Strong Sense of Place | Travel Through Books

In this episode, we get excited about two books: The Divide: A Novel by Morgan Richter and Mina’s Matchbox by Yōko Ogawa, Stephen B. Snyder (translator). Then author Morgan Richter explains why now is a great time to read Batman comics. 

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

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Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio! Some effects are provided by soundly.

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Yes, Norway has cities that are well worth a visit — Hallo, Oslo! Hei, Bergen! God morgen, Tromsø! — but nature is right there at every moment.

Where the coast of Norway meets the Norwegian Sea, there are more than 1700 fjords, stunning waterways lined with sheer rock cliffs and dotted with dramatic waterfalls, storybook villages, and friendly goats and sheep. The best way to experience the fjords? By boat, of course: a dinner cruise, catamaran, sailboat, kayak, ferry, whale watching boat, or a breathtaking ride on a fjord safari.

Inland, you can meet the locals of past and present. Stop by the fascinating Viking Village to time travel to 1000 (and learn to throw an axe!) — or spend an afternoon among the bears, reindeer, wolves, lynx, and leopards at the Bjørn Parken (Bear Park). You can feed a fox!

When you’re ready for a meal, too, sink your teeth into Norway’s national snack: the hot dog — with lingonberry jam and french-fried onions — or try the ubiquitous and one-of-a-kind brunost (brown cheese). Caramelized, savory, and surprising, it’s just what you want on a cracker or waffle. And don’t sleep on the smoked salmon, pickled herring, or shrimp plucked from the nearby icy waters.

In this episode, we get excited about all the exhilarating, unexpected, delightful adventures Norway offers — and talk about why the Norwegian government employs financial planners and moral philosophers. Then we recommend five great books we love that took us to Norway on the page:

For more on the books we recommend, plus the other cool stuff we talk about, visit show notes.

Sign up for our free Substack to connect with us and other lovely readers who are curious about the world.

Transcript of Norway: Vikings, Bears, Boats, and Bergen

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want be friends with other (lovely) people who love books and travel? Please support our work on Patreon! Strong Sense of Place is an audience-funded endeavor, and we need your support to continue making this show. Get all the info you need right here. Thank you!

Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio. Some effects are provided by soundly.

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We’re on our summer holiday so we’re replaying this popular episode of The Library of Lost Time. We’re back next week with a new episode of Strong Sense of Place about Norway!

LoLT: Postcard Pen Pals and Two New Books — 30 June 2023

In this episode, we get excited about two new books — ‘100 Places to See After You Die’ by Ken Jennings and ‘What the Dead Know’ by Barbara Butcher — then Mel gets excited about postcards from around the world.

LINKS

- 100 Places to See After You Die: A Travel Guide to the Afterlife by Ken Jennings.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

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We’re on summer holiday! In honor of the Olympics taking place in Paris right now, please enjoy this replay of our Paris episode.

Paris: It’s Always a Good Idea - 24 August 2020

When you daydream about Paris, whatever sparkling, romantic images you conjure are probably not too far off the mark. It is, after all, know as the City of Lights and the City of Love.

The Eiffel Tower can be seen from almost everywhere and is a constant reminder that you are IN PARIS. The streets are lined with cafés, the tables and chairs arranged so you can sit next to your companions and look out on the people passing by. The smell of baguettes wafts in the streets in the early morning. And when the sun gets lower in the sky, burnishing the buildings with its glow, people fill the cafés, drinking wine, smoking cigarettes, and talking, while their hands gesture in the air to make a point. It is, in many ways, just like the movies.

In this episode, we talk about some of our favorite experiences visiting Paris and how it really does live up to its dreamy reputation. Then we discuss the books that transported us there: an insightful memoir about one lively (and typically Parisian) street, an illustrated novel about the magic of everyday life, a fictional biography of Madame Tussaud, a modern crime novel with a snappy heroine, and a confection of a story that centers around an exceptional bottle of wine.

For more on the books we recommend, plus the other cool stuff we talk about, visit show notes.

Sign up for our free Substack to connect with us and other friendly readers who are curious about the world.

Transcript of Paris: It’s Always a Good Idea

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want be friends with other (lovely) people who love books and travel? Please support our work on Patreon! Strong Sense of Place is an audience-funded endeavor, and we need your support to continue making this show. Get all the info you need right here. Thank you!

As always, you can find us at:

Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio! Some effects are provided by soundly.

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In this episode, we get excited about two books: Maria: A Novel of Maria von Trapp by Michelle Moran and Navola by Paolo Bacigalupi. Then Dave delves into the mystery of Mongol warrior Genghis Khan’s lost tomb.

Maria: A Novel of Maria von Trapp by Michelle Moran

Michelle Moran’s website

Maria by Maria von Trapp on Internet Archive

Podcast: Theater: Act One, Scene I, Lights Up

Navola by Paolo Bacigalupi

Paolo Bacigalupi’s website

Burial place of Genghis Khan

Why Genghis Khan’s Tomb Can’t Be Found

Podcast — Mongolia: Under the Eternal Blue Sky

The Mongol’s Coffin by E. Chris Ambrose

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Join our FREE Substack to get our (awesome) newsletter and join in chats with other people who love books and travel.

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want to make friends with other (lovely) listeners? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio! Some effects are provided by soundly.

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If we say ‘Mongolia,’ and you imagine an eagle hunter on horseback silhouetted against an endless blue sky and vast open plains, you are not wrong. Ditto for thinking of Chingiss Khan, frigid winters, and resilient nomads in gers (yurts).

While those perceptions are valid, Mongolia may have some surprises for you. The sun shines 250 days a year, and summer days are luxuriously long and warm. Yes, Khan is a national hero (see: the 3-story glimmering steel statue of the Mongol leader on horseback), but Mongolians are most welcoming. The flap door of a ger is open to all, friends and strangers alike — and a hot bowl of milk tea will appear as soon as you cross the threshold.

