Discover Top 100 Audiobooks in Travel & Adventure, Essays & Travelogues

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Title: Serve the People

Subtitle: A Stir-Fried Journey Through China

Author: Jen Lin-Liu

Narrator: Emily Zeller

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-24-14

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 11 votes

Genres: Travel & Adventure, Essays & Travelogues

Publisher's Summary:

As a freelance journalist and food writer living in Beijing, Jen Lin-Liu already had a ringside seat for Chinas exploding food scene. When she decided to enroll in a local cooking schoolheld in an unheated classroom with nary a measuring cup in sightshe jumped into the ring herself. In Serve the People, Lin-Liu gives a memorable and mouthwatering cooks tour of todays China as she progresses from cooking student to noodle-stall and dumpling-house apprentice to intern at a chic Shanghai restaurant. The characters she meets along the way include poor young men and women streaming in from the provinces in search of a rice bowl (living wage), a burgeoning urban middle class hungry for luxury after decades of turmoil and privation, and the mentors who take her in hand in the kitchen and beyond. Together they present an unforgettable slice of contemporary China in the full swing of social and economic transformation.

Critic Reviews:

"Lin-Liu offers a thoroughgoing, spirited celebration of overcoming cultural barriers." (Publishers Weekly)

"Lin-Liu is a charming guide to modern China and its kaleidoscopic cuisine." (People)

"Serve the People is light fare, a delicately crafted steamed dumpling of a book. It's peppered with delicious descriptions, authentic recipes, humorous anecdotes and all the goodness of a young woman who finds her way in life, and even falls in love." (International Herald Tribune)

Members Reviews:

Highly enjoyable, educational read

This is one of the best food books and memoirs I have read. By the time I got to the third page, I was hooked, and read it quickly over the next couple of days.

After graduating from college, the author (Jen) is living in China, working as a freelance journalist, when she decides to head to cooking school and learn about being a chef in China. She begins at the Hualian Cooking School in Beijing, where right off the bat, we learn that cooking schools and careers are different in China (it's not considered a glamorous or respected job, there's a national cooking exam to pass where the majority of the students teach, the students have almost no interest in being at school, and you learn primarily by watching someone else cook, not doing it yourself). She convinces one of the teachers at the school to give her private lessons, and between reading about the teacher showing Jen how to shop at markets and find the knife-sharpener, we get glimpses into what the teacher's life was like during Mao's time. The second part of the book focuses on Jen's time as an intern at a noodle stand and helping out at the rice harvest in rural China. In the third part, Jen becomes an intern at a fine dining restaurant in Shanghai, where we then learn about the lives of the other waitresses and the manager. Finally, in the fourth part, Jen returns to Beijing, where she briefly enlightens us on hutong living and cooking.

I don't know a lot about Chinese culture, and I found Jen's descriptions of Chinese life, history, and food to be very interesting. Besides learning to cook herself, Jen also visits a wide variety of restaurants, searching for great dishes.

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Title: Just Sea and Sky

Subtitle: England to New Zealand the Hard Way

Author: Ben Pester, Dick Durham (introduction)

Narrator: Matthew Waterson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-17-14

Publisher: Audible Studios for Bloomsbury

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 7 votes

Genres: Travel & Adventure, Essays & Travelogues

Publisher's Summary:

This charming account of the voyage of two men in a small boat half way round the world from Plymouth to New Zealand in 1953 is a rare insight into a time, not long ago, when sailors had no GPS, electronics, radio or any of the mod cons that we take for granted today. Without lifejacket or a life raft, they 'just took what came along', hand steering all the way, navigating by sextant, hand-cranking their engine and using oil lamps for light at night and for navigation. Sailors will be staggered how primitive conditions were only a few decades ago, even though it was the norm at the time. Part travelogue and part adventure story, the two friends encountered drunken harbor masters, the mafia, the legacy of slavery and lost civilizations in the Pacific. Beautifully written, vivid in its descriptions of the two men's exploits ashore and on board, this quirky and entertaining audiobook will be a fascinating listen for sailors and non-sailors alike.

"A compelling story - I feel like I have sailed with them." (Yachting Monthly)

Members Reviews:

How to ruin a good story, unlistenable

Would you try another book written by Ben Pester and Dick Durham (introduction) or narrated by Matthew Waterson?

