July RandomCAT Challenge - The World is a Book

The world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page - St. Augustine

July's RandomCAT challenge is to read a travel related book.

For this challenge travel books include: travel memoirs, travel guides, travel essays, travel shopping, any work of fiction or nonfiction actually about travel or set in a place that you have traveled to or to which you would like to travel, books about exploration; space travel, polar expeditions, etc, and books about any form of transportation typically used for travel. I'll also accept books about time travel.
If you read a book about a destination that's not apparent from the book title just add the place name to the Wiki so we'll all know the setting.

Bon Voyage !

My planned reading:
The Traveller's Tree: A Journey Through the Caribbean Islands - Patrick Leigh Fermor
Lost on Planet China: One Man's Attempt to Understand the World's Most Mystifying Nation - J. Maarten Troost
Translation is a Love Affair - Jacques Poulin

Oh, this looks like fun! I'm sure I'll find plenty to read.

Very fun!! Have to see what I have on my TBR list.

This is too perfect. We are going to Denver in August for a few days and I have Murder a Mile High on my TBR list. Fully intend to read this in July.

> 2 - I read Translation is a Love Affair so will be very curious to see what you think of it!

Not what I have that will fit this challenge, but it is a goody. Need to scour my bookshelves to see if anything will fit.

So far I'm thinking either something by Jules Verne (so many travel options!) or Sarah Vowell's Assassination Vacation. If all else fails I'll read a book set in London ;) Great challenge!

@ 7 -- May I recommend Around the World in 80 Days? It's a good book and a very fast read!

My library's adult summer reading club's focus is on travel. I need to read a book set on or involving each continent. I need to complete it by early August. I think their categories might be broader than just travel, as long as there's some kind of connection.

Antarctica will be a challenge. I need to find something appropriate there. Possibly Ice Bound. Not certain about South America yet either.

For Africa, I'm thinking Tears of a Giraffe. For Asia, The Coroner's Lunch, which is set in Laos. For Australia, I'll soon be reading the next Kerry Greenwood mystery, set in 1920s Melbourne.

North America and Europe are already finished.

#7 rabbitprincess- I really liked Assassination Vacation. I almost wrote that I enjoyed it but I think that'd be the wrong word to use to describe a book about assassinations.

#9-lindapanzo - the summer reading club sounds interesting. What book did you read for the arctic? My favorite arctic book is One Day the Ice Will Reveal All It's Dead by Clare Dudman. For the antarctic I'd recommend The Endurance : Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition by Caroline Alexander, with photographs by Frank Hurley ( the ships photographer). Or do the books need to be fiction?

I'll read The Good Thief's Guide to Amsterdam and Gateway may fit as well.

I have a couple of travel books on the TBR that'll I may be inspired to read now - thanks!

#10 The Arctic is not on their list..

This is a great idea for a challenge. I am also planning on reading a book by J. Maarten Troost, Getting Stoned With Savages: A Trip Through the Islands of Fiji and Vanuatu in July. Also I am thinking of reading about South Africa with A Beautiful Place to Die by Malla Nunn.

I'm planning to read Eine Frau flieht vor einer Nachricht for a CAT trick. (The English version works for either letter! 'To the End of the Land') This takes place in Israel.

>8 christina_reads:: Too funny, that's exactly the one I was thinking of reading! :) I read it a long time ago and it's the least reread of my three Vernes, so it's due for an airing.

>10 VioletBramble:: Excellent! I'll definitely have to add that one to the on-deck pile.

#11 Jean - Gateway looks good. i see someone compared it to Shock Wave Rider. I'll wait to see what you think of it before I add it to the wish list though.

#13 Linda - yeah, after I wrote that I checked and saw that the Arctic is considered part of North America. I wonder what the people of Greenland and Iceland feel about that.

#14 Judy - Getting Stoned with Savages is much funnier than The Sex Lives of Cannibals. Plus, it actually includes a section on the sex lives of cannibals which wasn't in the first book at all, despite the title.

I found an Edgar nominee that sounds like a fun summer read - Trail of Murder by Christine Andreae. Since it also fits the July AlphaCAT it will be a CAT trick!

Excellent topic, VioletBramble!

Two currently popular books would fit the challenge beautifully -- Beautiful Ruins and Where'd You Go, Bernadette. The second involves a trip to Antarctica, LindaPanzo.

I have several candidates, what with my own impending move to Munich in mid-July!

