Threads of Awakening

Blurb:

What if you set out to travel the world and got sidetracked in a Himalayan sewing workshop? What if that sidetrack turned out to be your life's path--your way home?

Part art book, part memoir, part spiritual travelogue, Threads of Awakening is a delightful and inspiring blend of adventure and introspection. Leslie Rinchen-Wongmo shares her experience as a California woman traveling to the seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile in India to manage an economic development fund, only to wind up sewing pictures of Buddha instead. Through her remarkable journey, she discovered that a path is made by walking it--and that some of the best paths are made by walking off course.

For over 500 years, Tibetans have been creating sacred images from pieces of silk. Much rarer than paintings and sculptures, these stitched fabric thangkas are among Tibet's finest artworks. Leslie studied this little-known textile art with two of its brightest living masters and let herself discover where curiosity and devotion can lead. In this book, she reveals the unique stitches of an ancient needlework tradition, introduces the Buddhist deities it depicts, and shares insights into the compassion, interdependence, and possibility they embody.

 
Thoughts:

A travelogue/memoir, this turned out to be an informative as well as an enjoyable read. Rinchen-Wongmo describes her journey to learn the art of Tibetan fabric thangkas. Her interest in it began on a visit to Dharamsala, India, the seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile.

Although the book is largely on this rare textile art, it has a lot of Buddhist philosophy and ritual practices. This is natural as the art form usually depicts a Buddhist deity, scene, or mandala. Rinchen-Wongmo explains it all in a simple, interesting manner.

I liked its structure. Like the fabric thangkas the author creates, 58 chapters are each labelled a 'piece'. They are grouped into seven parts with titles, such as fibers, threads, warp, weft, etc. It makes for a nice flow that weaves her experiences into a unique story.

Rinchen-Wongmo has managed to include the basics of geography and history necessary to make the audience aware of the significance of the subject matter. A detailed appendix about the process of making thangkas is given at the end of the book. There is also a glossary of words with Tibetan, Sanskrit, and Hindi origins.

Given that the content mainly refers to Tibetan sacred icons it must have been difficult to maintain a fine balance between being respectful and engaging. Her writing style is both.

I would recommend it to anyone interested in textile art, crafts, Buddhism, and accounts of people pursuing lives off the beaten path.

Note: BookSirens gave me a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Backpack Years

Blurb:

Part travel, part romance, part failing at life, The Backpack Years intertwines two memoirs, charting Stef and James’s six-year journey from happily wandering to miserably settled and back again.

Straight-laced Stef left America to study abroad in Spain, letting loose and falling head over heels for two things: a handsome local and travel. Travel won out. James had a future in England he felt he’d already destroyed. Fueled by debt and a deteriorating relationship with his father, James fled to Australia and found something better.

After language mishaps in France and a topless night in Tenerife, an awful offal job in Warrnambool and a kidnapped manicure in Bali, Stef and James meet at an Irish pub in Sydney. Though their adventures are pulling them in different directions, they ditch the single life to forge a path together.

Can the two navigate their way through red-tape, relocation, miscommunication, and a last ditch, make-or-break trip to try to save their relationship, or will this be their last adventure as a couple?

Spanning thirteen countries and four continents, The Backpack Years is a story about how far we’re willing to go to be with the one we love.

Thoughts:

Exactly as the blurb says, the book contains the memoirs of Stef and James—their separate perspectives on travel, romance, and life—that blend into one story.

It starts in 2000, spanning their travel through thirteen countries and four continents. Initially, they travel solo but meet a third of the way through the book. They change their plans so that they can travel and stay together.

This leads to a whirlwind marriage and many obstacles that prevent them from traveling for some time. When their relationship is threatened, they seek to remedy it with another trip.

Although the book has been co-written by two people with different viewpoints, it is easy to read because the change of narrator is clear. The writing is vivid, engaging, and immersive.

The authors have written quite candidly about their lives. They are honest about the great and not-so-great parts of their relationship and lifestyle. World travel, especially as backpackers, can involve budgetary restraints, illnesses, and dangers related to regional issues.

When I started reading it, the descriptions of their conditions—lack of money; sparse hygiene; abundance of sex, alcohol, and drugs; troubles with work/visa/permits; and adjusting to cultural differences—appalled me.

However, Stef and James managed to handle all that because they were resilient and had ample support from the great friends they made along the way. The Backpack Years shows how far Stef and James were willing to go to save their relationship and follow their dreams.

It is a balanced account of how challenging and rewarding travel and making a relationship work can be. Despite my initial misgivings, I found it enjoyable.

Note: I received an advance review copy from BookSirens in exchange for an honest review.

Mountain Song

Blurb:

In the vein of Nan Shepherd's The Living Mountain and Mary Oliver's gentle writing on nature, Mountain Song is a love letter to adventure, slowing down, and quietly noticing the beauty of wild places and our place within them.

"Here in the silence and surrounded by mountains, I’m starting to find my answers, at least for now. I want to be moulded by the world: by the people I’ve loved and the places I’ve sat and listened quietly, watching leaves falling, the sun rising and stars appearing..."

After graduating university with no idea what she really wanted to do with her life, Lucy Fuggle made the unexpected decision to leave behind her home in the UK for the company of glacier-covered mountains, alpine flora and fauna, and soaring eagles in Switzerland's Berner Oberland. For three years, she made picture-perfect Meiringen her home.

Growing up painfully shy and with high-functioning autism, Lucy found new mental and physical courage in the natural world around her traditional Swiss chalet, living alone with a view of towering peaks and waterfalls. In summer, she explored every trail around her house, including the Via Alpina trail 400 km across Switzerland. The coldest time of the year saw her switch hiking for freezing lake swims, snowshoe hikes, and glacier treks.

As her relationships, career, and inner life changed – for better and for worse – she ventured further into the wild around her for comfort, answers, and acceptance. In the silence and loneliness, she found the space to step into who she really was, no matter what others thought of that.

This is her quietly inspiring and soothing story of the ups and downs of living simply, quietly and in tune with nature and the transformation it can bring, accompanied by beautiful photographs and pen and ink sketches. Surrounded by some of the most striking scenery in Europe, Lucy finds a slower pace of living and exchanges insecurity for courage, changing the course of her life beyond recognition.

Thoughts:

I am a great fan of structure, order, and logic. When I started reading this book, I was disappointed because it read like a journal or a diary of disjointed and non-chronological entries. However, as I moved further along, I realized that the style suited the content.

Fuggle writes about how successfully handled the problems that plagued her. I like stories of second chances and rebuilding lives.

The geography and the climate of the Swiss Alps are so different from my part of the world that the setting felt dreamlike. I can never imagine climbing mountains or hiking through them, but I loved reading her descriptions of them.

With my head in the clouds and snow of the Alps, I was able to ignore most of the troubles I had when I was reading the book. It comforted me because I could relate to some of the different mindsets Fuggle went through while writing it.

The book has many quotes and poems, which are listed at the end. It also has great photographs taken by her.

It is an easy and relaxing book, written well.

Note: I received an advance review copy for free from BookSirens in exchange for an honest review.

Road to Mekong

 

Blurb:

For fifty-six days, four women left their ‘regular lives’, homes, families and comfort, to ride their motorbikes through scenic landscapes, inhospitable terrain and diverse regions. In this process, they covered 17,000 kilometres through six countries. What inspired them to follow this dangerous, and at times maddening, adventure trail?

In Road to Mekong, Piya Bahadur recounts her once-in-a-lifetime journey through Southeast Asia. With little prior experience in expeditions of this nature, the group successfully planned and executed an exhilarating trip from Hyderabad, through the east Indian coast and the northeast of India, weaving through Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam, along the river Mekong, and finally to Cambodia. By the time they returned, the lives of these audacious women had changed forever.

