Le Road Trip: A Traveler's Journal of Love and France
Registered by 
GoryDetails
of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 10/3/2018
This book is in a Controlled Release!
GoryDetails of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 10/3/2018 This book is in a Controlled Release!
1 journaler for this copy...
I've loved Swift's other books, Gardens of Awe and Folly and When Wanderers Cease to Roam, and got this handsome hardcover from an online seller. It's about the author's trip through France with her new husband, and she frequently compares travel to romance - sometimes in lovely terms and sometimes with hilarious doses of reality. Her lovely watercolors enhance the narrative, and I'm really enjoying it.
Later: Finished this lovely book with some regret - indeed, like her own chapter on "the end of the road", where she compares the end of a trip to the end of a romance, I can also compare it to the end of a book. This one's a delight!
It opens with a charming set of instructions for use: "Hold upright, turn one page at a time... Do not use as tinder, a flotation device, or bait..." Hee!
It includes potentially-helpful advice, such as how to pack, and (this one charmed me) a way to make a miniature "traveler's scrapbook" from taped-together index cards, to which small souvenirs, postcards, stamps, etc. could be attached. There are also musings on the nature of travel - and on romance - with much compare-and-contrast of her previous travels and amours with this new journey with her new spouse. And the delightful travel-journal entries are marvelous, whether she's describing wonderful experiences or "we've been lost all day and are hungry, tired, and sniping at each other" moments.
The illustrations, as ever, are stunning, from landscapes or interesting window treatments (often with cats) to mouth-watering sketches of charcuterie, cheeses, wines, and dessert trays.
There are the "reality checks," when love and/or travel might be jarred by a bad mood or a lost stash of cash. And there are lush comparisons between a Hudson Valley sunset in New York (I've seen those, having family that lives there) and another sundown in Bayeux, France. [The "crash course on the Bayeux Tapestry" segment is not to be missed!]
More tidbits: from "Train Station Meditation", "Be aware that you are waiting for a train. Pay attention to your waiting for a train experience. Pay no attention to your spouse, who is drinking cider from the bottle and eating a tomato and having a much better waiting for a train experience than you." {snerk!}
I even enjoyed the "everything's gone wrong" segment of the adventure, where our heroes make lengthy and toilsome treks to the sites of theoretically-awesome local historical sights, only to find them laughably underwhelming.
Overall it's a really delightful virtual-journey. Recommended!
Later: Finished this lovely book with some regret - indeed, like her own chapter on "the end of the road", where she compares the end of a trip to the end of a romance, I can also compare it to the end of a book. This one's a delight!
It opens with a charming set of instructions for use: "Hold upright, turn one page at a time... Do not use as tinder, a flotation device, or bait..." Hee!
It includes potentially-helpful advice, such as how to pack, and (this one charmed me) a way to make a miniature "traveler's scrapbook" from taped-together index cards, to which small souvenirs, postcards, stamps, etc. could be attached. There are also musings on the nature of travel - and on romance - with much compare-and-contrast of her previous travels and amours with this new journey with her new spouse. And the delightful travel-journal entries are marvelous, whether she's describing wonderful experiences or "we've been lost all day and are hungry, tired, and sniping at each other" moments.
The illustrations, as ever, are stunning, from landscapes or interesting window treatments (often with cats) to mouth-watering sketches of charcuterie, cheeses, wines, and dessert trays.
There are the "reality checks," when love and/or travel might be jarred by a bad mood or a lost stash of cash. And there are lush comparisons between a Hudson Valley sunset in New York (I've seen those, having family that lives there) and another sundown in Bayeux, France. [The "crash course on the Bayeux Tapestry" segment is not to be missed!]
More tidbits: from "Train Station Meditation", "Be aware that you are waiting for a train. Pay attention to your waiting for a train experience. Pay no attention to your spouse, who is drinking cider from the bottle and eating a tomato and having a much better waiting for a train experience than you." {snerk!}
I even enjoyed the "everything's gone wrong" segment of the adventure, where our heroes make lengthy and toilsome treks to the sites of theoretically-awesome local historical sights, only to find them laughably underwhelming.
Overall it's a really delightful virtual-journey. Recommended!
I'm giving this book to a friend to help while away the stay-at-home hours. [We'll conduct a supplies hand-off at the door, maintaining a safe distance!] Enjoy!
