Book Blog for Armchair Travelers and Otherwise

A Traveler's Library finds and reviews travel books, films and more

A lifetime ago, I read Helen MacInnes's The Salzburg Connection while in Salzburg and the lake region called the Salzkammergut. I re-read Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises in Spain and A Farewell to Arms after returning from Slovenia. Peter Matthiesen's The Tree Where Man Was Born came to Tanzania with me, and Peter Hessler's River Town and Simon Winchester's The River at the Center of the World provided insights to life on the Yangtze in particular and China in general. And I've happily slogged through many a James Michener tome when traveling in places he wrote about. After returning from Easter Island, I rented "Rapa Nui." Loved the island. Hated the movie. And so my reading and my reading, and occasionally film watching, run in parallel chairs, often intertwining like a braided river, with the experience and the book merging and diverging.

In truth, because I work with words all day, I don't read nearly as much as I once did -- except when I am traveling. So when my friend Rosemary recommended her friend Vera's blog, A Traveler's Library, I found a kindred spirit. I enjoyed roaming through it, and I hope you will too. And while you're at it, check out Feast, Rosemary's eZine, which celebrates travel and also food, films, literature and art.

Tour de France Travel Guide

Illustrated guidebook to the Tour's routes, climbs and towns

Every July, my husband and I are gripped by the human drama, athletic competition and sheer scenic splendor of the Tour de France, now cheerintelecast daily in the US by Versus. Especially that it's now in high definition, we watch the crowds in achingly charming cities and towns, the scenic rural roads past farms and vineyards, the cheering fans that choke down the mountain climbs and the fast descents from the alpine zones into the greenery. Every year, we talk about how fine it would be to follow the Tour in person, and every year I enter the online contest on the longest of shots that we'll win a trip for the following year.

We probably will never get there, but now there's a vicarious way to get the inside info. Graham Watson’s recently published Tour de France Travel Guide provides insider’s access based on 31 years of following and photographing the race. According to the publisher, VeloPress, "Watson has mastered the Tour’s daily challenges—where to eat, where to sleep, how to get around, how to see and photograph the race, and most of all, how to enjoy the greatest show on two wheels."

This beautifully illustrated guidebook features hundreds of Graham’s stunning photographs, full-color maps, travel tips, checklists and travel resources, plus such special features as clever menu decoder, tips on how to meet the riders, a glossary of French cycling terms, some history historical on each region of France visited by the Tour and even a chapter on how to photograph the Tour like a pro. I guess my trusty little digital camera won't cut it. Again according to the publisher, "this book presents a fresh and unique strategy for getting around the Tour’s many daily obstacles to find a front-row seat for all the action."

The price is $24.95, which is a lot less than actually being there.