In the capital city of Ulaanbaatar, you can eat in restaurants, visit a temple, and wander through museums. When you’ve had enough of the bustle, ride into the steppes — on a horse, a camel, or an all-terrain jeep — and back in time. Under that vast sky, you can head north to spruce forests that stretch toward Russia, or west to the jaggy Altai mountains, or south to the wind-swept dunes of the Gobi Deserts (and, eventually, China).

In this episode, we meet a formidable Mongolian warrior princess, listen to the otherworldly sound of Tuvan throat singing, and travel back in history with the annual Naadam Festival (a.k.a. the Mongolian Olympics).

Then we recommend five great books that took us to Mongolia on the page:

For more on the books we recommend, plus the other cool stuff we talk about, visit show notes.

Sign up for our free Substack to connect with us and other friendly readers who are curious about the world.

Transcript of Mongolia: Under the Eternal Blue Sky

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want be friends with other (lovely) people who love books and travel? Please support our work on Patreon! Strong Sense of Place is an audience-funded endeavor, and we need your support to continue making this show. Get all the info you need right here. Thank you!

Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio! Some effects are provided by soundly.

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In this episode, we get excited about two books: A Season for That by Steve Hoffman and The God of the Woods by Liz Moore. Then Mel explains why she’s so excited to get the new episode of the ‘Pack One Bag’ podcast every week. 

A Season for That by Steve Hoffman

Steve Hoffman’s website and an interview with the Star Tribune

Still blog by Mary Jo Hoffman and an interview with Yoga Journal

Still: The Art of Noticing by Mary Jo Hoffman

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

Long Bright River by Liz Moore

Podcast: Pennsylvania: Political Player, Potato Chip Maker

The ‘Pack One Bag’ website

Deadline Magazine on the podcast and the upcoming TV remake

Stanley Tucci Compares WW2 Fascism Story to Now — ‘It’s Happening Today’

Transcript of this episode.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Join our FREE Substack to get our (awesome) newsletter and join in chats with other people who love books and travel.

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio! Some effects are provided by soundly.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As you read these words and listen to our podcast, we’re all riding on a ball about 8000 miles (13,000 km) across. Our rotating disco ball in space is dancing around the sun at about 67,000 mph (107,000 km/h).

Our sun is about 93 million miles (150 million km away), shooting us with subatomic particles. Probably not maliciously, but who knows? The sun might be a trickster. It’s also filling our solar system with light so we can see all the other planets, comets, asteroids, dwarf planets, and moons in orbit.

As humans, it’s nearly impossible to not put ourselves at the center of the world — we all have main-character energy. For millions of years, we puny humans have looked up at the sky and tried to understand just what the devil is going on and where we belong in the whole situation.

In this episode, we try to unpack many of the mind-blowing facts we know about space and our expanding universe — and we get real about the emotional impact of embracing our stardust origins. We talk about the condition called the Overview Effect and whether or not space smells funny. Then we recommend great books that took us there on the page:

For more on the books we recommend, plus the other cool stuff we talk about, visit show notes.

Sign up for our free Substack to connect with us and other lovely readers who are curious about the world.

Transcript of Outer Space: We Are All Made of Stars

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want be friends with other (lovely) people who love books and travel? Please support our work on Patreon! Strong Sense of Place is an audience-funded endeavor, and we need your support to continue making this show. Get all the info you need right here. Thank you!

Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio! Some effects are provided by soundly.

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In this episode, we get excited about two books: A Super Upsetting Cookbook about Sandwiches by Tyler Kord and Good Material by Dolly Alderton. Then Dave shares three great stories about India from his podcast research.

The Library of Lost Time is a Strong Sense of Place Production! https://strongsenseofplace.com

Join our FREE Substack to get our (awesome) newsletter and join in chats with other people who love books and travel.

Do you enjoy our show? Want access to fun bonus content? Please support our work on Patreon. Every little bit helps us keep the show going and makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside - https://www.patreon.com/strongsenseofplace

As always, you can find us at:

Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio! Some effects are provided by soundly.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

India seems committed to being over-the-top in the best way possible. It’s colorful, noisy, crowded, vast, deeply historic, spiritual, vibrantly modern, multi-lingual, and stunningly beautiful. 

Want to get loud? India is the place for you! Sure, its population of 1.4 billion people might overwhelm you with the sheer crush of humanity, but its cities have an undeniable energy once you’re acclimated. Delhi, the capital, has everything that makes travel great: ancient forts, mosques and temples, leafy parks and botanical gardens, sprawling bazaars, and bustling lanes of street food. 

Feeling like a quiet retreat? India is the birthplace of yoga and meditation. You could visit Rishikesh, on the bank of the Ganges, to practice asanas in the birthplace of yoga. 

India is also a fantastic place to shop for jewelry in a market, eat the best curries in the world, browse epic English-language bookstores, wander through centuries-old forts, and, of course, marvel at the Taj Mahal.

In this episode, we celebrate the poet Kabir Das, talk about dolphin rights, dig into Salvador Dali’s quirks, and explore India’s Golden Triangle. Then we recommend five great books that took us to India on the page:

For more on the books we recommend, plus the other cool stuff we talk about, visit show notes.

Sign up for our free Substack to connect with us and other lovely readers who are curious about the world.

Transcript of India: The Continent Masquerading as a Country

Do you enjoy our show? Do you want be friends with other (lovely) people who love books and travel? Please support our work on Patreon! Strong Sense of Place is an audience-funded endeavor, and we need your support to continue making this show. Get all the info you need right here. Thank you!

Parts of the Strong Sense of Place podcast are produced in udio! Some effects are provided by soundly.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices