Welcome to Litsy!

#wondrouswednesday

Thanks for the tag, @Eggs

"On hearing the legend that whoever folded a thousand paper cranes would be granted a wish, Sadako had passed her time in hospital folding as many cranes as she could before she eventually died at the age of twelve, having made more than 1,600." p. 85

A bit sad, but it was the first sentence I saw.

My #TitlesAndTunes pick for August's #TheWorldIsMyOyster

I had a total block finding a song until my daughter was standing next to me when I took the picture of the book. She read the title in the beat of the song and there it was. Honestly, I adore Daft Punk (a #GuiltyPleasure?), should have thought of it at once.

https://open.spotify.com/track/1pKYYY0dkg23sQQXi0Q5zN?si=8gPRlwmzS2mWL73s73hrtQ

@Cinfhen @BarbaraBB

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This was largely enjoyable but for a few issues.
1. She's kind of condescending to people and cultures of most of the places she's chosen to visit.
2. The "world" trip doesn't visit Africa, Central or South America, or Australia at all.
3. Not. One. Single. Map. In a travel book. ?

That said, the book was an easy, mostly enjoyable read with high points being the Japan, North Korea, and Tibet bits. I've heard her "Around India..." was better.

🐁🐁🐁😳

I'm not extraordinarily picky, but I'm gonna draw the line at food that's talking to me (or to anyone else).

If you have to choose one to share the room, I'm assuming you'd prefer the sociopaths, though, amiright? 🙄

🚂 Gezellig. What a lovely little word. ❤

Since travelling is still mostly a no go, I chose this nonfiction read. It was very enjoyable, I liked hearing about all the people Monisha met. There is some background information too about where they went. All in all a good read. #nonfiction

Thought today was a good day for my D.C. mug. It's gonna be a great day! 😁

"No one ever told the men not to grope, not to stare, not to touch, not to follow women, and not to rape."

?

My Sunday morning plans. ☕ 📖 🚂

I'm going for two #bookspin boards in January. The final five spots for each board will be for impulse reads. I'm hoping to get some (all 🤞) of these bumped off my tbr list.

@TheAromaofBooks

#3books that I have gifted to Litsy friends not long ago.

#thativegiftedtoothers

#3Books #ThatMadeMeWantToTravel
The tagged book speaks for itself. Pine made me want to go to the Scottish Highlands, and BlackWater Lilies made me want to go to Giverny.

@OriginalCyn620 @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

If you can‘t travel the world due to a pandemic, the next best thing is to read about someone else‘s travels around the world before said pandemic. This was a delightful trek through Europe, Asia & North America by train - it made me even more desperate to take the Canadian from Toronto to Vancouver.

(Pic is from 2015 when we hiked the last leg of the Inca Trail - this is the train that took us to our starting point)

Book 7 for #15books15weeks.

Read this for #booked2020 for #armchairtravel.
Between a so-so and a pick.
I thought this book was going to be mainly about the countries that the author went to.... But it concentrated mainly on the train journeys between and in those countries. As that is the main viewpoint of the book it glosses over the actual sights of the countries she visited but highlights the oddities of train travel as well as the fellow travelers she encounters. 👇

Monisha Rajesh & her fiancé spent 7 months traveling the “world” by train chronicling her encounters along the way. Sadly, I have a few quibbles:
1. Not a single map to trace where she journeyed.
2. She glosses over entire countries, provinces and states in a single sentence.
3. Often her comments felt more like judgments than insights
4. I didn‘t really get a sense for most of the places she visited
5. She didn‘t seem happy/excited ??

I picked this up on #Scribd the other day in hopes of using it for #ReadingEurope2020 #Kazakhstan
Having recently read and LOVED Audrey Murray‘s travelogue I‘m finding this one a bit disappointing.
Monisha Rajesh lacks the warmth, humor & charm of Audrey...this book is more whiney and judgmental 🙄
I will admit, there are some funny moments

This landed so unexpectedly on my doorstep during lunchtime. Thank you @erzascarletbookgasm ! It definitely cheered up my Monday blues!

Book #100 of 2020...

Having previously travelled round India in 80 trains, Monisha decides to go ‘round the world‘, along with her fiancé. She visits the US and Canada, as well as less-travelled regions such as Tibet, North Korea and Kazakhstan.

It‘s the kind of travelogue I love - no great dramas, just the little day to day happenings, and a lot about the people they meet along the way and what the trains are actually like to travel on.

Despite still not being finished with my #14books14weeks stack from last year (1 still to go!), I‘m diving into my fav summer book challenge, #15books15weeks. I‘m doing all non-fiction this time. Only 14 books are pictured - the 15th is the tagged book, I have it preordered on Audible so it‘s not in my library yet.

As no-one can go on holiday this year, just read this book instead. You'll feel like you've had a magnificent adventure (without actually having to use a train bathroom - bonus).
The author travels by train through Russia, China, Japan, Vietnam, North Korea, Tibet, Canada, USA and more. One of the best travel books I've read recently. Pictured here with everybody's favourite train 🚂

Wowee it's nice weather in the UK today. I decided to log off work a bit early today to enjoy it. Spot my partner in crime.

I had a bit of an online spree on Waterstones 😬

But so beautiful, how could I resist? Two were signed copies too, which I'm a sucker for.

What a fun book! This non-fiction book describes the author‘s seven month trip around the world via a series of trains. She describes her observations of the cultures she visits and her adventures along the way. The majority of the book covers her time in Asia but she also went through Europe, Canada and the US. Great choice for anyone interested in travel, trains and/or international cultures.

A very entertaining account of travelling by train across Europe, Asia, North America and back again. Reminiscent of Paul Theroux‘s great train odysseys, but without his rampant querulousness. See my Goodreads review at: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40122009-around-the-world-in-80-trains. #book #books #bookphotography #greatreads #monisharajesh #aroundtheworldineightytrains #bookstagram #bookcommunity #booksbooksbooks #bookworm #dauntbooks