I never want to hear Watersons voice again

Who might you have cast as narrator instead of Matthew Waterson?

an answering machine would be better

You didnt love this book--but did it have any redeeming qualities?

yes, the underlying story is quite good, just the narrator is tedious.

Any additional comments?

THE worst audible book in my life. And I am quite cross, as I can hear there is a good story trying to get out by the author. Imagine a story narrated by a plummy voiced bore, who can only speak in cadences like tony blair soundbites, and has no understanding of puntuation as he reads something' and it's at least twice as bad as that again. Interminable, tedious droning rubbish. Whoever chose this guy to narrate should be shot.

I managed halfway by gritting my teeth and screaming occasionally, it was a very long car drive, before I gave up and sang to myself for the next 3 hours. And my singing is worse than his narration.

I am off to buy the physical book.

rather dull

not a very inspiring read, marred even further by odd pronunciation of proper names. dull

Narration a little slow, thus slightly irratating.

What made the experience of listening to Just Sea and Sky the most enjoyable?

It's a good story with plenty of information about sailing, and the description of the boat paints a vivid picture.

Two true gents enjoying their lives

Great adventure and story..... Made me long to go to sea and explore... Thanks.. Great view of the ocean world

Good story not well told

Exciting story told in an inflated style: the author would rather say "not inconsiderable " than "big".

The reader is obviously not a sailor, mispronouncing words like "leadline". He pronounces names like Batavia and the Marquesas in a way I've never before heard.

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Title: How to Barter for Paradise

Subtitle: My Journey through 14 Countries, Trading Up from an Apple to a House in Hawaii

Author: Michael Wigge

Narrator: Chris Sorensen

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 59 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-14-14

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 6 votes

Genres: Travel & Adventure, Essays & Travelogues

Publisher's Summary:

Join Wigge on a wild ride as he trades an apple for a house in forty-two steps. Most people like to travel in comfort: they stay in fancy hotels, never leave tourist spots, and stay away from the locals. Michael Wigge isnt like most people, though.

After travelling the world without money for 150 days while writing How to Travel the World for Free, his next challenge: turn an apple into a house in Hawaii.

Wigge goes around fourteen countries and six continents exchanging goods for more valuable ones, and he meets an array of good-humored people who take his deals. Taking on his Barterman persona, he trades the apple for sixteen cigarettes in Germany; a couple of trades later in India, he fixes up a motorized rickshaw and trades it for silk; in Australia, a millionaire amuses himself by offering him an art piece for the silk if Wigge feeds a wild crocodile.

Finally, he arrives in Hawaii armed with two bicycles, a surfboard, Portuguese porcelain, three solid-gold coins, a Porsche wristwatch, a record by musician Coati Mundi and accompanying contract for 25 percent of the proceeds from his next single, a voucher for a two-night stay in a mansion in L.A., and a piece of original artwork by painter Alex Stenzel - now he just has to find someone to give him a house in exchange.

On the 200-day journey around the world, Wigge makes forty-two trades and meets strange, kind, funny, friendly, eccentric, and good-natured people who help him in his quest. Its a journey you wont want to miss!

Members Reviews:

This book is only possible because the guy had money

This book wasnt for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

Stupid people.

What do you think your next listen will be?

Something rooted in a little more reality.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

Yes

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

This man makes it sound like he learned how to do something and can teach us all how to barter for a house starting with an apple.

Any additional comments?

He obviously had money to take on this endeavor or it would never have been possible. The title should read, how to barter your way to paradise if you're well funded already.

good book, annoying narrator

I love the concept, and enjoy some of the stories. But it's not the most eloquently written book, and I would have preferred to hear the author narrate.

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Title: There and Then

Subtitle: The Travel Writing of James Salter

Author: James Salter

Narrator: Mark Boyett

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 23 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-10-14

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 9 votes

Genres: Travel & Adventure, Essays & Travelogues

Publisher's Summary:

This collection offers two dozen essays and sketches about one of the passions of Salters life, travel, a subject beloved by writers across the centuries. Over twenty years of skiing, hiking, climbing from Colorado to Japan to the Tyrol, from Austria and Switzerland to Germany and France, Salter is an engaging companion sharing his great enthusiasm and adventures.