>9 lindapanzo: re: Icebound. I saw the made for TV movie which I really enjoyed and then bought the book but have never read it. That might be a good choice for me too. I already have a list as long as my arm. I wish I did not fall asleep as soon as I sit down to read! :-(

#20 Thanks. Icebound is the one that the library recommended. If I don't find anything else, I'll probably read it since it sounds interesting.

These books are all set in places I have either travelled to OR would like to AND the first 8 qualify for the AwardCat and the AlphaCat too!

1. A Beautiful Place to Die by Mala Nunn - AlphaCat - 'T' for to; RandomCat - Always wanted to go to South Africa and never had the chance. Even had family there for awhile and missed my chance; AwardCat - Edgar - 2010 - First Novel nominee - AND as a bonus - ROOT

2. Come to Grief by Dick Francis - AlphaCat - 'G' for Grief & 'T' for to; RandomCat - Would love to go back to Great Britain some day, was in London in 1975; AwardCat - Edgar - 1996 - Best Novel and another ROOT

3. Devil in the White City by Erik Larson - AlphaCat - 'T' for the; RandomCat - last year my son and his wife went to Chicago and I wanted to go with them - I hear the windy city is wonderful; AwardCat - Edgar - 2004 - Best Fact Crime

4. A Great Deliverance by Elizabeth George - AlphaCat - 'G' for Great and George; RandomCat - Scotland, need I say more; AwardCat - Edgar - 1989 - First Novel nominee and ROOT

5. The Naked Face by Sidney Sheldon - AlphaCat - 'T' for the; RandomCat - Manhatten, loved my trip to New York City many years ago and am dying to return there; AwardCat - Edgar - 1971 First Novel nominee - ROOT

6. This Rough Magic by Mary Stewart- AlphaCat - 'T' for This; RandomCat; Corfu Greece; was in Greece in 1985; AwardCat - Edgar - 1965 - Best Novel nominee, ROOT

Also plan to finish:

7. In Pursuit of Spenser edited by Otto Penzler which was nominated for the Best Critical Biographical Edgar Award this year

And my one and only Independent Foreign Fiction Prize contender:

8. To the End of the Land by David Grossman; AlphaCat - 'T' for To, The and The and ''G' for Grossman; RandomCat - I went to Israel the same year I went to Greece; AwardCat - 2011 Longlist

Whew!!

And I am adding one more!

9. I planned to re-read one of my all-time favourites this year: The Cat Who Went to Paris by Peter Gethers and with the travel theme, it looks like July is the month!

Wow! That's a lot of CATtricks cookie. I'm glad this theme is working out so well for you.

Well, thanks to you VioletBramble! Your category is pretty inclusive! Now, whether or not I get to read them all, time will tell.

17> Iceland is actually on 2 tectonic plates - the North American & Eurasian plates. It's awesome. If you ever get the chance to visit, go there and go to the Blue Lagoon spa.

http://www.visitreykjanes.is/Searchresults/Attraction/bridge-between-continents

25> I hated the Blue Lagoon. If you go there and have long hair make sure you shampoo really, really well. It leaves your hair hard and stuck together. Only thing I'm not enthusiastic about in Iceland. (The hot water in the taps in Rekjavik smells of sulfur, but leaves hair and skin silky.) My 'don't miss' is the textile museum in the north http://www.isholf.is/textile/index_e.htm. If you are at all into fibrecrafts you need to see this. The day I was there I was the only visitor, and the director of the museum kept track of where I was and kept coming around to tell me more about the things I was looking at.

26> Forewarned is forearmed. I think we had heard about that and did our best to keep our heads above water. I have short, fine hair and had no problems at all. My friend has shoulder-length bushy hair and needed to shampoo really well. But the in-water massage was amazing and worth it, IMHO. Did you visit any of the public hot springs? A good alternative since they don't have all that silica in the water.

This talk of travel set me off and I had to go check out Iceland Air's website as I do every few months, hoping for a bargain. LOL.

I just got 2 books about Denmark from the library. My great grandfather came from Denmark, but I don't know much about the country. I can put off reading them for a couple of weeks. (And I checked and Iceland Air flies to Copenhagen, so if I can just find a friend I can talk into going with me . . . ).

The highlights of my trip to Iceland several years ago were the public hot springs and a geological bus tour. My family and I had to laugh when we were flying home and Icelandic Air was touting that they were serving Icelandic water - it's fun to soak in but awful to smell!

