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'Eat Pray Love' meets 'An Apple A Day' meets 'Under The Tuscan Sun'. Stuck in a job he hates, madly smitten with a woman two decades his junior, racing helplessly into middle age and living in a world where vodka and orange juice is considered breakfast food, Mark Hill knows it's time to make a big life change. He quits his job, stuffs a few clothes and some personal items into an old navy duffel bag, sends all of his other possessions to the bin or the charity shop and books a one-way ticket to Portugal. In a small town slightly off the tourist trail he leaves the rat race behind, discovers a slower pace of life, comes to terms with unrequited love, develops a taste for fresh fish and eventually learns how to say "boa tarde." Poignant, insightful and sometimes funny, Sophie, Rice and Fish is for anyone who’s ever thought "there has to be more to life than this." ...

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It's a fast-paced, get-away-from-it-all tour through 30 destinations in 16 countries. · Amsterdam, The Netherlands · Arnhem, The Netherlands · Antwerp, Belgium · Bruges, Belgium · Paris, France · Cologne, Germany · Geneva, Switzerland · Munich, Germany · Regensburg, Germany · Pilsen, Czech Republic · Prague, Czech Republic · Krakow, Poland · Vienna, Austria · Bratislava, Slovakia · Budapest, Hungary · Pecs, Hungary · Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina · Dubrovnik, Croatia · Split, Croatia · Rome, Italy · Genoa, Italy · Nice, France · Monaco · Nimes, France · Barcelona, Spain · Valencia, Spain · Seville, Spain · Lagos, Portugal · Cascais, Portugal · Porto, Portugal · Lisbon, Portugal...

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A classic of victorian travel writing, Kinglake’s book describes his journey through the Ottoman empire to Cairo, and his residence there in time of plague. [Summary by hefyd]...

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What is this strange land called England; so small in size yet so powerful in influence? What makes her so unique, talented and persistent? This book attempts to answer that. It is a short, well written explanation of England as a unique country written by someone who loved it deeply and yet, as an Australian, could be a bit impartial. In the first part he explains the 'making' of England; the Britons and the Romans, the Anglo-Saxons and the Normands. But from there he attempts to give an essence or flavor, delving into the work, the play, the schools, the churches and especially the landscape which make it special. I have sought in this book to give an impression of some of the most English features of the land, devoting a little space first to an attempt to explain the origins of the English people. Thus the English fields and flowers and trees, the English homes and schools are given far more attention than English cities, English manufactures; for they are more peculiar to the land and the people. More markedly than in any superiority of her material greatness England stands apart from the rest of the world as the land of green ...

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Ida Pfeiffer travelled alone in an era when women didn't travel. She went first on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, then went on to Egypt and Italy. Understanding the difficulties a woman would face travelling alone and on a budget, she made a will before she left. Go she did, however; and upon her return she wrote this book. She used the proceeds to finance her next trip - six months in Iceland. (Summary by Sibella Denton)...

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Watkin Tench was an officer of the British Marines in the First Fleet to settle NSW. This is an interesting and entertaining account of his experiences during that time (Introduction by Tabithat)...

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The author, a British journalist and novelist, is interested in the feel of the places he visits. He describes at length a visit he has made to Egypt, with emphasis on the emotional response the places generate. (summary by Sibella)...

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This is a non-fiction collection of Maugham's observations of life in Asia in the early 20th Century. (Summary by BellonaTimes)

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Isabella Bird travels abroad in Canada and the United States in the 1850s. As an Englishwoman and a lone female, she travels as far as Chicago, Prince Edward Island, and Cincinatti. Her observations on the trials and tribulations of the journeys are astute, if formed by her place and time in history. Adventures with pickpockets, omnibuses, cholera, and rat invested hotels deter her not. (Sibella Denton)...

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It’s 1851 and the Crystal Palace Exhibition is on in England. English American the Reverend Dr. Choules leaves Newport, Rhode Island with three teenaged students - James Robinson, George Vanderbuilt, and Weld French, who are forced to leave the fourth member of their blue-blooded quartet at home - and all four travelers promise to write to “Dear Charley”, Charles Duston, of later fame. The boys meet the Duke of Wellington, travel down the Rhine, and meet many friends along the way. While the letters are filled with some prejudice against the Catholic religion, they are a product of their time - a sometimes ignorant, but often dazzling, period of our history. (Summary by Sibella Denton)...

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On the Trail of Don Quixote is an engaging 1890’s “record of rambles in the Ancient Province of La Mancha” by two artist friends, French author August Jaccaci and Spanish illustrator Daniel Vierge. “Both lovers of the book wherein are recounted the adventures of the good Knight and of his faithful Squire,” as Jaccaci explains, the two men set out to record -Jaccaci in evocative prose, and Vierge in pen and ink drawings - their exploration of the landmarks of Cervantes’ “immortal romance.” Argamasilla, the Cave of Montesinos, Ruidera, the windmills at Crijitano, and the rugged mountain pass of Despeñaperros are among the places Jaccaci and Vierge visited, tramping on foot, or jolting along by mule cart, accompanied in the back country by armed Guardias Civiles. In the 1890’s, before super highways and tourists, Jaccaci could write: “it is incredible how few changes have taken place in the home of the hero since the days of his wanderings. The customs, the character, the manner of dress, and the speech of its inhabitants, have remained practically unchanged . . .” This is a relaxing read for anyone who enjoys good travel books. (Intro...

