new video what it is

women in flight

You might remember from my last video, that I was bemoaning the dearth of female travel writers.
Well, I did some homework, made up a list for my Seattle Public Library account, and started reading. Today I review 2 books by women travelers in Yemen and in the Congo, both in the 1930's:
Freya Stark's A Winter in Arabia, and Emily Hahn's Congo Solo.
At a time when the world was gearing up for war and women had only recently gotten the vote in the US and were still viewed as inferior beings, these women traveled far, oftentimes alone, and stayed for months, learning a culture and shedding some of their assumptions and biases. Hahn in particular is a vivacious writer (and indeed wrote for the New Yorker for many years).
Bon voyage!

wander lust: travel book reviews

Check out me new video, reviewing the travel books of Paul Theroux, Redmond O'Hanlon and Jeffrey Tayler--yes white Western males, all of them, I'll address that in a future vid--and also intrepid characters who have the resources and the nerve to set out for faraway places--across the African continent or Siberia or Borneo, and roll with whatever happens. The whatever including leeches, surly border guards, extremes of heat and cold and strange food and great kindnesses and excitement and boredom. In a word: travel!

my true love (one of them)

Here's a new video featuring one of my truest loves, detective novels.


It's a light-hearted chat about British detectives, glamour, and a review of two mysteries I recently read: Linda Fairstein's "Terminal City," and Ridley Pearson's "Middle of Nowhere."
Also, apparently I can't decide how to pronounce Fairstein.
Happy reading.