Chicago Tribune
Resourceful traveler: Specialty travel and guidebooks
BY JUNE SAWYERS
October 14, 2007
Bad Karma: Confessions of a Reckless Traveller in Southeast Asia
Academy Chicago Publishers, $17.95; ISBN: 978-0-89733-565-2
Tamara Sheward represents a side of travel writing that is the opposite of what we have come to expect of the genre: rather than playing the role of the respectful, deferential visitor she represents the flip, sarcastic and politically incorrect foreigner in a strange land. The funny thing is Sheward, a twenty-something Australian writer, loves venturing into unfamiliar territory -- the more unfamiliar the better. As she makes clear early on, she never had any interest in visiting Southeast Asia. Her ultimate travel goal was to (1) to escape from her fellow countryfolk and (2) to avoid the backpacking, pseudo-spiritual, self-righteous sorts. Alas, this was a road that led her straight to Asia. Off Sheward and her equally acerbic mate Elissa go. Humor is subjective, of course, and some people will be turned off by Sheward's profane and flippant attitude, but to this reader, "Bad Karma" is an absolute hoot -- rude and uncharitable it may be, but it is also the funniest travel memoir I've come across in recent memory. I won't even begin to describe the duo's absurdist, surreal adventures. But I don't think Sheward will be hired any time soon by the Thai, Laotian, Vietnamese or Cambodian tourist boards. Guaranteed, though, you'll learn several new words, including "farang" and "oop." Don't ask. Just read
Friday, October 12, 2007
Publishers Weekly reviews
Anne McCaffery: A Life with Dragons
Robin Roberts
Univ Press of Mississippi 978-1-57806-998-9, $28, cloth, 30 b/w illus, September 07
Robert's intriguing biography of the legendary Dragon Lady of Pernprovides a fascinating overview of Anne McCaffrey's life along with somekeen insights into how her career developed. A trail blazer, McCaffrey,now 81, says she "put romance in science fiction." Roberts counts heramong authors such as Ursula K. LeGuin and Joanna Russ who helped changethe face of a once male-dominated genre. In a chatty, chronologicalformat, Roberts sketches McCaffrey's life as a perky student, frustratedyoung mother and wife, SF insider (including her brief affair with IsaacAsimov) and expatriate. Her post-divorce move to Ireland came as asurprise to many but soon led to tremendous success, despite her longingfor the company of friends such as her mentor and agent, Virginia Kidd.McCaffrey was the first woman to win each and both of the prestigiousHugo and Nebula awards, and in 1978, she became the first author to havea science fiction book (The White Dragon) on the New York Timesbestseller list. This is not an "authorized" biography, and thoughMcCaffrey gave Roberts her blessing and access to crucial papers, sheappears to be an elusive interview subject. The result is an authenticbut sometimes enigmatic portrait. 30 b&w illus.
Anne McCaffery: A Life with Dragons
Robin Roberts
Univ Press of Mississippi 978-1-57806-998-9, $28, cloth, 30 b/w illus, September 07
Robert's intriguing biography of the legendary Dragon Lady of Pernprovides a fascinating overview of Anne McCaffrey's life along with somekeen insights into how her career developed. A trail blazer, McCaffrey,now 81, says she "put romance in science fiction." Roberts counts heramong authors such as Ursula K. LeGuin and Joanna Russ who helped changethe face of a once male-dominated genre. In a chatty, chronologicalformat, Roberts sketches McCaffrey's life as a perky student, frustratedyoung mother and wife, SF insider (including her brief affair with IsaacAsimov) and expatriate. Her post-divorce move to Ireland came as asurprise to many but soon led to tremendous success, despite her longingfor the company of friends such as her mentor and agent, Virginia Kidd.McCaffrey was the first woman to win each and both of the prestigiousHugo and Nebula awards, and in 1978, she became the first author to havea science fiction book (The White Dragon) on the New York Timesbestseller list. This is not an "authorized" biography, and thoughMcCaffrey gave Roberts her blessing and access to crucial papers, sheappears to be an elusive interview subject. The result is an authenticbut sometimes enigmatic portrait. 30 b&w illus.
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Midwest Book Review, October 2007
The American History Shelf
Water Tanks Of Chicago
Larry W. Green
Wicker Park Press Ltd. PO Box 5318, River Forest, IL 60305-53189780978967604, $19.95 www.wickerparkpress.com
Water tanks, constructed for the purpose of supplying water through a gravity driven system for businesses, buildings, neighborhoods, and communities, were once ubiquitous components of an industrial past, but are now rapidly disappearing as crumbling, obsolete relics as technologies and the city have continued to evolve. For the past twenty years, Larry W. Green is a Chicago artist who has been photographing and sketching water-tanks in and around Chicago, Illinois. Now compiled and presented to the public in "Water Tanks Of Chicago: A Vanishing Urban Legacy", Green showcases and captions 37 of those images he has preserved or recreated. The purpose in publishing his work was to inform and alert the public to the need to preserve those (often crumbling) monuments to a yesteryear Chicago for their esthetic and historical significance. A superb presentation, "Water Tanks Of Chicago" is very highly recommended and could well serve as a template or example for photographically preserving similar landmark constructions in other American communities wanting to treasure and preserve their historic past in a rapidly changing present for the sake of future generations.
The American History Shelf
Water Tanks Of Chicago
Larry W. Green
Wicker Park Press Ltd. PO Box 5318, River Forest, IL 60305-53189780978967604, $19.95 www.wickerparkpress.com
Water tanks, constructed for the purpose of supplying water through a gravity driven system for businesses, buildings, neighborhoods, and communities, were once ubiquitous components of an industrial past, but are now rapidly disappearing as crumbling, obsolete relics as technologies and the city have continued to evolve. For the past twenty years, Larry W. Green is a Chicago artist who has been photographing and sketching water-tanks in and around Chicago, Illinois. Now compiled and presented to the public in "Water Tanks Of Chicago: A Vanishing Urban Legacy", Green showcases and captions 37 of those images he has preserved or recreated. The purpose in publishing his work was to inform and alert the public to the need to preserve those (often crumbling) monuments to a yesteryear Chicago for their esthetic and historical significance. A superb presentation, "Water Tanks Of Chicago" is very highly recommended and could well serve as a template or example for photographically preserving similar landmark constructions in other American communities wanting to treasure and preserve their historic past in a rapidly changing present for the sake of future generations.
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