Oh, you lovers of words AND travel, have we got the book for you! You may have enjoyed past blog entries for logophiles and globetrotters but now here's a book to combine the two passions!

Sacher has collected curses & threats in at least a dozen a different languages, both foul and colorful -- including phonetic pronunciation so you can make sure you're saying it correctly!

It is hard to quote much from this book without getting too obscene, but simply listing some of the chapter titles gives some hint of what's in store:

* The Motherlode

* The World's Best Idiomatic Insults and Oaths

* Animals Around the World

* Curses and Maledictions

* Fighting Words

* Global Scatology 101 and Naughty Bits

So, for instance -- to choose from some of the less profane examples -- if you were in Portugal and you wanted someone to stop bothering you, instead of "Get lost!" you might say "Go comb a monkey's hair!"

And if you have a useless, impossible task in Russia, you might refer to it as "like throwing peas against the wall!" 

And if you think your Norwegian friend is acting crazy, you could say, "Have you been smoking your socks?!"

Or, one way to insult an Arabic speaker is by saying, "He deserves to be hit by 60 shoes!"

Fortunately, the book contains a final chapter, or Epilogue, with parting words: all the ways to say "I am sorry" in many different languages! 

Now, enough of this: go wash your mouth out with soap!

You're no doubt familiar with those 'who-done-it' mysteries -- call this a 'where-done-it' -- with big glossy photos of 100 classic sites around the globe. You need no passport: just sit down and become engrossed by all these amazing places around the planet.

All the obvious choices are here, from Egypt's pyramids to Easter Island, Shakespeare's Globe theatre & China's Forbidden City, Angkor Wat to Gettysburg. But there are more unusual choices too, because, think about it: these choices are not made according to the prettiest or most amazing sites, but simply civilization's MOST Important! What sites would YOU choose?

Time magazine has, thus, picked such non-obvious sites as Jefferson's Virginia, Antarctica's McMurdo Station, the Bauhaus school in Germany and the Svalbard Global Seed Vault on the far northern Norwegian island of Spitsbergen, which shelters samples of seeds from plants around the world!

And these are broken down into distinctive categories, such as: Cultures, Religion, Politics, Battles, Inquiry, Innovation and Arts.

Oh, and what is the latest and last on this global list of 100?!

Why, how about Nevada's annual gathering of crazies at Burning Man?! 

Before I take any trips within Washington state, I always check this book out and find all the dandy roadside attractions and other oddities to visit on the way to where I'm going...places like:

- Troll Haven in tiny Gardiner

- the Squirrel Bridge in Longview

& the Kinetic Sculpture Race in Port Townsend (first weekend in October)....

and many more -- so many that my family has been known to call me up wondering if I got lost on my way to some meeting point...(!)

 And even if you're not going anywhere, find out what wonders you never guessed your own hometown contained! Such as:

 - the amazing Milton Walker garden in west Seattle

- the Banana museum in Auburn

& the world's largest paper airplane in Mukilteo!

Baskas has created quite the basket industry with such volumes -- there's a similar one for Oregon:

and earlier she tried to take more of 'the high road' and covered mostly just our museums in Atomic marbles & branding irons

This bookis roughly chronological, beginning with early Spanish and French exploration of the New World and proceeding through the French colonization of Louisiana in the late 17th century, the hand-off of Louisianafrom French to Spanish controlin 1762, the reverse hand-off back to the French in 1803 just in time for the sale...20 days later...by Napoleon of Louisiana to the fledgling United Statesthat same year.But this basic outline is augmented by numerous supplementary topics, chiefamong them the ongoing importation of African slaves and theirdefiningimpact on the culture of New Orleans.A principle African contribution was music; Sublette is clearly passionate about this subject and it too is a "recurring theme" throughout the book. But many other topics are explored as well. Indeed, the author covers a lot of ground in The World That Made New Orleans and some readers might be frustrated withits lack of focus. In addition tothe European colonization of Louisiana and the hugeimpact ofAfrican slavery, Sublette also exploresthe colonization and eventual overthrow of Saint-Domingue (later know as Haiti) andtheeffect of this slave rebellionon the Caribbean; the parallel relationship between New Orleans and Havana, Cuba; political intrigue amongst competing European countries, their colonies in the New World, and the United States; and so on and so forth.And yet, despitethis dizzying array ofsubjects,allthevariousthreadssomehow interweave themselves into a unified work,just as the wide variety of influences withinNew Orleans itself creates a richly diverse yet(largely) harmonious city.

This book is the result of Sublette's year-long research fellowship at Tulane University, just before Katrina slammed into New Orleans in 2005. Consequently, The World That Made New Orleans is finely researched and full of historical and cultural detail. But, more than that, it is full of humor, enthusiasm, and love-of-place...all of which makeit a delightful read. Ned Sublette clearly lovesNew Orleans. Read this book, then visit the Big Easy,andmaybe you will love it, too!

French Milk is agraphic novel (that termmay be a little bit of amisnomer) bya talentedyoung cartoonist namedLucy Knisely. Herartwork and narrative style brings to mind the local cartoonist, Ellen Forney, whoillustrated Sherman Alexie's wildly popular Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.

French Milk is a travel memoir at heart, created using cartoons depicting the author's post-college graduation trip to Paris with her mom (and a brief visit by her dad.)There are two things I really like about this book. The first is the author's point of view -- honest, passionate, and sentimental. If you've seen the movie Midnight in Paris, you might be reminded a little of Owen Wilson's character.

Secondly, I was impressed by the way the author incorporates personal photographsinto her work. Sometimes she pairs a real photograph from the tripwith a cartoondepicting the same moment. Looking at the two together gives the reader a real senseof the exaggerated nature of the cartoon image.A similar technique was used in theway more seriousgraphic novelThe Photographer.

If you like travel memoirs,love the city ofParis,or have aninterest in cartooning as creative expression, then you might enjoy this book. Not sure? Check out Lucy Knisley's website, where much of her work is available to look at for free.

When Wanderers Cease To Roam: A Traveler's JournalOf Staying Put
Vivian Swift.

After wandering for over 20 years, Vivian Swift found herself so attracted to a small town near Long Island Sound that she stayed put for 10 years. She found delight and variety in the small beauties of nature, the cycle of the year, and the quiet pleasures of village life. Luckily for us she was inspired to write, illustrate and publish this journal.

The result is a book with great visual appeal. The hand lettered text wanders around on the page, the size and shape of the letters giving emphasis to the content. Wonderfully expressive watercolors illustrate everything from the 14 kinds of mud that appear in March (fresh mud, dried mud, gloppy mud, ooze, mire, grime and grit among others) to a variety of tea cups the author collected in foreign travel, to the way that the non-wanderer can put suitcases to use.

The text meditates on both the immediate (November is described as "the Blues, the Blahs, the Weary Dismals") and on Swift's memories of her wandering days in Europe, South America, and the Middle East. Her observations of the world around her are often the starting point for memories of distant adventures.

When Wanderers Cease to Roam delights the eye and the mind. It charms without veering into sentimentality, and encourages readers to take a close look at their own surroundings.