Souvenir Books (More Gifts)
Two very short souvenir travel books, both given to me as gifts some time ago.
8. Wisconsin: The Spirit of America text by Joanne Trestrail. (travel, small HC, 95 p.)
This small 2001 book on Wisconsin is part of the Abram's 50 states series. I didn't buy it for myself but rather received it as a gift years ago. Many other Wisconsinites probably have it or have noticed it in city bookstores, it is intended as a travel gift and short intro to the state but doesn't seem to have sold well as large numbers have been remaindered and still pop up all over the place. As a lifelong Wisconsinite who has traveled through most of the state, I can confidently say that this book covered all the main attractions and most of the peculiarities of the state. This would be a cute gift or souvenir from your trip to Wisconsin, particularly if you were not at a specific attraction such as Door County or the Dells. We have this book at the library and recommend it when ESL students need to look up basic facts about Wisconsin. Perhaps this wasn't the best gift for me personally, but it was an interesting book and hopefully will see use in future Wisconsin trivia games.
9. Paris Vu Du Ciel by Yann Arthus-Bertrand. (travel, small HC, 96 p.)
This book was a gift from a French friend (I actually have quite a collection of art books of Paris between her Christmas boxes and my own visits there). It features a slightly different take on the standard photos-of-famous-places tourist book: these photos of Paris were taken by helicopter to "lead us to a new perspective" that Paris is a city. There is a short introduction to the book, then the rest of the book is divided into sections: Old Paris, the Left Bank, the Right Bank, Working Class Paris, and Paris Today. Although you get a view of some of these things from the Eiffel Tower, it's not really the same as flying over Paris in a helicopter, and this book definitely has a new perspective. If this were larger it would be a nice coffee-table book, but at large-postcard size, it's a nice reminder of a trip if you like book reminders or a good gift to bring home. After all, being a European book, it does have the spine running in the opposite direction so as to confuse casual browsers of your collection and add a cosmopolitan air to the average American collection.
STATS
9/50 books (reviewed)
1,904/15,000 pages (counted)
Coming up I've got a few library books, some short-story collections, more books on religion, hopefully some retold tales, and of course my challenge books. May not be posting for a bit though, as I'm going on a semi-vacation.
8. Wisconsin: The Spirit of America text by Joanne Trestrail. (travel, small HC, 95 p.)
This small 2001 book on Wisconsin is part of the Abram's 50 states series. I didn't buy it for myself but rather received it as a gift years ago. Many other Wisconsinites probably have it or have noticed it in city bookstores, it is intended as a travel gift and short intro to the state but doesn't seem to have sold well as large numbers have been remaindered and still pop up all over the place. As a lifelong Wisconsinite who has traveled through most of the state, I can confidently say that this book covered all the main attractions and most of the peculiarities of the state. This would be a cute gift or souvenir from your trip to Wisconsin, particularly if you were not at a specific attraction such as Door County or the Dells. We have this book at the library and recommend it when ESL students need to look up basic facts about Wisconsin. Perhaps this wasn't the best gift for me personally, but it was an interesting book and hopefully will see use in future Wisconsin trivia games.
9. Paris Vu Du Ciel by Yann Arthus-Bertrand. (travel, small HC, 96 p.)
This book was a gift from a French friend (I actually have quite a collection of art books of Paris between her Christmas boxes and my own visits there). It features a slightly different take on the standard photos-of-famous-places tourist book: these photos of Paris were taken by helicopter to "lead us to a new perspective" that Paris is a city. There is a short introduction to the book, then the rest of the book is divided into sections: Old Paris, the Left Bank, the Right Bank, Working Class Paris, and Paris Today. Although you get a view of some of these things from the Eiffel Tower, it's not really the same as flying over Paris in a helicopter, and this book definitely has a new perspective. If this were larger it would be a nice coffee-table book, but at large-postcard size, it's a nice reminder of a trip if you like book reminders or a good gift to bring home. After all, being a European book, it does have the spine running in the opposite direction so as to confuse casual browsers of your collection and add a cosmopolitan air to the average American collection.
STATS
9/50 books (reviewed)
1,904/15,000 pages (counted)
Coming up I've got a few library books, some short-story collections, more books on religion, hopefully some retold tales, and of course my challenge books. May not be posting for a bit though, as I'm going on a semi-vacation.