Traveling with Jane

I love travel. It makes me nervous and anxious, but then you get someplace new and get to be lost, deliciously lost. Now I don’t mean directionally, though that often happens. There’s just something lovely about not knowing a place, being new, and trying different things. All of a sudden I become outgoing and ready to try anything, I’ll talk to strangers (yes mother I disobeyed that age old rule), go out on my own, and have an unrestrained good time. What is usually frightening in my everyday life becomes part of the adventure. Amy Elizabeth Smith’s book All Roads Lead to Austen was a reminder of the thrills of travel, but with a twist.

Smith set off to spend a year in six Latin American countries (Guatemala, Mexico, Ecuador, Chile, Paraguay, and Argentina). Her quest? To see how Jane Austen’s characters, writing, and stories translated to the natives of said cultures. Her findings? Love, friendship, bookstores, discussion, and a fabulous story.

I adored this story. I wanted to jet off to South America and stay for a year just like Smith. This was mainly what I loved about the story, Amy’s life in Spanish and her struggles and triumphs making friends and living in another country. She was easy to read and I enjoyed reading about the people she met and the book clubs she formed. In each country, Smith put together a small book club to read either Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, or Emma. One of the traits she wanted to see was whether her Latin American friends would think of Austen’s books in terms of their own lives and experiences. Would they identify with characters the way Austen cults in the US do? Could they see these stories happening in their country? It was fascinating to read about the different perspectives and topics each group brought to the floor. I found the later chapters’ discussions of the books more fulfilling than early chapters.

Travel fiction and Jane Austen make me quite content. Smith’s writing was comfortable and welcoming. I easily seeped into the pages and was lost in the story of one woman bringing her assumptions and trepidation to six other cultures while also bringing those cultures a beloved part of her own world.

Give this a read if you are a fan of Jane Austen and travel nonfiction. If you aren't familiar with the three Austen works listed above, you may be a little lost, nothing a sit down with the movies can’t cure, however!

Here are some read alikes for All Roads Lead to Austen:

• A Jane Austen Education: How six novels taught me about love, friendship, and the things that really matter by William Deresiewicz
• Have Mother Will Travel by Claire Fontaine and Mia Fontaine
• A Walk with Jane Austen: a journey into adventure, love, and faith by Lori Smith

In a Sunburned Country

I love travel. If I were able, I'd spend months at a time in a country getting to know the people, culture, going to local markets, and traveling around the country. I hate the idea of being a tourist, which is why everytime my mom wanted to go to some tourist trap, I'd become evil, moody me (do not ensnare this she-devil). But since I can't travel all over right now, I love to read other people's travel experiences. Travel non-fiction is one of my favorite genres. Well, I've finally gotten around to reading a noted author and traveler: Bill Bryson. I listened to Bryson's In a Sunburned Country, his novel about his travels through Australia.

Bryson starts the novel by confessing that he knows little about Australia. As a matter of fact most of the world outside of Australia knows nothing about what's going on there. Sure we've all heard of the outback, Sydney and the Great Barrier Reef, but what are Australians like, what is most of the enviornment and animal life like, and what is its history. Bryson is a brilliant writer, being both humorous and enlightening. He presents facts and his experiences in a way that makes the reader want to continue reading. In this book Bryson talks about a couple of trips he made to Australia with the mission of seeing the whole country. As I learned, that's impossible. A large majority of Austrailia has never been surveyed or explored. It's ginormous and most of it is unliveable for humans. Even so, Bryson did what most outsiders or Australians rarely do, he traveled across the country. Through these travels the audience gets to see what the country looks like and feels like. He discusses tales of poisonous and deadly animals and the encounters that most Australians just shrug there shoulders at, but you and I would wet our pants over.

Bryson presents the laid back, sometimes too much so, personality of Australians, which is such a juxtaposition to the enviornment they live in. Perhaps because of the harsh conditions and jurassic animals that will not change, the best approach is a laid back one, instead of always being paranoid.

This is a great travel non-fiction book. Austrailia is so interesting and Bryson does his best to cover all sorts of aspects of the country, but one of the points taken out of this piece is that there's so much that is unknown about Austrailia. Bryson's voice makes this book, even in the sometimes dull parts, compelling and often entertaining. I'm excited to move to his other books, A Walk in the Woods, The Lost Continent, and many, many more.

A Walk Across America

In the early 1970s at the tail end of the peace and love hippie movement, with turmoil bubbling up around the country, Peter Jenkins decides he needs a life changing journey. Peter is a recent college graduate and divorcee who wants to leave the US because he believes it is in shambles until an older friend tells him, "if you want to leave, go right ahead, but first you sure as shootin' ought to give this country a chance!". That's when Peter decides to take his Alaskan Malamute, Cooper, and himself on a soul searching quest for what America and Americans are really like by walking across America.

The journey starts in Alfred, NY and the book ends when he reaches the Gulf of Mexico, so the title is a bit misleading. I guess "A Walk Down the Eastern Part of the United States" doesn't sell as well. He eventually finishes by walking to California, but we do not hear about it in this book. A journey that begins with Peter trying to figure out if America has any heart quickly becomes introverted. Peter begins to feel this whole journey is a spiritual and religious quest. In the end aren't we all looking for God or at least his replacement?

