December: TravelKit, December: Related to a Place You Would Like to Visit

The last month for our travel kit and it can be a clean up month because this topic is pretty broad. I chose December with the idea of where would I like to travel in December and one of the spots I have had in mind for several years now is to travel to England and see places that would remind me of Charles Dickens; The Christmas Carol, The Chimes. and The Cricket on the Hearth.



Or maybe a trip to the North Pole to see Santa. or a a reindeer farm in Findland. And the North Pole and Finland are not your only choices for those winter experiences. Check out Japan and its winter opportunities. 5 unusual experiences in Japan’s snow country
HAVE FUN

I don't have any particular books to suggest, I just think travel and Christmas or December offer some unique experiences. Of course this year we probably really don't want to travel so use it as an opportunity to do some armchair travel. Enjoy the trip. Happy reading and end of 2020.

I've not really factored December/Christmas into my choice, but as an island-phile somewhere I'd love to visit is the Aran Islands, on the Irish Atlantic coast. So I'm going to read The Aran Islands by J.M. Synge. I've seen them from the mainland when we travelled to Ireland in 2011, but we weren't in the area long enough to be able to take a trip to the islands.

When I think about my travel bucket-list, Norway always comes to mind first. I may read The Snake Pit, the second volume of The Master of Hestviken, as I read the first volume in October and loved it.

Are we allowed a bit of time travel about a locale we've already visited?
I see that I don't have much in the way of unread hope-to-visit travel on my shelves right now, but I do have Dangerous Days in Elizabethan England, which is both non-fiction about a country I don't live in, and a time period I love.

>4 mstrust: I see no problem with time travel

I love those pictures you included! Beautiful! I will probably read Adventures on the High Teas by Stuart Maconie which was a BB from another LT-er. I just ordered it!

This one's related in two ways. I'd like to both visit the setting (Australia) and where Harry is from (Norway). I actually picked it up for Norway, not realizing it wasn't set there.

The Bat / Jo Nesbo
3 stars

Harry is a police officer/detective from Norway. When a Norwegian woman is murdered in Australia, where she’s been living, Harry heads down to help the local police with the investigation. It seems that this may actually be the work of a serial killer, though it wasn’t initially obvious. Add in an Australian aboriginal police officer, a homosexual clown, and a Swedish barmaid as a love interest, and we have “The Bat”.

I didn’t find the backstory/personal interest story all that interesting. I do know I’m not as much a fan of noir mysteries. Is this one? Not sure. Also not always a fan of police procedurals. Is this one? It had a bit of that feeling to it (of both), but maybe it didn’t quite fit the definitions. Anyway, I’m calling this one “ok”. It did pick up at the very end, but somehow I think I missed an important tie-up. If I didn’t miss it, then something went very wrong. I don’t think I’ll be continuing the series.

I have finished Ein dänischer Winter, which is set in 1929 when Karen Blixen spent Christmas in Denmark with her family. Although I live close to the border I have never been there for a proper visit, and now that we can't travel I regret that.

I ended up reading An Irish Country Christmas by Alice Taylor. The evocations of Ireland at Christmas time presented a charming view of life in the countryside, which is probably a nostalgic portrait, as I imagine the life was difficult on the authors' small farm. I have read this book in the past, and I enjoyed this reading just as much as I did the previous times.

I just read At Swim, Two Boys by Jamie O'Neill. It is set in Ireland. I would like to visit Ireland someday.

>8 MissWatson: In February, I was able to visit the Karen Blixen museum at her home in Narobi. She is truly someone who moved to a new place and embraced it. Her story Out of Africa would be a very suitable selection for this. There was a lovely full sized poinsettia tree in her yard.

I finished JM Synge's The Aran Islands yesterday. It was written as a contemporary account in the late 19th/early 20th century, so a fascinating historical account of the islands and their people. I'd like to read a more contemporary account too (as well as wanting to visit to see for myself, of course!).

>11 HelenGress: That sounds wonderful!

Swimming to Antarctica / Lynne Cox
4 stars

Lynne Cox was a long distance swimmer. In the ocean. When she was a teenager in the 1970s, she swam with a group of other teenagers to cross the Catalina Island Channel in California. They were the first teenagers to do so. It only fuelled her desire for bigger, longer, colder swims. She worked for 10 years (meanwhile doing other swims: English Bay, Cook Strait (between the North and South Islands of New Zealand), the Nile River (ugh!) in Egypt, and many more) to be able to cross the Bering Strait (from Alaska to the Soviet Union – this was during the Cold War, which is why it was so difficult to get permission). Ultimately, after all that, she swam in the Antarctic Ocean in 32 F water for a hour.

This was really good. I’m not much into sports or swimming, but it was so interesting to learn all the planning and different things they have to think about and arrange when they do such swims. And it was even somewhat suspenseful – the cold! She obviously lived through it all to write this memoir, but to read about what was going through her head (and going on with her body) while she swam in water that was in the 40s F (then later, 30s!). So interesting!

>14 LibraryCin: Taking a bullet on this one!

>15 beebeereads: Hope you like it!

I read Dangerous Days in Elizabethan England. Still love the time period but seems like a better place to visit rather than live.

>17 mstrust: Hah! That's a very creative choice!

Set in Scotland

The Turn of the Key / Ruth Ware.
4.25 stars

The book starts off with Rowan in jail, but we don’t know why. From there, she is writing letters to a lawyer, begging him to believe her story. We back up through these letters to find what happened. When she applied to be a nanny to three girls at their home, at the end of the interview, one of the girls gave her a “hug” and warns her away from coming back. Rowan takes the job, anyway, and is scared out of her wits when there are footsteps coming from above her room, apparently in a long-ago locked attic. The house itself is decked out with all modern amenities of a smart-house, where everything can be controlled via an app on a phone. This includes cameras and speakers in most rooms.

I listened to the audio and I don’t think I ever lost interest. This was so good. I really didn’t know what was going on and I wanted to keep listening to find out. It was creepy – at least there were plenty of parts that were. As the twists were coming at the end, there was one I guessed just minutes before it was revealed. The ultimate twist was the very end, though. The end added the extra 1/4 star for me.

Set in Paris

The Invention of Hugo Cabret / Brian Selznick
4 stars

It’s 1931 and Hugo is twelve years old. His father died in a fire at the museum he worked at and his uncle, who had been taking care of him since, has disappeared. Hugo is living and hiding in the “bowels” of the train station where he helped his uncle fix the clocks. Hugo is good with mechanical things and when he comes across an “automaton” his father was trying to fix, Hugo is convinced his dad left him a message if Hugo can only fix it himself. He has been stealing from the toy vendor in the train station for the parts he needs, but things take a turn when the old man who runs the toy kiosk catches him stealing.

This book is a mix of text and many many beautiful black and white illustrations. I enjoyed it. Much of that enjoyment did come from the way the book was done. I am going to (right away) listen to the audio, as I am curious how that is done.

>20 LibraryCin: I have a used copy of that book in my book boxes of kids books. I will have to dig it out! I remember some other students in my grad classes in library school were reading it.