Piya takes the reader along on her travels through places rarely visited by the itinerant Indian and shares the new world that unfolds as she journeys from being a working mother constrained by her own inhibitions to a confident traveller accepting of whatever adventures life has to offer.

Thoughts:

I bought the book because its cover and blurb seemed quite interesting. I wanted to know more about these four women who went on a bike ride through six countries covering 17,000 kilometres.

The journey was sometimes arduous because of the red tape involved and also because of the vagaries of the route. They were able to overcome everything because they were strong, courageous, and determined. The joy of experiencing new places and diverse cultures was enough compensation for them. They also had the support of a team that followed them in a bus. 

The book is a good choice for those who love travel, women empowerment, chasing dreams, and breaking norms. The descriptions are vivid, the narrative interesting, and the language, simple and apt. Bahadur has explained the process of planning and executing the long ride quite well.

However, you would be disappointed if you wish to know more about the camaraderie between the four women, the personal challenges they overcame, or the friendship they forged. Bahadur does not dwell too much on the personal or the human aspect, except if it was directly related to their trip.

You will understand more about why this is so and what they wanted to accomplish with this journey when you read the last two chapters.

Overall, a good book!

The Cat with Three Passports

Blurb:

A girl struggling to fit in. A homeless kitten. An unexpected job offer in an unfamiliar country that changes everything.
C.J. Fentiman had a long history of escaping places and people she wasn't fond of. But for the sake of a silver tabby, she decided to stay in Japan for a while. This decision helped her open up her heart and mind, revisit her way of thinking, and reconnect with her estranged family.
Let this heartwarming memoir take you to the land of cats and cherry trees as you read about CJ's adventures - from the craziness of Furukawa's naked men festival, the experience of forest bathing and the significance of finding a life purpose or ikigai, to the temples of Takayama, and wonders of Cat Island - you'll see what a homeless kitten found outside a temple in Japan taught her about an old culture and new beginnings.

Thoughts:

Negatives

• I dislike people using their initials as their first names.
• The title The Cat With Three Passports was misleading: 
• The cat Gershwin with the passports does not feature in the book as much as I expected.
• He did not travel to three countries but stayed in Japan throughout the book. He was expected to leave for the UK with the author but she changed her mind and moved to Australia with him in the end.
• The author refers to her oldest friend Karina, with whom she visited Cat Island, as ‘Karen’. Was this a typo or a mistake? Why wasn’t this caught by the editor?

Positives

• The author and her partner Ryan travel to Japan to take up teaching jobs. They are entrusted with looking after two cats by their predecessors in those jobs. They also take in a stray cat and name him Gershwin.
• The book refers to some difficult times in CJ's life but it is a comfortable and easy read. The writing style is frank and upbeat.
• You get to see how the author’s experiences in Japan and her interactions with the people she meets there—both Japanese and expatriates—bring about a positive change in her outlook towards life.
• The book has a lot of interesting tidbits about living, working, and traveling in Japan. It would be of great help to anyone thinking of visiting Japan.
• Each chapter starts with a Japanese saying about cats. I loved this (I am a typical cat person). 

To summarize, a heart-warming, entertaining book despite the negatives.

Note: I received an advance review copy from BookSirens for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Kong Boys

Blurb:

Seven friends. Beers, bets, and bull runs. What can go wrong?

The enduring power of friendship disguised as a booze-soaked, contemplative travelogue.

In summer 2006, twenty-year-old Gerald Yeung and his childhood friends from Hong Kong travel to South America and Africa on their parents' dime. Confronted by challenges foreign to their privileged upbringing, the "Wannabe Backpackers" persevere in their Christian Dior clothes. They make plans to do it again when they turn thirty.

The decade that follows doesn’t go exactly to plan. Gerald chases the American Dream in a town of twenty thousand and sub-zero winters. Others pursue a fast-and-furious life in Hong Kong. They all experience failed relationships, career setbacks, and a decreasing ability to impress girls at clubs.

