BigMal's World

Something to get the travel lover going:

The book is No Reservations by Anthony Bourdain. More of a coffee table book than a guide book or a novel, this is something that I enjoyed even if not what I thought it would be.

Managed to read this I’m just over 2 hours on my flight to LA, this was a fantastic way to just get deep into two things I love. Food and Travel. For those that know who Bourdain is, he is an ex chef and host of the hit show No Reservations. A no holds barred, tell it like it is kind of person/show that is one of my favourites to watch.

This book looks at the places he has visited in the show, is full of photos taken by the crew in off times or during familiar stories from the show. A fantastic insight to the person who loves to travel, to eat or just enjoys the show.

So many of the photos or short stories they went with it made me think, I so want to visit there, I wish I had gone there or even, I am going to visit that place sometime in the future.

What more can a lover of travel want. A book filled with what is purely like porn to the food or travel bug among us, something that whets the appetite for either of these things, that entices us to do these things, to travel, to eat, to experience.

Loved it! Just wish it was longer!

Ok first person to tell me I read to much gets a smack on the butt (but it is true), I blame travelling and the size of these books.

This book is “My Mercedes is Not For Sale” by Jeron Van Bergeijk. I picked this book up at a $5 sale once figuring it looked good and would make for a perfect travel read (small, not to small print and interesting enough to keep you distracted).

I was right. The book is nothing over the top but to be honest was perfect for what I wanted. It is about a Dutchman (not sure if he is a reporter or a writer you never really find out) who takes it upon himself to buy an old Mercedes and drive it from Holland to Africa and sell it at a profit all while having one of those once in a lifetime exploring adventures in the Saharan desert.

There isn’t really much to the issue of cars in the desert or of the actual driving but more about the people he encounters along the way (especially other Europeans doing the same thing or adventuring to Africa). If you like to travel it is an interesting read as it gives a tiny glimpse into the life of Africa and the little discussed sides of being a native African.

This is a book you can read quickly, easily, and more than anything keep you distracted long enough for the 200ish pages so it goes into my “Good Plane Books” pile. By no means perfect, it was a good read and if you find it cheap, you could do worse.

Truth be told it sounds like a pretty cool thing to do. Buy a car that you couldn’t give away in the Western world then drive it overland to Africa all the while exploring what the real Africa is about.

Apparently mercs are very popular in Africa and even beat up ones can fetch a good price.

Not a great book but a quick review anyway.

The book is “Fighting them on the Beaches” by Nigel Cawthorne and is pretty much a short, easy read on the Allied invasion of Normandy. Not a very thick book, fairly easy to read. This was given to me by someone at work and has sat on my shelf for so long I figured I would read it and get it out of the way, save me having to carry it over to the other side of the world.

Now I have read more in depth books on the D-Day Invasions (D-Day by Stephen E Ambrose for instance) however this is a very broad, very brief coverage of it. For someone who is travelling to the region and wants a quick over view or isn’t to interested in the War then this book would be perfect. But for me, someone who is into this kind of history. There is just not enough details in this book for me. It is just to brief. I am not saying its a bad book, it is just not for me.

It was a good read though for me at the moment as it managed to give me a good flash back to August last year, when I was standing on these beaches, in some of these spots and it brought back so many good memories. This book was good for something at least.

Another book down, slowly but surely getting through this massive pile (about 25 to go I think), unfortunately I am gonna have to take these with me, or I won’t ever get through them.

The Book is Walking the Gallipoli Peninsula by Tony Wright. A good book for this time of year, with Anzac Day fast approaching, it was a good time to read it. The one thing I did find about this book (it was a gift) was that it was not what I fully expected. The book is written about a Journalist’s journeys to Gallipoli over a number of years and follows him predominantly through one journey in the early 2000’s.

What I had expected was a more indepth look at the peninsula and more of a guide book, although this book is great travel fodder (big print, 250 or so pages, great for a long haul flight) reading it is not what I would normally read I guess. Not saying this is a bad book or anything, just not my kind of book. The book is definately good accompaniment to someone who is on the typical young Australian’s pilgrimage to Gallipoli, giving a great insight into the area from someone else’s perspective. But where it lacks though is in the historical details of the campaign. Something I would still dearly like to read about.

This is a great book and reinspires my desire to visit Gallipoli (still aiming for 2015), and at this time of the year, its definately an appropriate read. Still a good book to read.