Just One Day Blog Tour!

We interrupt the LEVEL 2 launch week fun to bring you a special blog tour guest post from Gayle Forman about her travels and her new novel JUST ONE DAY. Many of Gayle's travel experiences inspired scenes in JUST ONE DAY (and JUST ONE YEAR, out next fall!). Each day along the tour there will be a new photo from Gayle’s travels, along with the story behind the photo written by Gayle!

If you are looking for a LEVEL 2 fix though, check out my recap of last night's LEVEL 2 US launch party over at the Lucky 13s blog.

When I heard that Gayle Forman had a new book coming out, and that it featured travel, I knew I had to read it.  After all, I loved IF I STAY and I love traveling.

JUST ONE DAY definitely captures the serendipitous nature of travel and the way it broadens your horizons. Straitlaced Allyson follows her packaged tour through Europe to a T, until she meets Willem and he convinces her to go with him to Paris. She adopts an alter ego (LuLu) and is the most carefree she's ever been in her life ... until Willem disappears.

I do have to warn you that once Allyson returns to the US and starts college, she's irritatingly mopey -- but it does have a narrative point, trust me. The ending of this one will have you screaming "why isn't the second book out already?". Aggh! I cannot wait!

And now, let's hear from Gayle!

Jaisalmer, India

I was in India, and I was sick, the kind of sick you often get in India that has you running for toilets or corners to barf in and crying for your mother even though you are 31 years old.

I hadn’t eaten in days and I was getting woozy. My husband convinced me to try to find something I could keep down. We climbed the to the top of the fort in the desert city of Jaisalmer and stumbled upon this restaurant called July 8. That was our friend Diane’s birthday. Indians are big on auspicious signs, so, taking a page from the local rulebook, we decided to go in.

It was empty. And hot. I ordered ginger tea because ginger is supposed to be good for nausea. But when it arrived, the smell of it made my stomach somersault. I pushed it away. Rama, the restaurant’s owner, chided me: ìDon’t you like my tea?î When I explained about my bad stomach, she turned serious. ìGinger will heat you up. You need something to cool your tummy.î

Over the next several days, Rama fed me various foods depending on my symptoms and then we spent the better part of the mornings talking, about life, love, 8th days, heartbreak and hope. July 8th may have been one day of significance but the 8th of the month seemed to be important in my life: lots of important birthdays and anniversaries, and one very tragic day. I wound up pouring my heart out to Rama, and she to me. Her various concoctions healed my stomach, but our talks went a long way to healing my broken heart [maybe link back to Buddy and Scott and escape blog post?].

Would I have ventured into her restaurant if it was called something else? Would I have met someone else who would have had the same profound effect on me? I’m not sure. It’s one of those mysteries of travel. Of life, too, really.  

Start reading JUST ONE DAY right now! 

Want to see more of Gayle Forman’s amazing traveling? Penguin Teen is posting one picture a day on tumblr for a whole YEAR!
Next up on the JUST ONE DAY tour:
Fri, 1/18 Ticket to Anywhere 

Book Review: Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard + My Tikal Pics

When I heard that Kristen Hubbard was coming out with a book about backpackers in Guatemala, I knew I had to read it.  Because I've been a backpacker myself, love to travel and went to Guatemala for 3 weeks right after college.

And WANDERLOVE was a fun ride.  After a bad breakup with her boyfriend, one that causes her to rethink attending art school, Bria Sandoval impulsively signs up for a tour of Guatemala.  But when the tour group turns out to be all middle-aged tourists, Bria breaks away from the group to travel with backpackers Starling and her brother Rowan.

What I really love about WANDERLOVE is how well Hubbard captures the feeling of independent travel.  There's the exhilaration of discovery as well as the annoyance with inconveniences.

I have to admit that I found it kind of funny (but endearing) how much Bria idolized backpackers in the early chapters.  Backpacker portrayal in the fiction I've read runs the gamut from self-appointed gods (THE BEACH by Alex Garland) to clueless wanderers (ARE YOU EXPERIENCED? by William Sutcliffe, one of the most hilarious books I've ever read - check it out).

But Hubbard keeps the novel from being a complete love letter to backpacker culture with her characterization of Rowan.  His way of thinking is sometimes incredibly arrogant, sometimes undeniably appealing.  He has that typical superior backpacker attitude that his way is the right way, and everyone else is doing it wrong (and Bria calls him on it).  But Hubbard shows us a generous side of him, the caring core that slips out in the quiet moments - in the evening swinging in a shared hammock for example.