The summer of their thirtieth birthdays, they hit the road again to fulfill a lifelong dream — the 2016 UEFA European Championship. Set during European soccer’s most anticipated event, Kong Boys traces a friendship that transcends distance, culture, and time, dovetailing the different trajectories of seven boys in a decade of changes in Hong Kong. Kong Boys is a celebration of youth, brotherhood, and a sport of incomparable beauty.

Thoughts:

Seven privileged young men from Hong Kong, who are on the cusp of age 30, go on a European tour that coincides with UEFA Euro 2016. All, except one, of the seven friends are football fans. Yeung’s Kong Boys describes the experiences of these seven boys on this trip.

This book covers culture, food, personal relationships, football, and the general nature of young men. He shows that regardless of how different the seven friends are, the bond among them is strong. The anecdotes that show their friendship are inspirational and hilarious at the same time.

Asian youth are generally seen as nerdy and interested in video games and books. However, this book shows their wild, crazy partying, confident side.

Although I have nothing in common with Yeung and his friends, the book had great humour and many interesting facts that kept me engaged. Moreover, the goofiness of the boys, their inside jokes using Cantonese expressions, atrocious gambling, fancy recipes, and funny travel bloopers made me smile.

Yeung’s easy-to-read writing style and the natural flow of the dialogue made all of it enjoyable.

Note: I received an advance review copy for free from BookSirens and am posting a voluntary, unbiased review.

No True Love in Tehran

Blurb:

Would you travel to Iran?

In 2010, a schoolteacher from Minneapolis accepted an invitation from an Iranian friend to travel to the Islamic Republic of Iran, a place labeled evil by the US government. Iran is a snake with many heads, his friend had told him on the night they first met. The mask is there, but no one knows what is going on. 

From a coffee shop in Minneapolis to tea houses lined with Persian rugs, follow one American's personal quest to understand a world hidden by negative headlines ever since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

With honesty and humor, No True Love in Tehran chronicles relationships in Iran that are both enduring and fraying in a closed society. In the parks, high-octane bachelors use English like an aphrodisiac and are willing to risk imprisonment to get women's phone numbers while families set up extravagant picnics as a force field against the frustrations of the day. A crowd is mesmerized by a guitarist only to find the musician being whisked away by the Morality Police; subway riders reveal secret opinions about their country beneath the streets of Iran's capital city.

The teacher-neither a journalist nor a tourist, and crippled by a hallucinatory fear of being arrested-finds a culture that loves beauty, but also has a soft spot for death. These emotions are expressed in murals that depict martyrs and in thousand-year-old poems recited by cab drivers.

In this entertaining reflection on the culture of the Middle East, we are taken on hikes up the mountains surrounding Tehran to talk with ordinary Iranians who look down at a heartsick city-one that clings to life on the border of tradition and modernity.

****

Bursting with unforgettable characters, storytelling, seeking, and footsteps across the East-West cultural bridge, No True Love in Tehran, is the story of the most daring adventure of all-trust between an American and Iranian.

My Thoughts:

This book by Kareem Aal discusses the culture, relationships, and desires of the people of Iran. It is intertwined with Aal's personal stories, based on his wide experiences ranging from a coffee shop in Minneapolis to tea houses in Iran.

The book tries to peek behind the negative headlines about Iran and enjoy the wonderful geography, culture, and true essence of the country. It recollects many instances of Aal’s journey and reflects on them in juxtaposition with his experiences elsewhere.

Consequently, the book is not ordered according to chronology or common logic. It meanders, which means that although it was interesting, it was confusing and disconcerting at times.

Note:

I received an advance review copy for free from BookSirens and am posting a voluntary, unbiased review.