I have a couple travel books on my bookshelf, but I hope to at least read Not So Funny When it Happened: The Best of Travel Humor and Misadventure.

On my bookshelves the other day, I discovered The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler who is one of my favourite authors. Have started reading it now.

27, 28> I could go to the public hot springs here in Vienna with my husband every week, and don't.

But I did dip my feet in Snorri Sturluson's pool. And I spent lots of time looking at yarn. I think that Iceland has the most impresive and beautiful waterfalls there are. The one I am looking at always seems to be the most beautiful of all. And I loved the black beach at Vik, and the puffins, and the gardens at Akureyri, and the parade on the national holiday. ...

I plan to read Beautiful Ruins , thanks for reminding me about it Kay!

Hmmm. I picked up several audio books yesterday for a car trip this week, one of which is set in Panama. Since we are going to Panama in the fall, I'll count that if it is the one Hubby chooses for the drive. Otherwise, I'm not sure what I've got.

I have Daughter of Time: A Time Travel Romance set for July - Yeah!

I have a time travel book I will be reading in July - The River of No Return by Bee Ridgeway. Hopefully, this fits the RandomCAT as well. ;-)

I put my copy of This Must Be the Place by Anna Winger, which is set in Germany (but in Berlin, not Munich) in my SO's suitcase before he left for Germany today. The rest of us leave for Munich on July 15th, so it will be waiting for me to read it, in Germany, for this CAT.

#25 BookLizard - I've been to Iceland. I've actually been to where you can see the separation of the plates. I just forgot that one was the North American plate. I have been to the Blue Lagoon as well. I was there during a hail storm. It was oddly exhilarating -my body toasty warm and my head freezing and being pelted with hail. One of the top 10 fun days of my life.
But I agree with MarthaJeanne in #26 - not good for long hair. I forgot shampoo and had to wash my hair with the soap from the dispensers in the shower. Not good at all.

#26 MarthaJeanne- I didn't get to see the textile museum. Maybe my next trip. I spent a lot of time looking at yarn and knitted goods at the Hand Knit Shop.
I am a vegetarian and an extremely picky eater. The best thing about Iceland for me was that I was able to find more food to eat there than anywhere else I've traveled. That was a huge surprise. Of course it was ridiculously expensive.

#33 cyderry - time travel romance? Sounds interesting, looking forward to your review.

#34 Hi Lori -- yes, any time travel book will fit the challenge.

I think I may add Beautiful Ruins to my travel reading list.

Today I am enjoying the following:
The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler about a travel writer. This is also an AlphaCat ('T' for 'the', 'Tourist' and 'Tyler').

I am listening to Friday the Rabbi Slept Late by Harry Kemelman which takes place in New England and I have always wanted to go there. This is also an AlphaCat ('T' for 'the') and it won the Edgar in 1965 for Best First Novel. Another CatTrick!

I have also started The Cat Who Went to Paris by Peter Gethers, about a journalist who travels all over with his cat. And I have vacationed in Paris. It is also an AlphaCat ('T' for 'the' and 'to' and 'G' for Gethers).

I'm adding The Long Ships to this as the Vikings were all about 'travel'. Heh.

#38 - Good idea, I'm going to be reading The Long Ships as well.

The Canterbury Tales should count as a travel book, shouldn't it?

Robert> They were certainly making a pilgrimage.

Exactly.

Finished The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler and loved it! Macon, the main character is a man who writes travel guidebooks for business travellers, people who do not want to leave home but must. Sweet, sad, touching, funny. Typical Anne Tyler. This is also a AlphaCat ('T' for 'the', 'Tourist' and 'Tyler') .

>43 ccookie: And on it goes to the TBR wishlist...

I'm two short stories in to Not So Funny When it Happened. One was good, one was not...hopefully there aren't any more about flight attendants and their experiences with projectile vomit.

> 44 not so funny, eh?!

Definitely did not strike my funny bone!

#38, Jean, #39, Judy -- The Long Ships is a great fit - about travel AND a form of transportation. Perfect. I checked out the group read thread. I had never heard of this book but it sounds interesting. I may have to add it to the TBR pile.

#40 Robert- Canterbury Tales does count as travel.

#43 cookie - The Accidental Tourist is a beautiful book. Have you ever seen the movie?