James Salters novels and volumes of memoir have been widely celebrated and he is now recognized as one of Americas most important writers. Susan Sontag once remarked, "[Salter] is among the very few North American writers all of whose work I want to read, whose as yet unpublished books I wait for impatiently.

Members Reviews:

A Lovely Book by a Unique Writer

As the Richard Ford quote on the back says, "Sentence for sentence, Salter is the master." That has been apparent since his classic novel A Sport And A Pastime was published back in 1967, one of the most beautifully written books I've ever read (and I've read thousands of them). There and Then is not your usual "Europe on a fast track and low budget" kind of thing. It is a sensuous loving evocation of the places in the world James Salter has been to and often stayed for long periods in and sometimes lived in. He moves from Europe to the American Southwest to Asia, to wherever his instincts take him, and he makes those places vivid and real. James Salter is unique -- he has not only written classic fiction, a memoir and several collections of short stories, he has also written major films (Robert Redford starred in his "Downhill Racer") and himself directed a lovely short film about the West Point football team called "Team, Team, Team." Salter is a graduate of West Point (as was his father) and served in the U.S. Air Force for 12 years, first as a bomber pilot, then for his last six years a fighter pilot, flying over 100 combat missions in the Korean War, where he was credited with shooting down a MiG-15, a fighter jet flown in that war by the North Koreans and the Chinese. How many writers of current major literary merit can you say that of?

Beautiful

There is never enough James Salter. Writing about anything he is always elegant, with the gift of just enough words,

More than a travel book

As an ardent admirer of James Salter I ordered this book as I was not aware that he had written any travel pieces. Not unexpectedly the book turns out to include some wonderful personal recollections of not only places - Paris, South of England, the Austrian Tyrol, ,amongst others but also his experiences in these special places. His description of learning to ski and then descents in some of the most challenging runs in St.Anton and Kitzbuhel, Austria, capture the sensation of freedom, fear and shear joy, as do the accounts of learning to climb in some of the most difficult areas of the Rockies. I have enjoyed everyting that James Salter has written and I recommend this book to all those who enjoy superb style and unusual "travel" writing. Barbara A. Denver, NY

Fantastic

Unexpected and lesser known classics. All you expect from Salter but with a quirky and personal voice you don't find in some of his other writing.

One of the best travel memoirs you'll find

James Salter's writing style reminds me of Ernest Hemingway's.

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Title: Navigating Napa Valley Cabernets

Subtitle: Vine Talk Episode 101

Author: Vine Talk

Narrator: Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, Nora Ephron, S. Epatha Merkerson, Jonathan Waxman

Format: Original Recording

Length: 27 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-31-13

Publisher: Hachette Audio

Ratings: 2 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Travel & Adventure, Essays & Travelogues

Publisher's Summary:

Stylish, trend-setting, and bold, Vine Talk's host Stanley Tucci invites a panel of celebrity friends to join him for engaging conversation and blind taste-tests from different selections of world famous wineries each week. Regardless of personal expertise, all can enjoy the intriguing dialogue from each diverse panel.

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Title: Squawk 7700

Author: Peter M. Buffington

Narrator: Thomas Block

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 29 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-11-13

Publisher: Peter M. Buffington

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 32 votes

Genres: Travel & Adventure, Essays & Travelogues

Publisher's Summary:

Squawk 7700 is a first-hand account of author Peter Buffington's experiences as a commercial airline pilot and the journey he took to reach his childhood dream. Buckle your seatbelt and prepare for an eye-opening, turbulent ride into the world of aviation from the pilot's seat. From student pilot at age 15, to flight instructor, to nighttime cargo pilot, and finally as first officer aboard the ATR 72 turboprop airliners island hopping the Caribbean, Squawk 7700 is a riveting aviation adventure.

Members Reviews:

Something's "off" here.

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The story has a weak foundation, as has any memoir written by a young man. His story is just beginning, he is / was inexperienced. He seems to be grinding an axe. But in his defense, he describes real mistreatment and recklessness on the part of the airline in Puerto Rico. (I suspect that, before it became part of the American Airlines family of feeder carriers, this airline was something of a loosely-run, local, "flying club"-type outfit. When the white-shirts from the States incorporated them into their system and began enforcing regulations and sending young USA pilots to fly with them, the local pilots took it as an affront, and undertook to make them miserable.)