Off the Beaten Track across Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia

Blurb:

Three things happened simultaneously. The lioness charged, Alistair fled across the parched savannah and his wife screamed for him to run faster. Stuffed deep inside his tattered rucksack was a guidebook containing advice on what to do in wildlife emergencies, which he planned to read if he survived the next thirty seconds. Future plans to climb Kilimanjaro, teach English in the Amazon and live in Australia were temporarily forgotten as he turned to face the pouncing lioness, thinking back to the words of advice from his mother-in-law. "Don't do anything silly, and look after Francine." From deep underground in a remote Bolivian mine to the scorched Australian outback, this is an adventure travel story. It explores the turbulence of redundancy, the excitement of travel, the anguish of leaving home and the challenges of starting a new life in Australia.

Thoughts:

When his factory job in Luton with Vauxhall ended unexpectedly, Alistair McGuinness uses his final pay check to travel to South America with his wife Francine.

Francine is cautious, adapts to situations easily, and gets by with the smattering of Spanish she manages to learn. The same cannot be said for Alistair who does not learn Spanish, eats without caution and invariably falls ill, and is extremely gullible.

Together, they land in a lot of trouble mainly because of making impromptu decisions, not preparing in advance, and their trusting nature. However, they manage to have an extraordinary adventure and wriggle out of all troublesome situations.

I am not much of a traveller. On the rare occasions that I do travel, I prepare for all contingencies. So, it was very interesting to read about the exploits of spontaneous travellers, such as the McGuinnesses.

I like the way Alistair has managed to write about geography, history, and everyday occurrences, without taking away from any of these. His sense of humour is quite evident from his writing, which is easy to read, keeps you engaged, and makes you feel as though you are travelling with him. To sum up, this is a refreshing, delightful, enjoyable, well-written travelogue, with a bonus of quirky photographs, such as that of a donkey named Angus.

Note: I received an advance review copy for free from BookSirens.

From A Wonky Path To An Open Road

Although I had set out to read memoirs in 2020, this book was not on my list. I did not even know that Janey de Nordwall existed. Thanks to BookSirens, on whose list of memoirs this book showed up. They gave me a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
And boy! Was this a pleasant surprise!
Nordwall is dyslexic. She was written off as ‘lazy’ and ‘thick’ by some. However, she overcame a lot of obstacles and went on to become a BAFTA-winning film producer.
In this book, she describes her trip to Scotland with her cat Kenny in her 1970s VW campervan. She intersperses her exciting, and often hilarious, adventures with important incidents from her life. Just as her experiences showed her, I too believe that you can find good kind people in unexpected places.
I am not supposed to drive and may certainly not travel alone on such a long journey. However, I love reading such memoirs. I felt as though I was with Nordwall on this journey. The cat Kenny also delighted me.
Overall, a delightful book!

You Had Me at Bonjour

Summary: Jessica decides to take a gap year in the south of France after her husband Ben leaves her for another woman, Samantha. It is her way of coping with her divorce and loss of her job.

Although she is miserable in the beginning, she gradually gathers courage to meet people and make friends. She starts writing a blog, which reads like a diary, because she wants to write the angst out of her life. Later, this becomes the basis for a column and a book. She also falls in love with her neighbour’s nephew Nino.

My thoughts: This book is what they call a ‘light, breezy read.’ It is a feel-good story, with a predictable happy ending. I enjoyed it because it is always reassuring to read about people getting up and pressing on however hard they are knocked down.

It is well-written because the story seems to stem from real experiences from Jennifer Bohnet’s life. The descriptions of places Jessica visits, her career and interests (gardening and wandering around vide greniers) all mirror the author’s life.

Note: This book was given to me by Carina UK in exchange for an honest review. I thank them (especially Sara Veal) for that.

Travels with My Briefcase

“Travel for the sake of travel is the ultimate extravagance; it ruins the environment, destroys our heritage and consumes valuable resources.
Most travel writing is the ultimate prostitution. I’ll go anywhere, I’ll go with anyone, I’ll do anything, so long as I get paid for it. There is no purpose, no objective.”

