruption, such humor in the midst of such desperation? In his many Haitian travels, Gold has dined with Graham Greene and chatted with the hated Duvalier oppressors. He has traded stories with CIA saboteurs, former Nazis, rum-soaked diplomats, and voodoo priests. He has taken in the cockfights and hunted for pirate treasure. He has nearly died of malaria; he has faced machete-wielding gangs of Ton-Ton Macoutes. He followed the traffic in Haitian blood to American hospitals and watched the AIDS epidemic take its toll. He listened to the steady beat of drums rolling down mist-shrouded mountains, and shared in the flirting, drinking, and laughter of the streets. He has captured the essence of this land where tragedy is the music the people dance to. Herbert Gold reflects on the country's history and politics, culture and folklore, but sees much more. He sees Haiti through the eyes of a lover: impassioned, jealous, probing, ever alert, and alive. This book will be of interest to travelers to, and people interested in the problems of, Haiti and the Caribbean; and collectors of Haitian art.
Jamie Borromeo is a Millennial (those born in the generation
between the years 1980-2000) commentator with a uniquely
illuminating perspective on her generation and its interaction with
the business, political, and social spheres.
Nancy Prince is an African American woman who writes about her personal and professional life, including her marriage and travels abroad to Russia and Jamaica. It's a vivid account of the events that would shape her business and legacy. Little is known about Nancy Prince's early years. She was born in Massachusetts to a seaman and mother who remarried multiple times. Despite an unstable homelife, Nancy helped to support the family any way she could. She worked as a servant before marrying Nero Prince, a foot soldier and cofounder of the Prince Hall Freemasons. They eventually moved overseas where Nero held multiple positions in the Russian Courts. Nancy became a successful businesswoman, establishing a boarding school, giving lecturers and working as a seamstress. A Narrative of the Life and Travels of Mrs. Nancy Prince explores the author's unconventional path to success. She surpassed expectations to become a respected figure among her peers. As an entrepreneur, she provided a vital service and opportunities to those who needed them most. With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of A Narrative of the Life and Travels of Mrs. Nancy Prince is both modern and readable.
The Spirit of Rome (1906) is a memoir by Vernon Lee. Published at the height of her career as a leading proponent of Aestheticism and scholar of the Italian Renaissance, The Spirit of Rome is a captivating meditation on the author's experiences in Rome. Raised in the city, she returns as an adult to find it as mysterious and magical as before, a place where any day could offer a chance to lose or discover oneself in history, art, or unrivalled beauty. A principled feminist and committed pacifist, Lee was virtually blacklisted by critics and publishers following her opposition to the First World War. Through the efforts of dedicated scholars, however, interest in her works has increased over the past several decades, granting her the readership she deserves as a master of literary horror. "I was brought up in Rome, from the age of twelve to that of seventeen, but did not return there for many years afterwards. I discovered it anew for myself, while knowing all its sites and its details; discovered, that is to say, its meaning to my thoughts and feelings." Vernon Lee's world is one where ghosts and humans walk together, often without taking notice of one another. Although she is more widely known for her stories of supernatural horror, Lee was also a gifted art historian and travel writer. In these diary entries written over the course of a decade, she returns to the city of Rome, where she spent the formative years of her youth. Walking through villas and the Vatican, standing on cobblestone streets or in the hollow expanse of the Pantheon, she discovers herself anew in the same ancient places, filled with the ghosts of lost friends and lovers, of the woman she was long ago. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Vernon Lee's The Spirit of Rome is a classic work of British literature reimagined for modern readers.
Set in 1867, The Innocents Abroad is a travel book that follows a group of Americans from New York City to the renowned Holy Land. Throughout the journey, author Mark Twain uses humor and wit to make astute observations about the diverse people and legendary locales. Described as the "Great Pleasure Excursion," Twain and his traveling companions visit some of the most illustrious cities in the world. They make stops in Italy, France, and Greece as well as modern-day Israel and Ukraine. With each trip, the author notes the contrast between expectation and reality. He critiques the misrepresentation of cultural sites and events with notable irony and disillusion. The retelling of a worldly expedition through an American lens made >The Innocents Abroad a massive commercial success. It's one Twain's best-selling books and became a staple within the travel genre. Readers will thoroughly enjoy the author's enlightening take on the Old World and public perception. With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of The Innocents Abroad is both modern and readable.
