If you are looking for a beautiful fall drive in the Blue Ridge, absolutely add this one to your list! En route to the hike and then taking an extra long return trip home (No, GPS, we will not make a U-turn!), we found gorgeous rolling hills, golden fields, the protruding tops of mountains, and trees all shades of color from lemon through burnt umber.
Read MoreThe prologue of the novel, which is about nine pages in length, hits the reader from the very start with a different history of the start of the now-United States, the evolution of the native experience, and the unique modern day urban Indians, who struggle to self-identify in a world that often does not see them.
Read MoreThe town of Appomattox, Virginia, is nestled in a county by the same name. They are named for the local Algonquin-speaking Appomattoc tribe that lived in the area and were one of the five original tribes of the so-called Powhatan Confederacy and were one of the tribes that John Smith and early European settlers interacted with upon landing at Jamestown.
Read MoreIn April 2012, my mother and I booked a long-weekend trip to explore some new parts of the state. We stayed in Lynchburg as a central point, explored that city as well as made short trips to both Poplar Forest (Thomas Jefferson’s home, a retreat from Monticello) and Appomattox, a small town most famous as the site where Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant in April 1865, officially concluding the American Civil War.
Read MoreAt the age of 22, main character Arnljótur Thórir, finds himself confronted by several unexpected accidents: the death of his mother after an auto accident on a slick Icelandic road and parenthood after a chance entanglement in his and his mother’s beloved greenhouse. Lobbi (one of Arnljótur’s various nicknames bestowed by his father) has a lifelong love of cultivating plants - no easy task in the harsh Icelandic climate.
Read MoreCades Cove is a valley that had been frequented by Cherokee hunters and was settled in the 1820s by Europeans who built a community in the valley. About 100 years later, the states of Tennessee and North Carolina were purchasing land for what would become the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, and Cades Cove was in the middle of the area. Some of the community sold their property willingly, others signed agreements whereby they could live out their lives on the land and that it would be granted to the national park posthumously, and other families fought the efforts in court.
Read MoreTo celebrate our 3rd wedding anniversary in 2012, we booked a long weekend at a cabin in the mountains near Gatlinburg, TN, with the primary purpose of exploring the Great Smoky Mountains which neither of us had visited before.
Read MoreAt its core, this novel explores the experiences and lives of twelve female characters, most of whom are Black and British. The varied voices bring to life women across the chronology of womanhood - from teens to the elderly - who are often contending with intergenerational ideas and experiences.
Read MoreIceland in the 1960s was not exactly like my home country of America in the 1960s. A better comparison of Iceland in the ‘60s would be America in the ‘50s: a place where the role each person played was tantamount; women were to be wives falling in step behind their husband’s successes, and to be gay was to struggle to find a place in an unfriendly world, best managed through a loveless marriage to the opposite sex. Miss Iceland’s main character, Hekla, and her best friend, Jon John, each represent one half of those populations.
Read MoreCharleston’s historic downtown is remarkably walkable and each street offers its own views of stately antebellum houses, many of which date to the early 1800s. We decided to spend our third day in the area touring Charleston entirely on foot.
Read MoreHotel Silence takes place in Iceland for the novel's beginning and ending and sandwiched in the middle it takes place in an unnamed country that is emerging from a recent war. While it isn't possible to pinpoint a country for the largest segment of the book, in some ways it can represent anywhere that finds itself seeking to recover post-conflict. A place name is meaningless in a place struggling to redefine itself. What attracted me to this and other books by Ólafsdóttir is that is she an Icelandic writer.
Read MoreThe Nickel Boys primarily takes place in Florida with portions set in New York City. As with any book that sheds light on iniquities or abuse of the powerless by the powerful, it doesn't really whet the appetite for a visit. For a place called The Sunshine State, this novel shines a blinding light on a dark part of Florida's past.
Read MoreEdinburgh is a relatively compact city that can be toured by foot, which is what we did. Depending on the amount of time you have in the city, your interest in walking, and how much you’re trying to see, you may prefer to look into public transportation or other options as well.
The main part of the city of Edinburgh is comprised of the West End, Old Town, and New Town, descriptive in their origins. The entirety of our time was spent in New Town and Old Town.
Read MoreIn April 2016, we spent 4 days in Charleston with a day-trip to a really cool island off the coast. We actually had to cut the trip a day short because we got sick and so got to miss seeing a few other sights but still had a wonderful time.
First, a short geography lesson - Charleston is a 17 mile long peninsula sandwiched between the Ashley and Cooper Rivers. At its tip is Charleston Harbor, an inlet just off of the Atlantic Ocean. In the downtown portion, the width of the peninsula is about a mile, with the downtown area in a 4-5 square mile area. In short, it is incredibly walkable. And with so much to see, walking around the city is a great way to go!
Read MoreButterflies in November takes place in Iceland, initially in the capital city of Reykjavík and then along the southern to eastern leg of Iceland’s Ring Road. Having driven the entirety of Ring Road ourselves in Summer 2018, this novel did a great job evoking that journey and so is a must-read for anyone planning on taking that trip or wanting to reminisce!
Read MoreFinding books about Bermuda to read before we went was more difficult than expected! After Google searches that didn’t provide any lists or suggestions, we even contacted the tourism board in Bermuda to inquire (no response received). The first book below was suggested to us by a reader on Twitter, and was one of the best pre-reads we could have come across!
Read MoreLet’s start with a thought experiment. What if tomorrow morning all of white America woke up, climbed out of bed, and found themselves with new knowledge on a host of race-related matters already embedded in their brains. They would wake up with an understanding of the holistic black experience throughout American history and straight up to the present as told through historic events, literature, various forms of art, and first-person narratives.
Read MoreIf you were playing a game of word association and someone said ‘Bermuda’, the words that would likely come to mind would be warm-weather related words like beach, ocean, and snorkeling. Bermuda also has a good number of off-season options if you prefer to explore the other activities provided by the island nation and - better yet - to avoid crowds.
Read MoreWe weren’t really sure what to expect from Bermuda’s dining scene before we went. Visiting without any preconceived notion, we found ourselves surprised by the multicultural and eclectic options. It became evident in our experience that Bermuda has combined the flavors from many parts of the world and put its own Caribbean spin on some classic dishes.
Read MoreThe simplicity and humanity of Olive and her small Maine town are at the heart of this novel, which first introduces Olive’s husband, the local pharmacist, as his eyes wander in the direction of his helpless new employee. Olive is secondary, trying to draw her husband’s attention back her way through a series of overt and covert actions and a healthy dose of passive aggressive behavior.
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