Anastasia Ashman and Jennifer Eaton Gokmen, authors of Tales from the Expat Harem: Foreign Women in Modern Turkey
Tuesday, April 25, 2006 at 6:30 pm
Candida’s World of Books, Washington D.C.
In “Tales From the Expat Harem”, 29 women reveal their tales of cultural conflict and discovery spanning the entire country of Turkey over 4 decades. This travelogue takes readers to weddings and workplaces, inside dimly lit and smoke-filled bars, through boisterous bazaars along the Silk Road , and deep into the feminine powerbases of steamy Ottoman bathhouses.
David Farley and Jessie Sholl, authors of Traveler’s Tales Prague
Saturday, May 6, 2006 at 5:30 pm
Candida’s World of Books, Washington D.C.
Featuring essays by Myla Goldberg, Helen Epstein, Jan Morris, and Francine Prose, Travelers’ Tales Prague collects over 20 stories from the city that inspired compositions from Mozart and novels from Kafka. With a sizable expat population, remarkable architecture unspoiled by war or natural disaster, and a lively night life, this city of 1.1 million is a virtual must for Eastern European travelers and the pieces in this book are both a charming enticement for prospective travelers and a welcome companion for those already there. Landmarks like the Charles Bridge and Hradcany Castle provide a dramatic backdrop to stories that range from educational to enlightening to laugh-out-loud funny. The anecdotes featured here include a Kafkaesque visit to the castle, reminiscences of a supermodel native daughter’s exile and return, musings on southern Bohemia’s fairy-tale appearance, and a fast-paced joust with the local police. Travelers’ Tales Prague shines a bright light on a stirring place.
Robert Heide and John Gilman, authors of O’ New Jersey: Day Tripping, Back Roads, Eateries and Funky Adventures
Tuesday, May 23, 2006, 8:00 pm and Tuesday, June 6, 2006 at 7:30 pm
Barnes & Noble (Somerset Shopping Center), Somerville, NJ and Barnes & Noble, Clark, NJ
This little gem of a guide presents a selection of 20 day trips through sites from the Campbell Soup Museum in Camden and chic cafes in Hoboken to hikes through South Mountain Reservation and historic house tours in Morris County. The authors cite both famous and offbeat landmarks (from Asbury Park to the Trash Museum), historic trivia, short reviews of restaurants (ice cream to Mexican food), colorful legends (the “Jersey Devil”), scenic routes, antique and book shops, recipes, and more. This is not a dry tourist’s guide. Rather, its pages are chocked with wit, humor, and solid research that reveal the hidden personality of the Garden State. Superb maps and nostalgic illustrations round out the fare.
Anthony Bourdain, author of The Nasty Bits: Outrageous Stories from Worldwide Adventures
Thursday, June 1, 2006 at 7:00 pm
Barnes & Noble (86th & 2nd), New York, NY
The good, the bad, and the ugly, served up Bourdain-style. Bestselling chef and No Reservations host Anthony Bourdain has never been one to pull punches. In The Nasty Bits, he serves up a well-seasoned hellbroth of candid, often outrageous stories from his worldwide misadventures. Whether scrounging for eel in the backstreets of Hanoi, revealing what you didn’t want to know about the more unglamorous aspects of making television, calling for the head of raw food activist Woody Harrelson, or confessing to lobster-killing guilt, Bourdain is as entertaining as ever. Bringing together the best of his previously uncollected nonfiction—and including new, never-before-published material—The Nasty Bits is a rude, funny, brutal and passionate stew for fans and the uninitiated alike.
Arthur Frommer, publisher of Frommer’s USA
Saturday, June 3, 2006 at 1:00 pm
Bennett Books, Wyckoff, NJ
Experience a place the way the locals do. Enjoy the best it has to offer. Frommer’s. The best trips start here. Detailed coverage of the United States’ best attractions, hotels, restaurants, and outdoor experiences. Outspoken opinions on what’s worth your time and what’s not. Exact prices, so you can plan the perfect trip whatever your budget. Off-the-beaten-path experiences and undiscovered gems, plus new takes on top attractions.
Lawrence Osborne, author of Naked Tourist: In Search of Adventures and Beauty in the Age of the Airport Mall
Thursday, June 8, 2006 at 7:00 pm
Barnes & Noble (6th & 22nd), New York, NY
From the theme resorts of Dubai to the jungles of Papua New Guinea, a disturbing but hilarious tour of the exotic east—and of the tour itself Sick of producing the bromides of the professional travel writer, Lawrence Osborne decided to explore the psychological underpinnings of tourism itself. He took a six-month journey across the so-called Asian Highway—a swathe of Southeast Asia that, since the Victorian era, has seduced generations of tourists with its manufactured dreams of the exotic Orient. And like many a lost soul on this same route, he ended up in the harrowing forests of Papua, searching for a people who have never seen a tourist. What, Osborne asks, are millions of affluent itinerants looking for in these endless resorts, hotels, cosmetic-surgery packages, spas, spiritual retreats, sex clubs, and “back to nature” trips? What does tourism, the world’s single largest business, have to sell? A travelogue into that heart of darkness known as the Western mind, The Naked Tourist is the most mordant and ambitious work to date from the author of The Accidental Connoisseur, praised by The New York Times Book Review as “smart, generous, perceptive, funny, sensible.”