The Beast, the Emperor and the Milkman: A Bone-Shaking Tour Through Cycling's Flemish Heartlands


Harry Pearson - 2019
    Tiny Flanders boasts a population of just 6 million, yet this small corner of northwest Europe has produced eight winners of the Tour de France, five times as many professional riders as Italy or Spain.Blending reportage, interviews, observation, biography, and history, and written with affectionate humor by a committed Belgophile, The Beast, the Emperor and the Milkman tells the story of Flanders' neurotic love affair with bike racing, from tough early heroes such as Jules Vanhevel--wounded by mortar fire in World War I and leading the world championship road race until he collided with a cow--to latter-day ironmen such as Tom Boonen, three-times winner of the Tour of Flanders and owner of a pet donkey named Kamiel.

Dirty Blonde and Half-Cuban


Lisa Wixon - 2005
    While on her search, privileged American Alysia Briggs ends up broke and alone in Havana. She's then forced to adopt the life of the jineteras-educated Cuban women who supplement a desperate income by accommodating sex tourists. With an eye for detail and a razor wit, Lisa Wixon relates Alysia's journey and creates a love song to Cuba, a heartfelt tribute to a resilient people facing soul-numbing poverty in a land where M.D.s and Ph.D.s earn $18 a month, and a pair of jeans costs twice as much.

Rowing After the White Whale: A Crossing of the Indian Ocean by Hand


James Adair - 2013
    That will teach you to keep your mouth shut' - Ernest Hemingway Over a boozy Sunday lunch, flatmates James Adair and Ben Stenning made a promise to row across the ocean. At first they considered the Pacific, then the Atlantic, but once James Cracknell and Ben Fogle completed the high-profile Atlantic Rowing Race, their thoughts turned to the Indian Ocean, longer and tougher than the Atlantic and having seen fewer people row across its waters than have walked on the Moon. After years of planning and fund raising, they were ready to launch in Spring 2011. Neither James nor Ben had any rowing or sailing experience. To add to this, James had contracted Guillain-Barre syndrome at the age of 14, which had locked his body into total paralysis for three months (while his mind had remained completely active) and which had left him with paralysed feet. This was a challenge that neither man should have ever considered.

The Last Hero


Peter Forbath - 1988
    In this novel the author takes up the life of the African explorer, H.M.Stanley, and creates an epic novel based on his last dangerous mission into the African interior to rescue the Emin Pasha, the only man holding back the enemy in the outreaches of the British Empire.

Westward Ha!


S.J. Perelman - 1948
    Perelman's companion is cartoonist Al Hirschfield, whose drawings capture the very essence of Perelmania.

Naked Voices: Stories And Sketches


Saadat Hasan Manto - 2008
    In one of the three sketches, which form part of this collection, the author brilliantly reveals himself to the world in a schizophrenic piece titled 'Saadat Hasan' calling 'Manto the writer' a liar, a thief and a failure! And in another titled 'In a Letter to Uncle Sam', Manto superbly couches his anti-imperialistic views in an innocent letter from a poor nephew to a capitalist and prosperous uncle in America.

Extreme Frontiers: Racing Across Canada from Newfoundland to the Rockies


Charley Boorman - 2012
    Travelling mainly on his much-loved bike, Charley will explore the world's second largest country - home to some of the most stunning and challenging terrain known to man. Along the way he will work with Alberta's famous 'Bear Whisperer'; travel with Native Canadians and learn more about their mythology and shamanic rituals; get involved in the world famous National Lumberjack competition; work with the Mounties search and rescue team and visit the world's smallest jail in Ontario. Along the way he will take a raft along the Nahanni river; cross Canada's only desert in Okanagan Valley; climb the Canadian Rockies and circumnavigate Newfoundland, taking an old steel sloop through the infamous Iceberg Alley, stopping to camp, hunt and cook with local foraged food. EXTREME FRONTIERS is vintage Boorman, packed with all the excitement, adventure - and bikes! - of his previous bestselling books.