The opening lines of Peter Biddlecombe’s Travels with My Briefcase may put you off, if you picked this book up thinking it was just another travelogue. These sweeping statements, which damn almost half of the so-called travel-lovers and most travel writers, may irritate you. However, if you get past the introduction, the gist of which is that business travelers are the true travelers, you will enjoy reading it.

The book does not describe ‘azure skies’ or ‘dark foliage’ or ‘wonderful trills of birds’. It does not wax lyrical over ‘stately columns of museums’ or ‘true cultural experiences’. It does not drool over ‘fondue’ or ‘fois gras’ or ‘spaghetti carbonara’, 'native produce' or ‘vintage wines’. It does not have photographs of the author or his family posing next to statues or hugging people or performing scary acts.

It tells you about what to expect in each country, with just the right mixture of genuine wit, sarcasm, exasperation and appreciation. It shows that travel can be adventurous and eventful, but in a different way.

River Dog: A Journey Down the Brahmaputra

As the title suggests, this is a travelogue. It describes how Mark Shand followed the river Brahmaputra from its source in Tibet, through India and to the sea in Bangladesh.

 

The funny thing is Shand doesn’t actually get onto a boat on the river until very late in the book. First there is the trip to Tibet and a stay in Delhi. Then he travels around Assam by helicopter, truck, etc. However, the latter part of the book provides a vivid picture of life on the river.

Shand describes his journey with verve and humour. The way he describes his dog Bhaiti (chosen exclusively for this journey), his photographer friend Aditya Patankar (whom he calls the Great Maratha) and all other people we meet in this book is endearing and hilarious.

However, I thought that he was merely a first class passenger on a journey where his friends arranged everything from the shore. He even had a crew to sail his boat and feed him. Again, I expected more on Tibet, North East India and Bangladesh and not about Bhaiti’s life.

The book is worth a read although the content varies from the sublime to the silly and Shand sometimes seems highly self-involved.

Eat My Globe: One Year to Go Everywhere and Eat Everything

The title says it all. This is Simon Majumdar‘s account of the year he spent travelling the world and sampling food. 

Majumdar, who is an author, food writer and broadcaster, was guided in this quest by people he met on food-related websites.The book is also about these people as much as it is about the food. 

 Majumdar describes the excellent guides who led him to good eating places and the large-hearted acquaintances who invited him to their homes and fed him delicious meals. It also has anecdotes of the Majumdar family, especially his brother (aka the Great Salami) and his Welsh mother Gwen.

Majumdar eats almost anything from rotten shark meat to cod sperm sushi and stir-fried rat to braised dog during his journey. Although some of his descriptions might make you nauseous, they are funny enough to make you enjoy them.

He maybe opinionated and egotistic but he is equally self-deprecating. The book is by no means thorough or well-written but is extremely enjoyable.

(Simon Majumdar is the co-writer of Dos Hermanos, one of the UK’s most widely read food blogs. He is also the author of another food/travel memoir, Eating For Britain.)

Around the world in 80 dates

by Jennifer Cox

If you want information on where to stay in Hongkong, what to eat in Canada or what to see in Iceland, this is not the book for you. This is the account of a woman’s journey around the world to discover her soul mate.

Jennifer Cox, a career travel writer and globe-trotter, makes use of her worldwide contacts to set her up on dates with recommended single, eligible males. Most probably she wanted to visit countries in which she felt most familiar and comfortable; so she does not travel to South America, Africa, the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent.

Cox is witty and entertaining. However, she does not describe the men on her dates well. It is as though she is waiting for one date to end so that she can move on to the next. This is even more evident when midway through the book (date 55) she finds her soul mate. Instead of stopping her journey there, she carries on maybe because unless there are 80 dates, the book wouldn’t have been published! To complicate things further, she also meets another man (date 79) who seems to fit her description of soul mate.

Sadly, the book lacks sincerity because of all this, and you almost wish for it to end with each successive chapter.