Do you think Squawk 7700 needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No. Let this book stand. It deserves telling because its anecdotes are so exceptional. But more like it would skew the public's perception of the industry. This author happened to encounter fools. His was not a normal career progression.I cannot tell you how many times I flew co-pilot for airline captains who made proper, safety-first decisions, even when it meant we wouldn't arrive home in time for whatever. Same for my own flying as captain. Passenger boredom is the airline pilot's stock in trade. What excitement is there in approaching a destination and choosing not to attempt a landing until either the weather or the braking conditions improved enough to produce an unexciting landing?

Any additional comments?

That Puerto Rican outfit was just crazy, and the author did the right thing. Of the standards of the small, general aviation outfits he encountered, I cannot speak, except to guess that this man's experiences with his various employers are not the norm. Rather, I like to think that he just happened to encounter slipshod employers everywhere he happened to turn.

Good story if...

It's a good story and the author tells of his problems that he had in the airline industry and of the problems the airline industry has or had. My problem with this book was the narrator at times I felt he was reading just to past the time away and never really put an effort into the reading except when he announced the next chapter. If you get a hang in with the story the book does have some very informative parts to it and some very eye-opening parts as well.

Good Audio book, BUT

I completely agree with the authors suggestions that safety and professionalism should be top priorities in the airline industry. But this guy wants to ignore the laws of supply and demand. He wants to blame low pilot wages on everything from being so rich that you can afford to buy a right seat to affirmative action. The transportation industry has ALWAYS been highly competitive with thin profit margins. It's a good audio book.

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Title: Atlas of the Human Heart

Subtitle: A Memoir

Author: Ariel Gore

Narrator: Liisa Ivary

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-27-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 11 votes

Genres: Travel & Adventure, Essays & Travelogues

Publisher's Summary:

Like Jack Kerouacs intrepid little sister, Ariel Gore spins the spirited story of a vulnerable drifter who takes refuge in fate and the shadowy recesses of a string of glittering, broken relationships. With just a few pennies and her I Ching, a change of clothes and a one-way ticket to Hong Kong, a perceptive, searching 16-year-old Gore makes her way from the sterile suffocation of the Silicon Valley through the labyrinthine customs of Cold-War China, wanders through bustling, electric Kathmandu, and hunkers down in an icy London squat with a prostitute and a boyfriend on the dole. Yet it is in the calm, verdant landscape of rural Italy where, pregnant and penniless, 19-year-old Gores adventure truly begins. An illuminating glimpse into the boldly political Gore - creator of HipMama.com and Hip Mama magazine - this unflinching memoir offers a poignant exploration of the meaning of home and surveys the frontiers of both land and heart.

Members Reviews:

Don't SurrenderFollow Your Own Map

This book is an essential feminist memoir, one that changed so many minds (mine included) about what it means to be a mother and a feminist and the nature of "home."

Gore has a knack for shining a light on the details in a story that will make it come to life for the listener.

From the sociologically mapped grounds of her Palo Alto high school to a vagabond life across Asia and Europe, "Traveling around the world, meeting random people that became family in a matter of days" and finally back in the Bay Area, new baby daughter in tow, Ariel's book is both an adventure and an emotional coming-of-age.

Narrator, Lisa Ivary really gets Gore's sardonic tone.

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Title: To Timbuktu for a Haircut

Subtitle: A Journey Through West Africa

Author: Rick Antonson

Narrator: James Conlan

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-01-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 6 votes

Genres: Travel & Adventure, Essays & Travelogues

Publisher's Summary:

"Although Timbuktu exists, there is a common belief that it is, in fact, nowhere."

Timbuktu: the African city known to legend as a land of scholars, splendor and mystery, a golden age in the Sahara Desert. But to many it is a vaguely recognizable name - a flippant tag for "the most remote place on earth." With this fabled city as his goal, author Rick Antonson began a month-long trek. His initial plan? To get a haircut.

