Category: Books

The Book to Bring to Positano, Italy

An image of the cover of the novel One Italian Summer

Looking for a book full of charms, a story with a bit of romance and a dose of magical realism, a novel with a setting most desirable—Positano, Italy—and characters in a healthful range of ages? Then pick up One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle.

A Book about Adventures in Travel at an Uncertain Time

The Bashful Adventurer picks up a romance novel written in the late 1930s hoping to see if and how the author addressed the coming war—and ends up getting a lesson on careers in the travel and tourism industry at a time when adventures in travel were far from mainstream. Image shows the cover of Honeymoons Arranged by Maysie Greig.

The Bashful Adventurer picks up a romance novel written in the late 1930s hoping to see if and how the author addressed the coming war—and ends up getting a lesson on careers in the travel and tourism industry at a time when adventures in travel were far from mainstream

Finding Gavrilo Princip at Terezin

A display of inmates at Terezin includes a photo of Gavrilo Princip at the prison. Photo credit: L. Tripoli.

Learning about World War II at Terezin concentration camp in Czech Republic, the Bashful Adventurer is surpised to discover that Gavrilo Princip, the assassin who killed Franz Ferdinand, did time there.

Visiting the Mendocino Coast

The Mendocino Coast by Barbara Dorr Mullen remains a helpful visitor guide even though the second edition was published in 1972.

Getting Some Ideas from an Old 1972 Visitor Guide Visiting the Mendocino Coast for the first time, I quickly am reminded how little history of the Western United States I remember from any educational instruction on the topic. The details…