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Elizabeth Bancroft went to England with her husband, historian George Bancroft, for three of the most dynamicy years in European hstory. As Ambassador to England from the United States, George moved in the highest circles. In his wife's letters to their sons, her uncle, her brother, and Mrs. Polk (the President's wife), we see glimpses not only of early Victorian English life, but also of Queen Victoria herself! Mrs. Bancroft speaks of dinners with Benjamin Disraeli, visits to Wordsworth, weekends in the country with Louis Napolean and Sir Robert Peel with such matter of fact aplomb that one cannot help being impressed....

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Old Times on the Mississippi is a non-fiction work by Mark Twain. It was published in 1876. Originally published in serial form in the Atlantic Monthly, in 1875, this same work was published as chapters 4 through 17 in Twain's later work, Life on the Mississippi (1883). Old Times on the the Mississippi has one last chapter that has nothing to do with the rest of the book. A Literary Nightmare describes the funny/sad/maddening effect that a catchy jingle can have on those unlucky enough to be captured by one. (Summary by John Greenman)...

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A charming brief account of a two months' autumnal stay on the shores of the Lake of Geneva. Howells, who was there with his family traveling from England to Italy, has a sharp eye not only for scenery and architecture, but for people and customs, both Swiss and foreign. (Summary by Nicholas Clifford)...

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Birdseye Views of Far Lands is an interesting, wholesome presentation of something that a keen-eyed, alert traveler with the faculty of making contrasts with all classes of people in all sorts of places, in such a sympathetic way as to win their esteem and confidence, has been able to pick up as he has roamed over the face of the earth for a quarter of a century. The book is not a geography, a history, a treatise on sociology or political economy. It is a Human Interest book which appeals to the reader who would like to go as the writer has gone and to see as the writer has seen the conformations of surface, the phenomena of nature and the human group that make up what we call a world. The reader finds facts indicating travel and study set forth in such vigorous, vivid style that the attention is held by a story while most valuable information is being obtained. The casual reader, the pupil in the public school and student in the high school, professional men and women, will all find the book at once highly interesting and instructive. In no other book with which I am acquainted can so much that is interesting be learned of the worl...

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A clear and delightful peek into the world of Japanese girls and women of the late 1800s: their childhood, education, marriage and intimate family life. And it is done by someone who admires the immense resources, abilities and strength shown by all of these girls and women. The intricate customs that bind the society together and must be learned by every girl, such as the annual Doll ceremony are explained as well as the difficult life of a Japanese wife of this period. Life among the nobles and upper class in the courts and castles, something long hidden away, is explored. Did you know there were Samauri Women? The entire spectrum of Japanese life in the late 1800s is explored from the feminine point of view. The writer is a Christian but respects the cultural and religious differences of Japan society and presents what she has observed from many years in the country and what was shared with her by her Japanese women friends. (Summary by Phil Chenevert)...

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Samuel Butler's biographer dedicates his urbane account of the culture and entertainments of rural Sicily to the unborn son of his guide to them. (Summary by R. S. Steinberg)...

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If you have visions of a middle-aged parasol-bearing lady smiling sweetly from her carriage as she tours Bendigo think again. In 1852, 20 year old clergyman’s daughter Ellen and her brother boarded ship for Melbourne then set off to walk to Bendigo. Dressed in her blue serge skirt which doubled as nightwear, she camped under a tent made of blankets, had mutton, damper and tea most meals and on arrival lent her hand to gold washing. And seemed to enjoy it ! And amongst other things she tells of colonial life , transportation, emigration and other gold-fields. But you will need to listen to hear more about bush-rangers and orphans as well as what she did with her parasol. (summary by annise)...

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In this chronicle of a summer's motoring in Britain I have not attempted a guide-book in any sense, yet the maps, together with the comments on highways, towns, and country, should be of some value even in that capacity. I hope, however, that the book, with its many illustrations and its record of visits to out-of-the way places, may be acceptable to those who may desire to tour Britain by rail or cycle as well as by motor car. Nor may it be entirely uninteresting to those who may not expect to visit the country in person but desire to learn more of it and its people. (Introduction by Thomas Dowler Murphy)...

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A very personal and opinionated wander through the Sussex of around 1900, illustrated with anecdotes, literary and poetic quotations, gravestone epitaphs and a gentle sense of humour. The author colours the countryside with his nostalgia for times past and regret for the encroaching future, his resentment of churches with locked doors, and his love of deer parks, ruined castles and the silent hills. (I must add my apologies for my attempts at the Sussex dialect in the chapter on that subject.) [This book is of Reading Grade of 9.55 (i.e. equivalent to 9½ years of U.S. education. Reading Ease score of 63.72 (on a scale from 100 to 0 .. where 65 is easy, 30 a little hard, 0 difficult). These are Flesch-Kincaid readability scores.]...

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