#44-46 aliciamay- I gave Not So Funny When It Happened 4 stars, but, I have to admit I was rating by memory -- having read the book long before joining LT. Maybe the later stories are funnier. However, I haven't been inspired to read another Cahill book since.

Today I finished Unfamiliar Fishes by Sarah Vowel. It's about the history and annexation of Hawaii. Lots of interesting information, but, not as funny as her previous books. It really could have used more humour. It didn't help that I'm also reading The Traveller's Tree: A Journey Through The Caribbean Islands. I kept confusing all the tropical island, colonialism and leprosy stories from book to book.

>47 VioletBramble: - Kelly - yes I have seen the Accidental Tourist, many years ago and I enjoyed it. I think the book was better though!

>47 VioletBramble:: I have Unfamiliar Fishes waiting on the shelf as well... seems kind of like The Wordy Shipmates, which was also more historical and not so much humour-based. Right now I'm reading Assassination Vacation and am enthralled.

#48 cookie - The book is nearly always better than the movie.

#49 rabbitprincess - her last three books have not been as humorous as The Partly Cloudy Patriot and Take the Cannoli. Assassination Vacation was good in part because she included her own family history in the Trail of Tears. Unfamiliar Fishes is VERY similar to The Wordy Shipmates - politics, religion and colonization.

> 50 I agree that the book is almost always better than the movie.

Today I finished two books:

The Cat Who Went to Paris by Peter Gethers which is a RandomCat since Gethers is a journalist who travels all over with his cat and an AlphaCat ('T' for 'the' and 'to' and 'G' for Gethers).
This was a re-read of one of my favourite books, EVER and it is still one of my favourite books, EVER!

Friday the Rabbi Slept Late by Harry Kemelman which is a RandomCat since it takes place in the New England States and I have always wanted to go there. This is also AwardsCat. It won the Edgar in 1965 for Best First Novel. And it is an AlphaCat ('T' for 'the'). Another CatTrick!
This one I inherited from my mother and am so glad that I read it . Fun, fun, fun and educational too.

Last night I started She Rises. It is a nautical theme novel. Poor young Luke has been 'pressed' into service with the navy (set in the 1700s). I anticipate that there is going to be travel!

Finished Murder a Mile High. The Colorado part of the story was fine but the rest of the book - meh.

I've completed Getting Stoned With Savages by J. Maartin Troost for this challenge. I found it an ok read with the humor feeling a little forced and leaving me with a feeling that I still know very little about these exotic places.

Today I finished (and loved) A Great Deliverance by Elizabeth George. I have always wanted to see Scotland). Have been to England but did not get farther north than London. It is also an AwardCat - Edgar - 1989 - First Novel nominee and a AlphaCat So a CatTrick! And a ROOT besides!

I finished A Beautiful Place to Die by Malla Nunn, set in South Africa, which is a dream travel destination for me. This book was set in the beginning days of Apartheid and I wouldn't have wanted to be there during that time, but it was a great start to what looks to be an excellent mystery series.

I finished 11/22/63 by Stephen King - a time-travel novel.

> 57 A Beautiful Place to Die is on my list for this month. Hopefully I will get to it! Sounds like I should prioritize it!

Right now I am working on To the End of the Land

I just finished Trail of Murder, a mystery set in Montana's Bob Marshall Wilderness. Lee Squires fills in as cook on a pack horse trip where a family feud leads to murder. It's also a CAT trick!

I finished World War Z over the weekend and only now realized it could fit into this challenge since the 'author' is travelling around the world interviewing the survivors of the zombie war.

Another ROOT bites the dust! Saturday the Rabbi Went Hungry - Harry Kemelman was lots of fun! And I have always wanted to visit New England

What do you think? Does Call of the Wild count? Buck, our canine hero, does work as a sledge dog.

Today I will finish Hannibal: Fields of Blood by Ben Kane. It is the sequel to Hannibal: Enemy of Rome. Fields of Blood covers Hannibal's travels through the Italian alps fighting the Roman army. It is an excellent novel. I desperately want to go to Italy one day, but will have to wait until the kids grow up and can look after themselves. Maybe another 12-15 years!!!!

Urgh, I am so late to this.
Love the theme for this month, narrow enough to not include basically all books but wide enough that you can easily find something to read. And fun!

Will skim through my list of books and see if any of them apply (at least one should).