Compiled during a three-month stay in Granada, Spain, Tales of the Alhambra assembles descriptions, myths, and narratives of historical events. After completing a literary project in Madrid, author Washington Irving traveled to Granada, Spain. Immediately taken by its beauty and extravagance, Irving requested a travel guide and began filling notebooks and journals with his observations and description of the magnificent setting. Beginning with an expedition through the Andalusian mountains on horseback, cherishing the grandeur of the nature, Irving took his time to enjoy and observe the landscape and culture of the country. After their horseback ride through the mountains, Irving and his guide stopped at an inn for a drink. During their stay, Irving witnessed artistic culture through music and dance, noting how the locals seemed to celebrate every-day occurrences, creating a happy environment. Upon entering the city, Irving requested permission from the governor to stay at the Alhambra palace. Originally built on the ruins of Roman buildings, the Alhambra was a small fortress built in 889 CE, and had been largely ignored and forgotten by the time Irving arrived in Granada. While staying in the Alhambra, Irving explored the abandoned palace and recollected the myths set within its walls, recording every detail of its architecture, story, and mystery. The Alhambra palace had been mostly forgotten, and left unmaintained until Washington Irving's narrative and recollections revived interest. Upon its original publication in 1832, Washington Irving's Tales of the Alhambra piqued the curiosity of readers who were completely engrossed in Irving's description of the previously abandoned fortress. With delicate prose and intricate detail, Tales of the Alhambra appeal to readers' sense of adventure, and allows its audience to explore the wonders of Granada, Spain alongside Washington Irving. This edition of Washington Irving's Tales of the Alhambra features a new, eye-catching cover design and is printed in a font that is both modern and readable, inviting contemporary audiences to divulge in the grandeur and beauty of a medieval fortress.
A travel book by a reflective and observant resident of Oman at the end of World War II giving a very interesting account of the topography, races, customs and industries of the then Persian Gulf, inevitably throwing much light on the British influences and interest in the region.
Few Westerners have succeeded in identifying themselves so completely with Arabian life as the author of this volume, which was first published in 1928. He went to Arabia for no political, humanitarian, or reasonable purpose but purely for the joy of it.
**LONGLISTED FOR THE POLARI FIRST BOOK PRIZE** 'You've never read a travel memoir like this before' The Sunday Times, 'Pride Culture Guide' 'Sweet and fun, with real emotional depth and a rousing, feisty spirit' Matt Cain *** In the spring of 2012, Calum finds himself single again after his relationship of six years comes to an end. Heartbroken, unhappy and unsure of what to do next, he leaves the hometown he has been in all his life to embark on a journey that takes him all around the world, from teaching in a school on the outskirts of Rome to exploring the sex clubs of Berlin, to raising tigers in an animal sanctuary deep in the jungles of Thailand. Along the way, he meets LGBT+ people from all walks of life and every part of the rainbow - from an Italian teenager struggling with a homophobic father to a kathoey navigating life as a trans person in Thailand, to a young HIV-positive man living on the streets of London. Their individual stories, not only of hardship and sorrow but also of profound strength and hope, show the breadth and depth of queer life and experience, shedding light on themes such as homophobia, sexual violence, marriage equality and gender identity. Through these meetings and friendships, Calum not only finds the encouragement to embrace life after heartbreak, but also discovers a beautiful, loving global community who support and uplift him through the best and worst moments of his time on the road. A travel memoir with a difference, Eat, Gay, Love is a celebration of the power of community and a personal tribute to the extraordinary lives of LGBT+ people everywhere in the world.
This guide to collecting books on Japan, in English, is organized alphabetically and includes listings of major writers, together with historical and cultural notes. The work provides in an easy-to-use format, a list of obtainable books (both in print and out of print) which form the core of a serious collection. Additionally, the bibliographic listing, the biographic sketches of the more prominent authors, and cultural and historical commentaries should be useful to the researcher.
This guide to collecting books on Japan, in English, is organized alphabetically and includes listings of major writers, together with historical and cultural notes. The work provides in an easy-to-use format, a list of obtainable books (both in print and out of print) which form the core of a serious collection. Additionally, the bibliographic listing, the biographic sketches of the more prominent authors, and cultural and historical commentaries should be useful to the researcher.
