Asia
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The Lost Pianos of Siberia: Sophy Roberts
Published by Grove Press, 2020, 448 pages “Siberia is a nightmare or a myth full of impenetrable forests and limitless plains, its murderous proportions strung with groaning oil derricks and sagging wires. Siberia is all those things, and more as… Continue reading
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A Year in Japan: Kate T. Williamson
Published by Princeton Architectural Press, 2006, 190 pages This is a sumptuous book. Kate T. Williamson spent a year in Japan, mostly in Kyoto, and this book is the result. Through beautiful illustrations and a minimal amount of text, Williamson… Continue reading
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Around the World in 80 Trains—A 45,000 Mile Adventure: Monisha Rajesh
Published by Bloomsbury Publishing, 2019, 336 pages “Trains are rolling libraries of information, and all it takes is to reach out to passengers to bind together their tales.” Monisha Rajesh loves trains (in fact she wrote a similar book about riding… Continue reading
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Flâneuse—Women Walk the City in Paris, New York, Tokyo, Venice and London: Lauren Elkin
Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2017, 336 pages Flâneur is a French word that means “one who wanders aimlessly”. It always refers to a man with time and money, who walks the streets of a city. Elkin appropriates the concept… Continue reading
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The Shooting Star—A Girl, Her Backpack and the World: Shivya Nath
Published by Penguin, 2018, 201 pages The Shooting Star starts with Shivya Nath deep in the Amazon rainforest (around the border between Ecuador and Peru), taking part in a shamanic cleansing ritual that involves drinking ayahuasca, an Amazonian plant that is… Continue reading
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Around the Bloc—My Life in Moscow, Beijing, and Havana: Stephanie Elizondo Griest
Published by Random House, 2004, 416 pages Growing up in Texas, Stephanie Elizondo Griest dreams of becoming a foreign correspondent and roaming the world. The advice of a journalist to learn Russian opens the door to what turns into a… Continue reading
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Alone Time—Four Cities, Four Seasons and the Pleasures of Solitude: Stephanie Rosenbloom
Published by Viking, 2018, 288 pages Slow down and take the time to look around you: that is the message of this book, an antidote to our busy and always-on culture. It is, as its title suggests, a paean to… Continue reading
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Travels with My Radio: Fi Glover
Published by Random House UK, 2002, 352 pages Fi Glover starts each day by tuning into the local radio station; it gives her a sense of being a part of the daily routine, no matter where she is. The idea of… Continue reading
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A Bike Ride—12,000 Miles around the World: Anne Mustoe
Published by Virgin, 1991, 256 pages Anne Mustoe retired as a headmistress of a British school for girls in the mid-1980s and decided to go for a bike ride around the world. She was attracted by the idea of being… Continue reading
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Walking in Clouds – A Journey to Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar: Kavita Yaga Buggana
Published by Harper Collins, 2019, 152 pages Kavita Yaga Buggana and her cousin Pallu planned to go together to Mount Kailash in Tibet since they were 18. But life got in the way, they both married, moved away from India… Continue reading









