For decades now, Pico Iyer has been based for much of the year in Nara, Japan, where he and his Japanese wife, Hiroko, share a two-room apartment. But when his father-in-law dies suddenly, calling him back to Japan earlier than expected, Iyer begins to grapple with the question we all have to live with: how to hold on to the things we love, even though we know that we and they are dying. In a country whose calendar is marked with occasions honouring the dead, this question has a special urgency and currency. Iyer leads us through the autumn following his father-in-law's death, introducing us to the people who populate his days: his ailing mother-in-law, who often forgets that her husband has died; his absent brother-in-law, who severed ties with his family years ago but to whom Hiroko still writes letters; and the men and women in his ping-pong club, who, many years his senior, traverse their autumn years in different ways. And as the maple leaves begin to redden and the heat begins to soften, Iyer offers us a singular view of Japan, in the season that reminds us to take nothing for granted.

If you want to know about writing, about how to make others share the horror and intensity of an experience, try the first piece in this collection, Justice at Night. Martha Gellhorn wrote it as a 28-year-old, having just returned home to the States after four years in Europe, in 1936. What follows is a selection of fifty years of peacetime journalism, history caught at the moment of its unfolding, as it looked and felt to those who experienced it. It's about revolutions in the making, guilty acts of state terrorism, poverty, injustice and recovery. It vividly captures the range and intensity of Gellhorn's courageous work and is also a passionate call to arms, not only to remember the wronged and to bear witness to evil, but to stand your ground in the face of it.

I heard the rustle again, too close and too real to ignore. I clutched the flashlight, stuck my head out of the mosquito net... and found myself face-to-face with a jaguar. Four travelers meet in Bolivia and set off into the heart of the Amazon rainforest to find a hidden tribe and explore places tourists only dream of seeing. But what begins as the adventure of a lifetime quickly deteriorates into a dangerous nightmare. After weeks of wandering in the dense undergrowth the group splits up after disagreements, and Yossi and his friend try to find their own way back without a guide. When a terrible rafting accident separates him from his partner, Yossi is forced to survive for weeks alone against one of the wildest backdrops on the planet. Stranded without a knife, map, or survival training, he must improvise shelter and forage for wild fruit to survive. As his feet begin to rot during raging storms, as he loses all sense of direction, and as he begins to lose all hope, he wonders whether he will make it out of the jungle alive. The basis of an upcoming motion picture starring Daniel Radcliffe, "Jungle" is the incredible story of friendship and the teachings of nature, survival and human fortitude and a terrifying true account that you won't be able to put down.

This is the story of ordinary life in an extraordinary place. The beautiful city of Venice has been a fantasy land for people from around the globe for centuries, but what is it like to live there? To move house by boat, to get a child with a broken leg to hospital or set off for school one morning only to find that the streets have become rivers and the playground is a lake full of sewage? When Polly Coles and her family left England for Venice, they discovered a city caught between modern and ancient life - where the locals still go on an annual pilgrimage to give thanks for the end of the Black Death; where schools are housed in renaissance palaces and your new washing machine can only be delivered on foot. This is a city perilously under siege from tourism, but its people refuse to give it up - indeed, they love it with a passion. The Politics of Washing is a fascinating window into the world of ordinary Venetians and the strange and unique place they call home.

The sixth in Cv's series of English County Guides explores the county of Wiltshire. The dramatic sweep of the spare landscape towards the Pewsey Vale introduces the historic town of Marlborough. The guide explores over 180 villages, and follows the route towards the West, to Bath and Avon; taking in the historic Jacobean settlements of Trowbridge,Melksham, Calne, Devizes and Bradford on Avon. Wiltshire is beautiful and mysterious, spanned by lay lines and runic landmarks such as Stonehenge and the Avebury Ring. This is an original account of personal experience, fascinating for visitors and tempting to those seeking a new area to live. First researched from 1999-2001, then in 2011, the series of English County Guides provides descriptions of market towns and villages, for casual visitors and those interested in moving to a different area. The guides contain eye-witness records of natural character, of the villages: their properties, amenities, communication.

Dutch Sailmaker and sailor Jan Struys' (c.1629-c.1694) account of his various overseas travels became a bestseller after its first publication in Amsterdam in 1676, and was later translated into English, French, German and Russian. This new book depicts the story of its author's life as well as the first singular analysis of the Struys text.