WANDERLOVE takes us on a tour of Guatemala and Belize, but it's a complete story thanks to the careful character arcs of both Bria and Rowan.  Bria's evolution is a gradual realization that she needs to take a more active role in her own destiny and Rowan needs to face up to and move past the youthful indiscretions that haunt him.  Bria and Rowan's relationship has its ups and downs, but deep down, they're good for each other.  It beautiful, really.

I have to talk a bit about the locations as well.  Many of them I knew well - from my own trip, and it was thrilling to see them come alive again on the page via Hubbard's colorful writing.  On her blog, Hubbard does a wonderful series spotlighting the various settings in WANDERLOVE - complete with pictures and excerpts from the book.  You get to explore (an * indicates that I've been there too):

Antigua Guatemala*
Chichicastenango, Guatemala*
Lake Atitlan, Guatemala*
Panajachel, Guatemala*
Santa Lucia, Guatemala (fictional village on the shores of Lake Atitlan, I visited Santiago de Atitlan while I was there.  Ask me sometime about the curse of Maximon)
Chicken buses* (oh yeah, rode lots of these)
Guatemala City, Guatemala*
Rio Dulce, Guatemala*
Livingston, Guatemala*
Punta Gorda, Belize
Belize City, Belize
Laughingbird Caye, Belize (fictional)
Flores, Guatemala*
Tikal, Guatemala*

On my trip, I also visited the ruins of Copan in Honduras, a place on Bria's original itinerary before she ditched her group.

Here I am in front of one of the main temples in Tikal.

And this was one of my favorite moments in Tikal - sitting on top of the temple, looking out over the jungle and being throughly entertained by monkeys.

WANDERLOVE is available now. Find out more about it at the author's website.

FTC disclosure: I read a galley provided by the publisher on NetGalley.

Argentina Recap 1: Iguazu Falls

The definite highlight of our recent trip to Argentina was visiting Iguazu Falls, one of the biggest waterfalls in the world (actually a conglomeration of 275 smaller waterfalls).  Our first stop was the U-shaped Devil's Throat section - where about half the water of the Iguazu river tumbles off a 82 m high cliff.  It's very wet! Here you can see Daniel's back as he views the massive flow.

A pic of both of us at Devil's Throat.

A view of Devil's Throat from afar.

A view of the rest of the falls from the vantage point of the lower trail.

Posing at the lower falls.

View from atop the falls.

We didn't go on a helicopter tour like we did at Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe (view my recap) because they don't offer them on the Argentine side of the falls and I didn't have a visa to go to the Brazilian side.  So we never got a true panoramic view.  But the area was so lush and lovely.  Truly a world wonder!

Africa Trip Part 4: The Guide Book Comparison

During my trip I used 5 different guidebooks.

For general safari planning, you can't go wrong with Fodor's THE COMPLETE AFRICAN SAFARI PLANNER which covers Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Victoria Falls. For each country, the guide covers the gateway city, the must-see parks, the if-you-have-time parks and beach escapes. It also gives you great tips on the ins and outs of safaris including what to expect, what to wear, what to bring and more. It was thanks to this guide that we decided we must go to Ngorogoro Crater and Lamu. Though I didn't end up using any of the eating or sleeping listings, I enjoyed the wealth of cultural information presented throughout. Definitely a keeper. It may even inspire me to go on more safaris!

As for day-to-day guides, we used the Lonely Planet's EAST AFRICA as well as country guides from Footprint covering Kenya and Tanzania. All three offered a good mix of both affordable listings and more upscale locales. I found the Lonely Planet to be more reliable in general, although current phone numbers can be a problem in both publisher's books. Your best bet is to check the listing's website for the most current contact details. We had a devil of a time finding the number for Robert's Camp in Baringo, though it didn't turn out to be a problem since we ended up being the only guests.

Footprint's KENYA HANDBOOK is current as of March 2009 but some of the information didn't get double-checked when they printed the new edition. For example, the guide claims Diamond Village (where we stayed) has pit latrines, but they've had en-suite flush toliets since 2005. Oops! What I do really like about the Footprint guides are the hard covers and the excellent maps.

The book I used the most during my trip was Lonely Planet's WATCHING WILDLIFE EAST AFRICA. Not only is it full of excellent color pictures and detailed information about species you are likely to encounter, it also has a whole section covering each national park in East Africa and what wildlife you may find there (and in what areas specifically). Whenever our guide would point out a new bird (for example), I would pull out the book and read all about it. The only think I was really missing was a checklist so I could keep track of what I'd seen and what I still needed to track down.

