Since the first trip he took with his parents as a boy of fourteen, travel writer and businessman Rick Steves has lived a third of his life overseas, interacting with people whose worldviews are vastly different from his own. He makes a... Read More

London has been the almost obsessive focus of award-winning author Iain Sinclair’s writing for half of his life. But this city of his—with its peculiar myths and mysteries, its denizens of dark alleyways and park benches, its... Read More

Are you a good prospect for solo travel, or does the idea of finding yourself alone in a foreign place figure in your worst nightmares? According to the folks at Lonely Planet, solo travel is the “ultimate indulgence,” allowing you... Read More

Karen Karbo’s "In Praise of Difficult Women" collects twenty-nine biographical profiles of women who have pushed back, broken the mold, or simply lived on their own terms. The women chosen are eclectic, while the narrative is... Read More

Hanif Kureishi’s "The Nothing" is a darkly humorous and slightly pornographic story about three extremely self-centered individuals entrenched in an odd, triangular affair. A retired and terminally ill filmmaker, Waldo, has suspicions... Read More

There is a wide-eyed sweetness that lurks underneath the hostility of this novel, told in journal style. As with an actual knucklehead, with time and patience, the rewards well exceed the effort. Young, black law student Marcus Hayes... Read More

In Kate Braverman’s "A Good Day for Seppuku", there are few joyous moments or emotional breakthroughs. Characters keep to themselves, drift apart, or abandon each other, and though they may reunite, their meetings are generally... Read More

This dystopian novel is poetic even in its austerity. Andrew Valencia’s dystopian "Lord of California" is set in rural, isolated California a few decades after it disbands from the United States. When Elliot Temple dies, each of his... Read More