Bill Bryson - A Walk in the Woods : Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail (May 1999) Bill Bryson tackles what is, for him, an entirely new subject: the American wilderness. Accompanied only by his old college buddy Stephen Katz, Bryson starts out one March morning in north Georgia, intending to walk the entire 2,100 miles to trail's end atop Maine's Mount Katahdin. If nothing else, A Walk in the Woods is proof positive that the journey is the destination. As Bryson and Katz haul their out-of-shape, middle-aged butts over hill and dale, the reader is treated to both a very funny personal memoir and a delightful chronicle of the trail, the people who created it, and the places it passes through. Whether you plan to make a trip like this one yourself one day or only care to read about it, A Walk in the Woods is a great way to spend an afternoon. David Elliot Cohen - One Year Off : Leaving It All Behind for a Round-The-World Journey With Our Children (July 1999) On the verge of his 40th birthday, David Elliot Cohen talked his wife into selling their home and possessions, pulling their three young children out of school, and--armed with no more than a suitcase, a backpack, and a passport each-- embarking on a 12-month round-the-world journey. "One Year Off" is Cohen's rollicking e-mail chronicle of their close-knit adventures from Costa Rica to France to Istanbul. Derek Lundy - Godforsaken Sea : Racing the World's Most Dangerous Waters (July 1999) Derek Lundy recounts gripping tales of the grueling round-the-world Vendee Globe race (set in the Southern Ocean--the sailor's Mount Everest) and promises the ultimate in armchair adventure. Frances Mayes, Janet Pedersen (Illustrator) - Bella Tuscany : The Sweet Life in Italy (April 1999) In this follow-up to her bestselling account of her love affair with Tuscany, Mayes carries forward the concerns and people of "Under the Tuscan Sun", while exploring new themes: gardening, travel throughout Italy, deepening friendships with Italians, and primavera, a new season. Filled with recipes from her Tuscan kitchen and written in the sensuous and evocative prose that has become her hallmark, Bella Tuscany is a celebration of the sweet life in Italy. Peter Mayle - Encore Provence : New Adventures in the South of France (June 1999) After trying--what folly!--to live in other places, Peter Mayle is back in his beloved Provence. He celebrates his homecoming by sharing with us a whole new feast of adventures, discoveries, hilarities, and culinary treats, liberally seasoned with a joyous mix of Gallic characters. The pauses for refreshment include an unforgettable meal in a converted gas station, a rendezvous with the very best bouillabaisse, and visits to eventful weekly markets. But there is life after lunch, and we also discover a school for noses in Haute Provence, a gardener who grows black tomatoes, the secret of the oversexed butcher, a celebration of Alowine (Halloween) Provence-style, and the genetic effects of two thousand years of fois gras. There is a memorable tour of Marseille, a comprehensive lesson on olive oil, a search for the perfect cork-screw, and invaluable recommendations for splendid local cheeses, wines, honey, bread, country restaurants, and off-the-beaten-track places to stay. Damien Simonis - Lonely Planet Barcelona (1st Ed) (April 1999) Chris Wyness - Lonely Planet Vancouver (1st Ed) Uncovering the charm of this bustling, ethnically diverse port city, this travel guide includes detailed walking tours and points out all the must-see attractions. of color illustrations. 20 maps. Jamie Zeppa - Beyond the Sky and the Earth : A Journey into Bhutan (June 1999) As a teacher of English literature, Jamie Zeppa would understand how the story of her journey into Bhutan could be fit into the convenient box of "coming-of-age romance," a romance with a landscape, a people, a religion, and a dark, irresistible student. An innocent, young Catholic woman from a Canadian mining town who had "never been anywhere," Zeppa signed up for a two-year stint teaching in a remote corner of the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan. Despite the initial shock of material privation and such minor inconveniences as giardia, boils, and leeches, Zeppa felt herself growing into the vast spaces of simplicity that opened up beyond the clutter of modern life. Alongside her burgeoning enchantment, a parallel realization that all was not right in Shangri-La arose, especially after her transfer to a college campus charged with the politics of ethnic division. Still she maintained her center by devouring the library's Buddhist tracts and persevering in an increasingly fruitful meditation practice. When the time came for her to leave, she had undergone a personal transformation and found herself caught between two worlds that were incompatible and mutually incomprehensible. Zeppa's candid, witty account is a spiritual memoir, a travel diary, and, more than anything, a romance that retraces the vicissitudes of ineluctable passion.