What guidebooks do you like to use when you travel?

Africa Trip Part 3: The Baby Animal Extravaganza

During our stay in Kenya and Tanzania, we went to quite a few national parks and reserves and were lucky enough to see all of the big five (elephant, buffalo, lion, rhino and leopard) and get a decent picture of 4 (all except the leopard who was too quick for us). We saw zebras, giraffes, tons of different antelopes and birds, hippos, crocs, jackels, warthogs, 1 hyena, and the highlight - a mother cheetah with 3 cubs, out on a walk for the very first time.

Cheetah and cubs:

Black rhino and baby:

A hippo who might just eat its baby:

Baby topi:

Here are my two favorite lion pictures (sans cubs).

Chillin:

Up (too) close (in Ngorogoro, animals are more used to cars and are less skittish):

And just for fun, a very cheeky Starling (who flew off with our bread roll):

Africa Trip Part 2: Huts and Tents

I'm still going through all my trip pictures (I took well over 500 - unusual for me), but I'll go ahead and show you a few places we spent the night.

The scariest place we stayed in was a banda at Robert's Camp at Lake Baringo, Kenya where we were the ONLY guests. Bandas are simple huts with a bed inside but no bathroom. To use the bathroom, you have to brave a whole herd of grumpy hippos in the pitch black night. So you don't use the bathroom once the sun sets.

Here's the hut:

Here are the hungry hippos:

We also stayed in one of Diamond Villiage's huts on the beach in the World Heritage listed town of Lamu on the northern Kenyan coast (yep, pretty close to Somalia). Kenya's national motto is Hakuna Matata (which means "No problem" - something you know if you've watched Disney's The Lion King) and it's especially true in Lamu. They also like to say Pole Pole ("slowly, slowly") and people here are very relaxed and mellow - a welcome change from the bustle of Nairobi. This would have been paradise if it weren't for the swarms of mosquitos and sand flies who were not the least bit put off by repellent and abundant smoking coils.

Our hut (which seemed to me like something out of The Mosquito Coast - before it burned down of course):

Probably our favorite accomodation was our tent at the luxury tented camp Mara Siria in the Masai Mara National reserve. Very comfortable bed, a hot "bush" shower, a gorgeous view and nary a mosquito in sight.

And finally, here's our friends' place in Nairobi. It is on a compound with electric fences and around the clock guards. You'll notice too that there are bars on all the windows and doors. They don't call the place "Nairobbery" for nothing.

That's all for now. Lots of baby animals soon!

I'm Back! (Africa Trip Part 1)

Just got back this morning from my 18 day trip to Kenya and Tanzania (in case you've wondered why I haven't commented on your blog in ages...). I only spent about 3 hrs of that time on the Internet, and it really was a welcome break.

I read 5 books (besides travel guides) on my vacation, including two for the Chunkster Challenge (reviews coming up):

THE MARK by Jen Nadol

A CHANGE IN ALTITUDE by Anita Shreve

NOTES FROM MY TRAVELS by Angelina Jolie

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

THE HELP by Kathryn Stockett

We were visiting good friends in Nairobi, so we spent quite a few days there just hanging out in their house, going to restaurants, attending the Guy Fawkes Day fireworks (sponsored by the British Embassy) and looking at real estate (they intend to move house). Not the typical tourist stuff - though we did do that too, including a trip to the Langata Giraffe Centre and the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust Baby Elephant Orphanage.

Daniel and a new pal:

Baby elephant:

More soon, including our trips to:

Hell's Gate National Park

Lakes Bogoria and Baringo

Lamu (World Hertiage Site)

Masai Mara National Reserve

Ngorogoro Crater (World Heritage Site)

Arusha National Park

Where I've Been (European Edition)

Last week, I listed all the US states I've visited and several of you expressed an interest in my doing the same for European countries. While lists vary as to which countries actually belong to Europe, I have taken the list with 50 countries that belong to Europe politically and sort of geographically.