Aided by an adventuresome spirit, Rick endures a forty-five hour train ride, a swindling travel agent, "Third World, three-lane" roads, rivers, and a flat deck ferry boat before finally reaching Timbuktu. Rick narrates the history of this elusive destination through the teachings of his Malian guide Zak, and encounters with stranded tourists, a camel owner, a riverboat captain, and the people who call Timbuktu home.

Antonsons eloquence and quiet wit highlight the citys myths - the centuries old capital and travelers dream - as well as its realities: A city gripped by poverty, where historic treasures lie close to the sands of destruction. Indeed, some 700,000 ancient manuscripts remain there, endangered. Both a travelogue and a history of a place long forgotten, To Timbuktu for a Haircut emerges as a plea to preserve the past and open cultural dialogues on a global scale.

The second edition of this important book outlines the volatile political situations in Timbuktu following the spring 2012 military coup in Mali and the subsequent capture of the city by Islamic extremists. Literally, it is a race against time to save the citys irreplaceable artifacts, mosques, and monuments, and to understand why Timbuktus past is essential to the future of Africa.

Editorial Reviews:

Narrator James Conlan's earnest performance will remind listeners of a well-traveled and loquacious friend with a thirst for adventure. Conlan imbues Antonson's story of his month-long trek to get a haircut in the elusive African city of Timbuktu with an intrepid spirit. In the process of Antonson's travels by train, four-wheel drive, river pinasse, camel, and foot, listeners will discover myths and learn about sad realities - one of which is that the city's cultural artifacts, including 700,000 ancient manuscripts, are in danger of disappearing. Although Antonson's stories are full of wry humor, he is serious about the need to preserve the past and open cultural dialogues on a global scale.

Members Reviews:

The book gets better after he leaves Timbuktu

We all grew up thinking of Timbuktu as a magical far away place that somehow was important I history (and that was before "Where in the world is Carmen SanDiego?"). The author is an experienced travel writer before he takes off on sort of a whim to visit this mythical city. He gives the impression that he has traveled in out of the way places, but in the first part of the book he spends a lot of pages griping about the inconvenience and unpredictability of transportation and lodging (or lack thereof) in getting to Timbuktu. His troubles are aided and abetted by his fixer, Mohammed. The book gets better after he leaves Timbuktu, with a fresh haircut, and heads out to hike in the rugged outback of Mali. There he bonds with his guide and his cook and their families and gets to see life as it really is, not as the imagined glories of Timbuktu.

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Title: Return to the Baltic

Author: Hillaire Belloc

Narrator: Alex Hyde-White

Format: Unabridged

Length: 4 hrs and 58 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-06-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Travel & Adventure, Essays & Travelogues

Publisher's Summary:

Earphones Award Winner (AudioFile Magazine)

Here, Belloc writes of a trip through Sweden and Denmark in 1938, a nostalgic trip taken forty-three years after his first Scandanvian trip in 1895.This volume includes Belloc's history and topography of the area.

Hilaire Belloc (1870- 1953) was born in La Celle-Saint-Cloud, France, and raised in England. Educated in Birmingham before voluntarily serving his military term of service in France, Belloc then returned to England to study History at Baliol College, Oxford where he graduated with a First class degree. Writing on everything from poetry to war and travel in between, Belloc has been called one of the Big Four of Edwardian Letters, along with H.G.Wells, George Bernard Shaw, and G. K. Chesterton, all of whom debated each other into the 1930s. Belloc was closely associated with Chesterton, and Shaw coined the term Chesterbelloc for their partnership. A deeply religious Catholic, Belloc wrote considerably about his faith, and throughout his literary career he was concerned with the problems of social reform. He was a political activist and an MP for Salford from 1906 to 1910 for the Liberal party, and his written non-fiction work criticized both capitalism and aspects of socialism.

Critic Reviews:

"Belloc's visit to Elsinor is a high point here as history and literature merge, and a succession of centuries blends into an image of place and time, a way of living with the natural world and ourselves, that's gone forever." (AudioFile)

Members Reviews:

Includes Candid Insights into British Hostility Towards Poland

Author Hilaire Belloc, a French-born British-French writer, described his travels to the Scandinavian nations and Poland. My review focuses on the latter, and is based on the 1938 edition of this book.

Much of the chapter on Poland is from the viewpoint of the tourist. For instance, he describes the Church of Our Lady [KOSCIOL MARIACKI] of Krakow as, in his words, âof supernatural beautyâ, and goes as far as concluding that, âI know of nothing to compare with it in Europe.â (p. 159).