The Cruise of the Snark (1911) is a work of travel literature by American writer Jack London. In 1906, after achieving early success as an author of novels and short stories, London began dreaming of the adventures of his youth. Inspired, he spent a fortune to build a 45-foot yacht complete with two sails and a 70-horsepower engine, powerful enough to carry him across the Pacific. Envisioning a seven-year journey, London and his wife Charmian set sail on the Snark with a small crew in 1907. Over the next two years, they would visit Hawaii-where London learned to surf and visited a leper colony-and the Marquesas Islands-made famous by Herman Melville's first novel, Typee. Other stops included Tahiti, Bora Bora, Fiji, Samoa, and the Solomon Islands. During the voyage, London learned the art of sailing and celestial navigation, ensuring that his travelogue-which he filled with photographs from the journey-would be authentic and instructive. In 1909, the Snark was forced to end its voyage in Guadalcanal so that London, suffering from infection, could be taken to a hospital in Sydney. To help cover costs, the Snark was sold in Australia in 1909, and the Londons returned to America via Ecuador later that year. In addition to The Cruise of the Snark, London would publish numerous essays and articles about the trip, and his wife Charmian also wrote three books of her own on the subject. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Jack London's The Cruise of the Snark is a classic of American literature reimagined for modern readers.
"She was part of the 'stunt girl' movement that was very important in the 1880s and 1890s as these big, mass-circulation yellow journalism papers came into the fore." -Brooke Kroeger Around the World in Seventy-Two Days (1890) is a travel narrative by American investigative journalist Nellie Bly. Proposed as a recreation of the journey undertaken by Phileas Fogg in Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days (1873), Bly's journey was covered in Joseph Pulitzer's popular newspaper the New York World, inspiring countless others to attempt to surpass her record. At the time, readers at home were encouraged to estimate the hour and day of Bly's arrival, and a popular board game was released in commemoration of her undertaking. Embarking from Hoboken, noted investigative journalist Nellie Bly began a voyage that would take her around the globe. Bringing only a change of clothes, money, and a small travel bag, Bly travelled by steamship and train through England, France-where she met Jules Verne-Italy, the Suez Canal, Ceylon, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan. Sending progress reports via telegraph, she made small reports back home while recording her experiences for publication upon her return. Despite several setbacks due to travel delays in Asia, Bly managed to beat her estimated arrival time by several days despite making unplanned detours, such as visiting a Chinese leper colony, along the way. Unbeknownst to Bly, her trip had inspired Cosmopolitan's Elizabeth Brisland to make a similar circumnavigation beginning on the exact day, launching a series of copycat adventures by ambitious voyagers over the next few decades. Despite being surrounded by this air of popularity and competition, however, Bly took care to make her journey worthwhile, showcasing her skill as a reporter and true pioneer of investigative journalism. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Nellie Bly's Around the World in Seventy-Two Days is a classic work of American travel literature reimagined for modern readers.
Toe hy 21 jaar gelede vir die eerste keer in Parys aankom, sou die kunstenaar Louis Jansen van Vuuren hom nooit kon indink dat hy eendag ’n château in die Franse platteland sou besit nie. In Amper Frans vertel hy op skreesnaakse wyse hoe hy alles wat Frans is ontdek en beproef het – daar is neusoptrekkerige kelners, statige hertoginne, etlike botsings met die berugte Franse burokrasie en natuurlike talle faux pas in sy gebrekkige Frans. Om die vervalle château saam met sy lewensmaat, Hardy Olivier, in ’n boetiekhotel te omskep het groot geduld en uithouvermoë geverg. Talle lesse is op die harde manier geleer. Een daarvan is dat vier verwarmers geensins genoeg is om ’n hele château te verhit nie en dit sal jou dae lank sonder elektrisiteit laat. Louis vertel ook van kaskenades met hulle gaste en hul eie avonture soos hulle die land platry agter vlooimarkte en avontuur aan. Hy vermeng stories oor hul lewe in Frankryk met brokkies geskiedenis en fassinerende inligting oor eg Franse tradisies. Dit is ’n moet vir Frankofiele!
This is Patrick Leigh Fermor's spellbinding part-travelogue, part inspired evocation of a part of Greece's past. Joining him in the Mani, one of Europe's wildest and most isolated regions, cut off from the rest of Greece by the towering Taygettus mountain range and hemmed in by the Aegean and Ionian seas, we discover a rocky central prong of the Peleponnese at the southernmost point in Europe. Bad communications only heightening the remoteness, this Greece - south of ancient Sparta - is one that maintains perhaps a stronger relationship with the ancient past than with the present. Myth becomes history, and vice versa. Leigh Fermor's hallmark descriptive writing and capture of unexpected detail have made this book, first published in 1958, a classic - together with its Northern Greece counterpart, Roumeli. |
You may like...
Lundy's Best Walks in the Cape Peninsula
Tim Lundy, Mike Lundy
Paperback
JAN Voyage - Apricale & Nice
Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen
Hardcover
Ticket to Ride - Around the World on 49…
Tom Chesshyre
Paperback
(1)
|