As a huge fan of the Tarzan legend, I really enjoyed Jane: The Woman Who Loved Tarzan by Robin Maxwell, and I appreciated that the author did her research on both the time in which the story took place and the setting of Gabon. Ah, there's nothing like a good safari book to get the travel juices flowing!

So many good books being read.

#61 sandragon- I never would have thought of World War Z as a travel related book but I'm so glad it fits the challenge.

#63 Robert - The Call of the Wild counts - travel plus a form of transportation - sledge. Perfect.

I have finished:
The Traveller's Tree: A Journey Through the Caribbean Islands and Translation is a Love Affair.
Translation is a Love Affair is one of the best books I've read all year. It's a small book about translation, language and loneliness. It's beautifully written. It's set in Quebec - a place I've been meaning to visit for more than 20 years. It also led me to another small travel book- In The Shadow of Islam - which I'm hoping to squeeze in this month.

Yesterday, I started Long Ships for the group read not knowing what to expect. What I got seems to be a rousing good adventure story about 10th century Danes who travel to much of the known world. Seems a perfect fit for this CAT.

I think this month's group read of Nine Coaches Waiting fits the travel theme very well. I know I'd love to go to France!

Starting Jeffrey Ricker's Detours: Shortly before his mother died Joel's parents sold their RV to a family friend now living in California. Joel has to drive the RV from Maine to California, accompanied by his mother's ghost and his lover from high school, who is hoping to re-kindle the flame.

If I can get to it, I plan on reading Sophie Kinsella's Wedding Night for this CAT -- looks like the main characters travel to a Greek island!

In Two under the Indian sun two young girls travel with their aunt to return to their family in India.

Finished Jeffrey Ricker's Detours.

I just finished The Long Ships by Frans G. Bengtsson, a great saga that covers a Vikings' life and details the three long voyages that he took.

Well I finished She Rises a very interesting tale of a girl who becomes a lady's maid in Harwich and a boy who is pressed into service for the English navy in the 18th century. The descriptions of the culture on board the ship were great.

I finished Old Bones by Aaron Elkins. While presenting at a conference in France, Gideon Oliver is called in to consult on a local case near Mont St. Michel with roots in World War II. It won an Edgar in 1988, making it a CAT trick!

The other day I finished Wedding Night by Sophie Kinsella (haven't had time to write a review yet, though!). The main characters all end up traveling to a Greek island in order to sort out their tangled love lives. It's typical chick lit, but it was a fun read!

Shades of Mama Mia?

@ 78 -- Hmm, didn't really think about that. The plot is in no way similar, but the setting is supposed to invoke the same kind of fun sexytimes. Perhaps I should have read the book while listening to ABBA...

I finished two books:

Christine Falls by Benjamin Black. Always wanted to go to Boston and Ireland. This was my first Quirke book and it was wonderful. Also an AwardCat - nominated for Edgar Award in 2008

The Naked Face by Sidney Sheldon for a CatTrick - AlphaCat - 'T' for the; RandomCat - Manhatten, loved my trip to New York City many years ago and am dying to return there; AwardCat - Edgar - 1971 First Novel nominee - ROOT. Fun read - over the top! Could not put it down

Well, I finished May We Be Forgiven (New York) by A. M. Homes this afternoon. WOW! Loved it, loved it, loved it!

It was riveting. I am a slow reader and I read it in just a few days . Could not put it down! Everything else had fallen by the wayside.

Dark, but touching and laugh-out-loud funny! Darkly funny! If you find adultery and murder difficult to read about and can see no humour in these topics, do not read this. But it is handled so well that I feel like I am part of this family.

Finally completed The Long Ships - a wonderful adventure story that reads like a 10th century travelogue. Loved it.

I finished Lost on Planet China: One Man's Attempt to Understand the World's Most Mystifying Nation by J. Maarten Troost. Like Troost's other books this one sort of made me not want to go to the places he visited. If I ever do get to China I'll have to remember to go to the less crowded western China. And maybe Hong Kong.
I'm going to try to squeeze in In the Shadow of Islam and Beautiful Ruins.

I chose A Pig in Provence by Georgeanne Brennan for my Random Cat book this month because I've always thought it would be wonderful to live in a small European town for an extended time. Ms Brennan tells how her family lived in a small town in Provence for a couple of years and then periodically over a number of years. The book is centered around the food and preparation of food and the adventures they had that involved food. Unfortunately many of the practices in the way food was being prepared have disappeared over the years.