The Taverna by the Sea is an enchanting, funny, poignant travel memoir about answering the call of adventure by taking on the challenge of running a Greek beach taverna. During a walking holiday on the island of Karpathos, a chance encounter with a Greek-American hotel owner results in a once-in-a-lifetime experience for Jennifer Barclay. The best-selling travel writer and long-term resident of Greece drops everything, returning with dog and tent to the remote bay that will form her home for one hectic, event-filled summer. This book offers a rare account of life in north Karpathos in the South Aegean, famous for its traditional community and dramatic, rugged landscape. While primarily a light, engaging, amusing read full of anecdotes, one-liners, twists and turns - perfect for summer - Barclay's fourth book about life in Greece also conveys the life-affirming importance of trusting one's instincts, taking risks and grasping opportunities. Wake with Jennifer to experience a summer of pink dawns over the olive grove and an empty bay, and swim with her in moonlight, hearing only the waves. Or help yourself to local cuisine - creamy yoghurt and local honey and warm figs, olive oil and rosemary, freshly baked bread, and wine on tap. Alongside a cast of characters from farmers to fishermen, mad guests and a wicked witch, meet Minas the hotel owner, a creative, unconventional Greek-American with the ability to fix anything mechanical and create money out of thin air with food, plus a penchant for drinking, singing and falling asleep. Experience days full of music, days of no running water, and days with a goat tied to a tree - but also nights when the overworked taverna manager awoke convinced there was a large fish in the tent, and customers outside waiting to be served. In The Taverna by the Sea, Barclay reveals what happens behind the scenes of an apparently blissful, peaceful paradise, capturing both the magic and the difficulties of island life. Underpinning an entertaining read for lovers of Greece and its cuisine is an inspiring call to live life to the full - and even escape the rat race.

Growing is a portrait of a young man sent straight out from university to help govern Ceylon. It is doubtful that any Empire at any time has been served by such an intelligent, dutiful, hardworking and incorruptible civil servant as the young Leonard Woolf. He was determined to do what was good but discovered for himself that colonial rule, be it ever so high-minded, is fated to do wrong. Growing is also a deeply affectionate account of the mystery, magic and savage beauty of Ceylon at the turn of the century, an island whose diverse beliefs and cultures Woolf had the time and wit to explore in detail.

Now a limited Netflix series starring Zoe Saldana! This Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick and New York Times bestseller is "a captivating story of love lost and found" (Kirkus Reviews) set in the lush Sicilian countryside, where one woman discovers the healing powers of food, family, and unexpected grace in her darkest hours. It was love at first sight when actress Tembi met professional chef, Saro, on a street in Florence. There was just one problem: Saro's traditional Sicilian family did not approve of his marrying a black American woman. However, the couple, heartbroken but undeterred, forged on. They built a happy life in Los Angeles, with fulfilling careers, deep friendships, and the love of their lives: a baby girl they adopted at birth. Eventually, they reconciled with Saro's family just as he faced a formidable cancer that would consume all their dreams. From Scratch chronicles three summers Tembi spends in Sicily with her daughter, Zoela, as she begins to piece together a life without her husband in his tiny hometown hamlet of farmers. Where once Tembi was estranged from Saro's family, now she finds solace and nourishment-literally and spiritually-at her mother-in-law's table. In the Sicilian countryside, she discovers the healing gifts of simple fresh food, the embrace of a close knit community, and timeless traditions and wisdom that light a path forward. All along the way she reflects on her and Saro's romance-an incredible love story that leaps off the pages. In Sicily, it is said that every story begins with a marriage or a death-in Tembi Locke's case, it is both. "Locke's raw and heartfelt memoir will uplift readers suffering from the loss of their own loved ones" (Publishers Weekly), but her story is also about love, finding a home, and chasing flavor as an act of remembrance. From Scratch is for anyone who has dared to reach for big love, fought for what mattered most, and those who needed a powerful reminder that life is...delicious.

This book focuses on film tourism: the phenomenon of people visiting locations from popular film or TV series. It is based on a unique, Asian perspective, encompassing case studies from around the pan-Asian region, including China, Taiwan, India, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Singapore. By focusing emphatically on film tourism in the non-West, this book offers a timely and crucial contribution to a more comprehensive understanding of the relation between film, culture and place, particularly in light of the increased volume of media production and consumption across Asia, and the consequent film tourism destinations that are currently popping up across the Asian continent.

Anthony Doerr has received many awards -- from the New York Public Library, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the American Library Association. Then came the Rome Prize, one of the most prestigious awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and with it a stipend and a writing studio in Rome for a year. Doerr learned of the award the day he and his wife returned from the hospital with newborn twins.

Exquisitely observed, Four Seasons in Rome describes Doerr's varied adventures in one of the most enchanting cities in the world. He reads Pliny, Dante, and Keats -- the chroniclers of Rome who came before him -- and visits the piazzas, temples, and ancient cisterns they describe. He attends the vigil of a dying Pope John Paul II and takes his twins to the Pantheon in December to wait for snow to fall through the oculus. He and his family are embraced by the butchers, grocers, and bakers of the neighborhood, whose clamor of stories and idiosyncratic child-rearing advice is as compelling as the city itself.