Temple Tales: Secrets and Stories from India's Sacred Places


Sudha G. Tilak - 2019
    These unique temples are not just places of worship, but living museums of architectural wonders, mind-boggling sculptures, graceful dances, colourful crafts and many other cultural activities. More than anything, they are treasure troves of lore and legend, teeming with tales of gods and goddesses, demons and devotees, plants and beasts, the magical and the mysterious – all just waiting to be discovered by you. Join Sudha G. Tilak as she takes you on an unusual journey to the country’s most sacred places, where the lines between fact and faith are blurred and stories come alive!

The Kama Sutra Diaries: Intimate Journeys through Modern India


Sally Howard - 2013
    From the heat of anti-rape protest on the streets of New Delhi to the cool hills of Shimla, playground of the Raj; from a Gujurati retirement home for gay men and eunuchs to a busy sex clinic in Chennai; from patriarchs to matriarchs; GIGs (Good Indian Girls), BIGs (Bad Indian Girls) and the fleshpots of Bombay, she accompanied by feisty Delhi girl Dimple lifts the bed sheets on India's sexual revolution. And it's a revolution that's full of fascinating surprises and contrasts; for India - the land that gave us that exuberant guide to sexual pleasure, the Kama Sutra - is also the land where women remain cloistered in purdah while teenage girls check out porn online; where families bow down to a conjoined phallus and vagina, the Shivaling, while couples fear to hold hands in public; and where the loveless arranged marriage is still the norm. Colourful, compelling, confounding, The Kama Sutra Diaries reveal what India has to tell us about modern-day love, sex and sexuality.

American Interior: The quixotic journey of John Evans, his search for a lost tribe and how, fuelled by fantasy and (possibly) booze, he accidentally annexed a third of North America


Gruff Rhys - 2014
     In 2012, Gruff Rhys set out on an 'investigative concert tour' in the footsteps of John Evans, with concerts in New Orleans, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, St Louis, North Dakota and more. American Interior is the story of these journeys. It is also an exploration of how wild fantasies interact with hard history and how myth-making can inspire humans to partake in crazy, vain pursuits of glory, including exploration, war and the creative arts. Gruff Rhys is known around the world for his work as a solo artist as well as singer and songwriter with Super Furry Animals and Neon Neon, and for his collaborations with Gorillaz, Dangermouse, Sparklehorse, Mogwai and Simian Mobile Disco amongst others. The latest album by Neon Neon, Praxis Makes Perfect, based on the life of radical Italian publisher Giangiacomo Feltrinelli, was recently performed as an immersive live concert with National Theatre Wales.

The Hairy Bikers' Mediterranean Adventure: 150 feel-good recipes for a taste of the sun every day


Hairy Bikers - 2017
    This time, they're discovering the most delicious food from our favourite Mediterranean countries.Including recipes from their prime time BBC Two cookery show, THE HAIRY BIKERS' MEDITERRANEAN ADVENTURE celebrates the culinary delights of France, Spain and Italy.With more of us understanding the health benefits of a Med diet, these hearty and healthy dishes are a taste of the very best holiday memories. Fresh, classic, easy and seasonal, enjoy our favourite Med recipes with the nation's favourite cooking duo!

The Old Weird Albion


Justin Hopper - 2016
    Taking in urban spaces, suburbs and sweeping landscapes in the Sussex homeland of his ancestors, Hopper s debut will attempt to reconnect with the land and the self.

Food and Faith: A Pilgrim's Journey through India


Shoba Narayan - 2020
    Shoba Narayan travels across some of the most prominent places of worship in India and presents to her readers the mythologies, histories and contemporary relevance of these sites.

Lonely Planet Journeys: Drive Thru America


Sean Condon - 1998
    In his search for American myths and realities - along with comfort, cable TV and good, reasonably priced coffee - Sean Condon paints a hilarious road-portrait of the USA.

Best of Lonely Planet Travel Writing


Tony Wheeler - 2009
    This title includes stories from popular Lonely Planet anthologies such as 'On The Edge', 'By The Seat Of My Pants', 'The Kindness of Strangers', 'Tales From Nowhere', and others.