Belloc touches on Polish history. He points out that the Polish crown was elective at the hands of the nobility. There was no permanent kingship in Poland. (p. 155).

The author gives unstinting credit to Polish heroism. He calls Poland a bastion which had saved Europe in the Battle of Warsaw [of the 1920 Polish-Bolshevik War] and, centuries earlier, in the Battle of Vienna. (p. 152).

Belloc touches on the achievements of the Second Polish Republic (1918-1939). The new port of Gdynia had been so successful that, in his words, Gdynia leaves Dantzig dry. (p. 150).

Finally, Hilaire Belloc is unsparingly critical of British attitudes towards Poland. After the Great War [later renamed WWI], the average English professional politician, according to Belloc, thought of Poland as an entity that had artificially been carved out of Russia. (p. 145). Another British politician, known to Belloc, had betted that Poland would not last ten years. Belloc was still waiting to be paid by this anti-Polish loser. (p. 146).

The author believes that British antagonism towards Poland was based on ignorance. (p. 179). However, this had practical consequences. The Bank of England, disbelieving in the viability of Poland, invested instead in Berlin.

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Title: Clarissa's England

Subtitle: A Gamely Gallop Through the English Counties

Author: Clarissa Dickson Wright

Narrator: Clarissa Dickson Wright

Format: Unabridged

Length: 14 hrs and 22 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-23-13

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 24 votes

Genres: Travel & Adventure, Essays & Travelogues

Publisher's Summary:

Best-selling author of Spilling the Beans, takes her personal journey around the different regions of England. The quintessential Englishwoman Clarissa Dickson Wright takes us on a personal journey through the country of her birth.

From Cornwall to Cumbria, Norfolk to Northumbria she brings her extraordinary knowledge, huge passion, forthright opinions and inimitable wit to the distinctive history and regional character of every corner of England. In her cornucopia of local knowledge she reveals, for example, how Boudicca was the original Essex girl, that Lincolnshire has a coriander crop second only in size to India's, and just why a Cornish pasty should never contain carrots.

As much an entertaining narrative as it is a travel companion, Clarissa's England will amuse, enlighten, surprise and delight all those who listen to it.

Members Reviews:

Definitely recommended

Having been a great fan of the Two Fat Ladies cooking program (as well as admiring Clarissa for her sense of humor in doing an episode of the comedy series Absolutely Fabulous), I looked forward to this one, and wasn't disappointed! In a (roughly) clockwise manner, she focuses on most (not quite all, avoiding metro London itself) English counties, giving an overview of how each has fit into her life, as well as historical and culinary highlights of the area. Narration may not be technically top-notch, but the author does do inflection well, especially in terms of dry humor. One odd point is that there's no final, concluding section at all; the book just ends rather abruptly.

My New "Go to Sleep" Book.. (a compliment)

What did you love best about Clarissa's England?

I use Audio books to overcome insomnia. In order to be effective, the book must have a subject that's sufficiently interesting to keep me from my own busy thoughts, but also mundane enough to not stimulate those thoughts through the night. Clarissa's voice is melodic, her descriptions are compelling, and I'm glad to learn more about the places my ancestors came from back.. in.... zzzzzzzz.

What other book might you compare Clarissa's England to and why?

The Martian also works for insomnia.

Which scene was your favorite?

Hunting stags from horses, netting eels for three thousand pounds, and how AA made it to the UK... but they're pretty much all like that.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Not possible

Any additional comments?

Got any more like this one Clarissa?

Through Clarissa's Eyes

I loved rambling through England with the Fat Lady. She was funny, intelligent and clearly in love with her country & it's fascinating history. But I was often sad when listening because Clarissa died too soon.

I liked that she paused between each chapter and county she covered.

I will hunt up a hard copy and with it in hand, Will listen again.

Some interesting bits

I like the idea of a jolly tour around the counties, with a bit of history and quirky stories thrown in. I do like Clarissa, but I found her narration of this book a little stilted considering it's her book. I want to say that I loved the book but somehow it just doesn't flow.

Most enjoyable

Any additional comments?

Most enjoyable account of the different counties of England.