|
Books > Travel > Travel writing
In this thoughtful, informative account of a journey from Ho Chi
Minh City and the Mekong Delta to Hanoi and Halong Bay, Zoe
Schramm-Evans delves behind the cliche-ridden images of Vietnam to
discover a country poised on the brink of remarkable social and
economic change.
'Bags of fish for cats - 50 pence'. So it was written, on a
chalkboard sign outside a fresh fishmonger's, under the arches of
the raised promenade along the beachfront of England's newly super
trendy and booming seaside City of Brighton and Hove. In Brighton
Babylon, PK Heights is a Grade II listed maisonette flat in one of
the City's up and coming Regency Squares that provides the elegant
base for a series of interlocking true stories about the city's
people and their lives. Newly relocated from London, Brighton
resident Peter Jarrette combines and intertwines his stories, using
a colourful palette that is one part Brokeback Beach and three
parts seawater. He vividly portrays a selection of suspect
characters and shocking episodes; much like the curious bits and
pieces that might be on offer in one of those bags of fish for
cats. To the author's consternation, the residents and visitors are
a thoroughly peculiar and motley crew. This former string of south
coast fishing villages with a royal and decadent past may now be a
thoroughly cosmopolitan City and even aspire to being an
international hub, but it has not yet lost its renowned and
celebrated dark side, far from it. Brighton Babylon is populated by
a cast of unsavoury hobos and bother boys; Yardie obsessed golden
shower webmasters from nearby Crawley; mistakenly racist London
hairdressers; strangely scripted market researchers; extemporised
short-haul cabin crew; pushy airline First Officers; politically
incorrect new food emporia; a vengeful, crumbling resort Pier and a
locally obsessed, cat-mad press pack.
Morbid, but strangely fascinating accounts In 2015, a group of
seven hikers were killed when a sudden flood struck Keyhole Canyon
in Zion National Park. Prior to that, the steep, narrow route to
Angels Landing led to at least five fatalities. Numerous people
have found that high, exposed places in Zion-such as rim trails-are
bad places to be in lightning storms. Death in Zion National Park
collects some of the most gripping accounts in park history of the
unfortunate events caused by natural forces or human folly.
In Afskeid van Europa lewer Karel Schoeman verslag van sy laaste
twee besoeke aan Nederland, Duitsland en Oostenryk gedurende die
herfs van 2011 en 2013. Dit is veral die stede Amsterdam, Berlyn,
Dresden, Salzburg en Wene wat aandag kry en ook met Schoeman se
vermoe om mense en plekke wat hy waarneem, in woorde tot gestalte
te bring. By dit alles is daar ’n ondertoon van heimwee en
gelatenheid omdat die skrywer voortdurend bewus is daarvan dat dit
werklik sy laaste besoeke is en hy dikwels aan sy ouderdom herinner
word: “‘Elderly,’ lees ek op my vliegkaartjie, ‘can’t walk long
distance can sit gate close 15 minutes prior to departure.’ Dit is
ek.” Maar afgesien van die element van afskeid, is dit Schoeman se
belesenheid en sy vermoe om hede en verlede te skakel wat opval en
hierdie boek ’n ryk leeservaring maak. Nie alleen die politieke
geskiedenis nie, maar ook die verhale van die gewone mens soos dit
in die letterkunde uitgebeeld is, word in verband gebring met die
strate, parke, kerke en paleise van die groot stede wat hy besoek.
Onvermydelik skryf hy oor die twee wereldoorloe se impak op mens en
omgewing, maar ook die vasberade inisiatiewe om te restoureer en te
herstel in stede soos Berlyn en Dresden. Die hede met sy
massatoerisme, die gewonde daaglikse gang van sake en veral ook die
tipiese geregte van die plekke wat hy besoek, verseker dat die boek
vir eietydse reisigers ook relevant is.
In sy nuutste boek het Dana van sy ware ontmoetings geboekstaaf –
ontmoetings met mense, maar soms ook met dinge – die vleispastei,
of tuisgemaakte braai-apparate. Die stories het hy aanvanklik op
Facebook gepos. Die wat die grootste reaksie gekry het is hierin
verwerk. 'n Ware interaktiewe Suid-Afrikaanse boek.
Whether he's fighting fires, passing a kidney stone, hammering
down I-80 in an 18-wheeler, or meditating on the relationship
between cowboys and God, Michael Perry draws on his rural roots and
footloose past to write from a perspective that merges the local
with the global.
Ranging across subjects as diverse as lot lizards, Klan wizards,
and small-town funerals, Perry's writing in this wise and witty
collection of essays balances earthiness with poetry, kinetics with
contemplation, and is regularly salted with his unique brand of
humor.
In hierdie boeiende dagboek doen Johan Badenhorst self verslag oor
sy span se reis van 20 000 km deur die ooste van Afrika, met
besoeke aan plekke soos Zambie, Tanzanie, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenia,
Ethiopie, Somaliland, Djiboeti, Eritrea, die Soedan en Egipte. Dit
is ’n plakboek propvol asemrowende foto’s deur Gideon du Preez
Swart, kaarte en nuttige inligting vir beide die ervare sowel as
aspirantreisiger.
Martha was the youngest of sixteen, handpicked reporters who filed
accurate, confidential reports on the human stories behind the
statistics of the Depression directly to Roosevelt's White House.
From these pages, we understand the real cost of sudden destitution
on a vast scale. We taste the dust in the mouth, smell the disease
and feel the hopelessness and the despair. And here, too, we can
hear the earliest cadences of a writer who went on to become,
arguably, the greatest female war reporter of the 20th century.
A facsimile edition of Bradshaw's fascinating guide to Europe's
rail network. Bradshaw's descriptive railway handbook of Europe was
originally published in 1913 and was the inspiration behind Michael
Portillo's BBC television series 'Great Continental Railway
Journeys'. It is divided into three sections: timetables for
services covering the continent; short guides to the best places to
see and to stay in each city; and a wealth of advertisements and
ephemeral materials concerning hotels, restaurants and services
that might be required by the early twentieth century rail
traveller. This beautifully illustrated facsimile edition offers a
fascinating glimpse of Europe and of a transport network that was
shortly devastated by the greatest war the world had ever seen.
|
|