This intimate and revelatory book is a celebration of Rome, a wondrous look at new parenthood, and a fascinating story of a writer's craft -- the process by which he transforms what he sees and experiences into sentences.

“Not sex please,” sê die monnik en toe hy die verbouereerde uitdrukkings op ons gesigte sien, glimlag hy gerusstellend. “Seven is better . . . OK?”

Tussen misverstande, pogings om die taal en skrif te leer en lokvalle van swendelaars wat daarop uit is om ’n vinnige yuan te maak, is daar die vriendelike vreemdelinge wat soos ’n goue draad deur Elkarien Fourie se ervarings in China loop. Hulle is die “mede”-mense wat uitstaan tussen die gedrang van miljoene in die megastede; wat aanbied om die pad saam te loop eerder as om dit net te verduidelik.

Elkarien het Confucius se voorskrif gevolg en haar hele hart saamgeneem op hierdie avontuur wat haar gekies het eerder as andersom.

"As well as being physical journeys, they were explorations and reworkings, through travel, of the writers' own sense of Italian and Fascist identity. Indeed, one of the most interesting suggestions of this original and important book is that the identity of Fascist Italy was built out of comparisons with other places...a fascinating book on Italian travel writing of the Fascist period." . Times Literary Supplement

..".this is a highly recommended book for those wishing to expand their knowledge of the cultural and political roles of travel writing, as well as the perceptions, ambitions, inconsistencies, contradictions and areas of ambiguity prevailing among Italian elites under Fascism." . Journal of Contemporary European Studies

" a]smoothly written, thoughtful study" . H-Net

..".a sophisticated and very well researched study that] makes a significant contribution to the growing corpus of studies of fascist culture and of the often subtle and varied ways in which the regime's goals and messages were transmitted to the general public. It is well organized and well written and is intelligently structured." . Christopher Duggan, University of Reading

During the twenty years of Mussolini's rule a huge number of travel texts were written of journeys made during the interwar period to the sacred sites of Fascist Italy, Mussolini's newly conquered African empire, Spain during the Civil War, Nazi Germany, Communist Russia and the America of the New Deal. Examining these observations by writers and journalists, the author throws new light on the evolving ideology of Fascism, how it was experienced and propagated by prominent figures of the time; how the regime created a utopian vision of the Roman past and the imperial future; and how it interpreted the attractions and dangers of other totalitarian cultures.

The book helps gain a better understanding of the evolving concepts of imperialism, which were at the heart of Italian Fascism, and thus shows that travel writing can offer an important contribution to historical analysis.

Charles Burdett, Senior Lecturer in Italian Studies, specializes on Italian culture under Fascism. He is the author of Vincenzo Cardarelli and his Contemporaries (Oxford University Press, 1999). He is the editor with Claire Gorrara and Helmut Peitsch of European Memories of the Second World War (Berghahn Books, 1999) and with Derek Duncan, of Cultural Encounters: European Travel Writing of the 1930s (Berghahn Books, 2002)."

After a decade of making documentaries about offbeat characters on the fringes of US society, Louis had the urge to return to America and track down the people who most fascinated him. It would be a reunion tour, but this time without the cameras and the sense of performance being filmed inevitably brings. It would allow him to get closer to people, to discover what really motivated them and what had happened to the assorted dreamers, outlaws and eccentrics since he last saw them. On a journey that took him from the porn sets of Los Angeles to the gangsta rappers of Memphis, from a convention of UFO contactees in Arizona to Northern Idaho for a festive get-together of neo-Nazis, he asked what 'weird people' have to tell us about our own secret natures. Had he learned anything about himself by being among them? Do we choose our beliefs or do our beliefs choose us? Louis Theroux's first book is a hilarious, thought-provoking and at times surreal voyage into the heart of weirdness.

For years Patricia Schultz has been telling us where to go-her 1,000 Places to See Before You Die (R) books and calendars have sold millions of copies to eager travelers looking to explore new destinations and round out bucket lists. Now, in a beautifully illustrated gift book that's filled with inspiration perfectly timed to meet the pent-up demand for travel, Patricia Schultz tells us why to go. Personal stories and anecdotes, quotes about travel, affirmations, ideas, and travel hacks-and stunning photographs throughout-Why We Travel comes at its subject from many directions, but all of them point to the same goal: Travel is one of the most richly rewarding experiences we can have. It is, as Pico Iyer says, the place where we stay up late, follow impulse and find ourselves as wide open as when we are in love. It is something we must do ourselves, since No one can explore the world for you. It forces us to go with the flow: When plan B doesn't work, move on in the alphabet. And it gives us so many memories. Patricia shares some of her most rewarding, like going on safari in Zambia and finding her most lasting memory in a classroom of five-year-olds.