Peter finds both a spiritual answer for himself and discovers that Americans are warm and welcoming from West Virginia to Alabama. We meet some fun characters throughout the book including a mountain man and a soulful black family who adopt Peter as one of their own. Cooper was perhaps my favorite character in the book. A dog is always a great way to add fun and heart to any story, but *warning* like in most books with dogs, he dies! Tragic.

Although the writing is amateur, the story is compelling. It often feels like Peter lightly taps places and people on the shoulder without fully embracing his experience with them in his writing. He often says how thankful he is to people and how great places are, but I often wish he'd give more than just a passing nod. Even when he devoted chapters to one place or person he stayed with, his writing felt like it was lacking feeling and depth. I wanted more meat.

The first half of the book I felt was equal parts about the hiking/camping and the people/places he went. Towards the end of the book, however, it changed to be more about the people. They were both interesting, but personally I was more interested in the hike, nature, and Cooper.

This book does speak to more than just the lost hippie child. I loved that he seriously used phrases like 'groovy' in his writing, but even with those tacked on, this reaches more than just the flower child generation. It's a fun read and a true story of a man learning about his American routes and discovering that his suppositions about Americans were wrong.

The Foreign-ness of Simplicity

Dolce far niente, sweet to do nothing. What an Italian saying. How sweet it is to do nothing. This is the lifestyle that Frances Mayes immerses herself in in her book, "Under the Tuscan Sun". Italians live in a way that is so foreign to we Americans. Three hour breaks in the middle of the day? Only having seasonal ingredients? Workers who don't show up when they say they will? Having a mini farm in your backyard? What are all these strange concepts? Foreign, yes perhaps, but after reading Mayes book, I can't think of anything that sounds better.

If you have seen the movie, "Under the Tuscan Sun", please put it out of your mind. Yes there are similarities, but the movie is a different beast from the book. The book is a work of travel nonfiction about Mayes and her current husband buying and refurbishing an old, neglected house and the few acres that come along with it. Mayes is a lover of food and cooking, so there are also chapters about her favorite recipes and she talks about the exquisite meals and wines she makes and eats. The book is not a romance, unless you consider the love of a house and place romantic.

I enjoyed the first half of the book describing the work done on the house. It was invigorating to hear about how it went from point A to point B and all of the time and love that Frances and her hubby put into this project. But it was not only the house that had to be updated. The land had olive, fig, and pear trees on it, a wall that needed to be finished, and pruning and planting to be done. This is a lifestyle where living is encouraged, and simplicity has never seemed so complicated. All you do is sit and eat for three hours? Pears and gorgonzola are a stunning combination? It's so simple! I found myself getting bored after about the first half of the book once most of the work on the house was complete. After that, many of the chapters were about places that Frances and her husband visited. Sure some of it was interesting, but I was into the lifestyle of the house and the locals.

Overall, this book made me long for Italy, for a country house in a foreign land where I can make friends with locals, grow food that I can pick off the trees and eat, take on a house and win. It made me want to rediscover life. Frances talks about how different her life is in San Francisco, where she lives most of the year, and Tuscany, where she spends her winter and summer breaks. She talks about how going to Bramasole, the Tuscan house, is like going home. It is like becoming the better version of yourself. I want that.

This is a good read for the most part. It makes you want to get up and do things, rediscover life, cooking, gardening, renovate something, anything! I loved the culture that was unfurled throughout Frances's book, but there were places that I felt she blathered on, and I lost interest. If you love traveling and different cultures, give it a read. Don't get too carried away, however. You wouldn't want to end up with a house in a foreign countryside, or would you?

If I lived there, I'd probably miss pumpkin spice lattes.

And so goes another book! Check off "If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name". Although the title is cheesy, it actually accurately depicts the scope of the book. This non-fiction piece, written by Heather Lende, is about the small town of Haines, Alaska. Originally I thought this would be a bit more about the wildlife, water, mountains, and stuff to do, but I was happily surprised by its people centered approach. This is not a book about a place, so much as it is about the people who live in the place. Alaska has molded these people into who they are in this small town, but Heather focuses on her relationships and the personalities in Haines.

The book is a bit of a "here's what I learned from that" kind of book, but it's sweet. Heather writes obituaries for the local paper, so a lot of her stories talk about death, which is depressing, but they always come back to the joys of living (especially in Alaska). It's an easy read and I enjoyed getting to know the townees, even if I did roll my eyes once or twice at the obvious life lessons. One thing I took out of this book is even if those lessons are obvious, sometimes it takes a smack in the face to realize how true they are.

I enjoyed her stories about her everyday life, running along mountainous roads, seeing seals sunbathing, and catching moose babies and cubs in her back yard. She did a good job of making you feel like a part of the town. It was nice to get a small taste of living in Alaska even during it's blinding storms and dangerous living conditions. It must be a surreal life.

I suggest reading this book during the winter. It's perfect for snuggling up with a blanket, hot cup of coffee, and a roaring fire. Perhaps then you can really get the feel for what living in Haines, Alaska is like.