Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe -- Bill Bryson

Close friends know I have been bitten by the travel bug ever since I read Eat, Pray, Love. I have been doing the "I need to go to Italy" chant for the past few months. Bill Bryson's 'Neither here nor there' managed to add just about 30 other places to the chant.

The book is Bill's humorous (not always the laugh-out-loud kind of humor, but the amused-grin-evoking kind) recounts of his travel around various cities in Europe.

The thing I liked most about his potrayals of these various places was how he pays so much attention to the people and the culture itself as opposed to the palaces and the museums and the gardens. Personally to me, that is what is most intriguing about a new place.

The narration has the lighthearted tone of a relaxed back-packer taking his time to soak up the essence of a new place. Facts have clearly been exagerrated here and there to achieve a part-comical, part-acerbic flavor - but that is a humorist's license, is it not?

Excerpts:-
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The Romans park their cars the way I would if I had just spilled a beaker of hydrochloric acid on my lap.
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The problem is that [in Paris] the pedestrian crossing lights have been designed with the clear purpose of leaving the foreign visitor confused, humiliated, and, if all goes according to plan, dead.
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Now, for the nit-picking: on the whole, the book gave me the impression that there were more places that displeased him than delighted. A little more cribbing than I would generally choose to hear :).

Otherwise, an apt book for a travel enthusiast in a very ironical way - it leaves you with the feeling that you've had enough reading about it and you just need to take the next flight.

Thanks to Sandeep for lending me the book! :)

Eat Pray Love -- Elizabeth Gilbert

The book is a chronicle of the author, Elizabeth Gilbert's adventures and experiences in 3 countries - Italy, India and Indonesia (3 cities, rather - Rome, a small village near Mumbai and Bali) - in pursuit of relishing delectable food, spiritual learning, leading a balanced love-rich life respectively. And hence the name of the book.

The main reason I loved this book is because it makes for a very delightful and intriguing travel guide. Also, it is replete with tidbits of very interesting information neatly woven into the story itself:-

"Here in Rome, the pope's health is recorded daily in the newspaper, very much like weather, or the TV schedule. Today the pope is tired. Yesterday, the pope was less tired than he is today. Tomorrow we expect that the pope will not be quite so tired as he was today."

"I am trying a different mantra. It's simple, just two syllables: Ham-sa. In Sanskrit it means 'I am That'. The yogis say it is the sound of our breath. Ham on the inhale, sa on the exhale."

"In Bali, there are only four names that the majority of the population give to their children, regardless of whether the baby is a boy or a girl. The names are Wayan, Made, Nyoman and Ketut. Translated, these names mean simply First, Second, Third and Fourth, and they connotate birth order."

To describe the narrative: breezy, often humorous, extremely frank.

Recommendation: Go to a bookstore, pick up the book, read a couple pages. You will most probably get hooked, or at least be pleasantly surprised at how engaging a travel memoir can be made just through talented writing :-).