Atlantica - 01.12.2006, Qupperneq 28

26 AT L A N T I CA
on the fly
TEMPERATURES ARE DROPPING; THE DAYS ARE GETTING COLDER. TIME TO CURL
UP WITH A GOOD STACK OF BOOKS ABOUT SOME FARAWAY PLACES.
Marie Javins quit her job in 2001 to spend one year traveling around the world
overland, blogging all the way on her website mariesworldtour.com. Four months
of her trip were spent journeying from Cape Town to Cairo. Stalking the Wild Dik-Dik
chronicles this trip, from encountering gorillas with bad gas in Uganda to surviving
a serious car accident in Ethiopia.
Javins’ story moves at a far brisker pace than the public transportation she
describes. She is refreshingly candid about her motivations for the trip and feelings
during it, including, as a New Yorker, her reactions to being far afield on September
11 that year.
When you finish Dik-Dik, you’ll want to head straight to the website to read
about the rest of her around-the-world adventure – or even book a ticket yourself.
Former Seychelles President Sir James Mancham did not like Dr. Jonathan Kaplan.
According to Kaplan, Mancham accused the doctor of being a spy and threatened
to make him “disappear”, all thanks to a misunderstanding over a note left for a
journalist both had a romantic interest in.
Kaplan’s unexpected experience in the Seychelles is only one of several
adventures he recounts in Contact Wounds, his memoir of studying medicine and
putting it to practice everywhere from war zones around the world to the sets of
British medical dramas.
The author begins his tale in apartheid South Africa, and writes about his
medical development on an Israeli kibbutz, in the Angolan Civil War and on
multiple occasions in Iraq. The book is not for the squeamish, laying bare all the
gory anatomical details of Kaplan’s work, but for everyone else, it’s a lyrically
written memoir that gives an international perspective of the medical profession.
The City of London need not only be famous for its contribution to global
commerce. As chef Peter Gladwin writes in his new book, “The City is a catacomb
of dining rooms, bars, clubs, restaurants and venues all dedicated to providing the
hospitality, cuisine and beverages required to oil the wheels of commerce and
enable our great metropolis to run smoothly.”
The City of London Cook Book offers a glimpse into the culinary world of this
famous square mile. Even better, it was produced for the Lord Mayor of London’s
annual charity appeal, and proceeds from book sales will go to the Treloar Trust for
physically disabled children.
With its pale blue cover and minimalist illustrations, Gladwin’s cookbook seems
part guide to the City of London and its traditions and quirks.
Many of the book’s recipes were donated by famous Brits, including Prime
Minister Tony Blair. londoncookbook.com
Travel writer Tim Moore likes to use bizarre journeys as the flesh for his humorous
books. He traveled around Spain on a donkey in Spanish Steps (appropriately
subtitled One Man and his Ass on a Pilgrimage to Santiago) and followed the UK’s
Monopoly board addresses in Do Not Pass Go.
Moore’s latest offering centers on an event dear to all European hearts, but alien
to many others: the Eurovision Song Contest. He travels Europe to visit the artists
and nations who must bear the enduring humiliation of ending the contest with
the dreaded conclusion of nul points.
From Norway to Turkey, including a glorious chapter on Iceland’s own shameful
nul points history, this book humorously sheds light onto what Moore describes as
“an evening of unfailingly hilarious schadenfreude” and the characters that make
it that way.
THE MEMOIR
Contact Wounds:
by Jonathan Kaplan.
THE CULINARY
DESTINATION
The City of London Cook Book,
by Peter Gladwin.
THE EUROPEAN
TRADITION
Nul Points,
by Tim Moore.
COMPILED BY ELIZA REID.
THE ADVENTURE
Stalking the Wild Dik-Dik:
One Woman’s Solo
Misadventures Across Africa,
by Marie Javins.
GETTING AROUND
Travel reading to take you from A to Z.
009 airmail Atlantica 606.indd 26 20.10.2006 9:42:26