Albania – never been
Andorra – never been
Armenia – at least an overnight
Azerbaijan – never been
Austria – at least an overnight

Belarus – never been
Belgium – at least an overnight
Bosnia and Herzegovina – never been
Bulgaria – never been
Croatia – never been

Cyprus – never been
Czech Republic – at least an overnight
Denmark – at least a week
Estonia – never been
Finland – at least an overnight

France – at least a week
Georgia – at least a week
Germany – lived here
Greece – lived here
Hungary – at least a week

Iceland – at least an overnight
Ireland – at least a week
Italy – at least a week
Kazakhstan – never been
Latvia – at least an overnight

Lithuania – never been
Luxembourg – day trip
Liechtenstein – day trip
Macedonia – never been
Malta – at least an overnight

Moldova – at least an overnight
Monaco – day trip
Montenegro – never been
The Netherlands – at least a week
Norway – at least an overnight

Poland – at least an overnight
Portugal – at least a week
Romania – at least a week
Russia – never been
San Marino – never been

Serbia – never been
Slovakia – never been
Slovenia – never been
Spain – lived here
Sweden – at least a week

Switzerland – at least a week
Turkey – day trip
Ukraine – never been
United Kingdom – at least a week
Vatican City – day trip

3 countries lived in
12 countries visited for at least a week (may not be consecutive days)
11 countries with at least an overnight (but less than a full week)
5 countries on day trip (where I specifically went to an event or attraction in the country)

+

0 countries only driven through
0 countries where I was in the airport only
19 countries I’ve never set foot in

31 down, 19 to go! How about you?

Book Review: Lipstick Apology by Jennifer Jabaley

After her parents die in a plane crash, Emily has to move in with her aunt Jolie, a make-up artist to the stars in NYC. In addition to navigating a new life without her mother and father, she also has to figure out what her mother meant by “Please Forgive Me Emily” which she wrote in lipstick on her tray table before the plane went down.

The mystery aspect of the novel was what made me want to read this one – that a seemingly perfect mom would have a secret so pressing, she felt the need to absolve herself before she died. And the secret does turn out to be rather shocking (perhaps a bit mundane) although the way Emily goes about her sleuthing is…uneven.

In fact, uneven is how I would describe a lot of things here – from the tone (part hipster Gossip Girl, part histrionics & grieving) and the story (very creative but at times disorganized), to the pacing (some scenes, such as the Statue of Liberty visit, seem oddly truncated) and the use of characters (would have liked more of the fabulous Jolie, hairstylist Trent, and baker boy Anthony, less of….everyone else).

Even with all the unevenness, there are plenty of gems to be found, and that’s what kept me reading. One scene I especially liked was when Anthony takes Emily to Magnolia Bakery on Bleeker Street in the village and then they eat their cupcakes in the little park across the street. Why? Because I did the exact same thing, and it brought back fond memories of my birthday cupcake.

LIPSTICK APOLOGY comes out tomorrow in hardcover. Find out more about the book at the author’s website.

Here's me and Heather about to get in line for cupcakes at Magnolia's.

Friday Fabulous! (13)

Friday Fabulous is back - and I have a lot to talk about today, so let's jump right in!

1. Book Blogger Appreciation Week is back for its' second year. Last year, Presenting Lenore was a finalist for Best YA Blog! Want to make sure your favorite book blogs make the list? Just head over to the official BBAW site and submit your nominations in dozens of fun categories.


2. I'm kind of surprised by this since I don't post that many reviews there anymore, but amazon invited me to be a part of their Vine program! I haven't gotten offered any free video cameras yet, but I should be getting LABOR DAY by Joyce Maynard and SWIMMING by Nicola Keegan (hey if Judy Blume said it was good...) soon.


3. You know, these days, most airline travel news is BAD - free baggage allowances are being cut, you increasingly have to pay for on-board food, and Ryanair even talked about charging to use the toilets - so I was very pleasantly surprised to learn that Delta had given me 10,000 free miles (that qualify for medallion status) as part of a campaign to increase loyalty among their elite status customers. With all the traveling I'm doing this year, I might even earn Gold status this year. Thanks Delta!


4. Speaking of Delta, I was able to upgrade the Atlanta-Frankfurt leg of my August/Sept trip to the states to business class using miles. That's always the worst leg for me, so I'm thrilled!


5. And speaking of my trip to the states, I'll be having a bunch of book contests in August since I'll be able to send them out cheaply once I arrive. Which is a perfect opportunity for all you authors out there! I can send your bookmarks and promotional swag out with my prize books, and if you take advantage of this window, you'll be able to send to my stateside address - YAY! (I'll be back to the states again at Christmas if you need more time). Just contact me at lenoreva at hotmail dot com to get my address.


6. And finally, one of Daniel's good friends, Rafael Esquer, who I finally got to meet while we were in NYC this May, has designed a line of awesome graphic t-shirts depicting the seven deadly sins in hand-drawn dragon form. There is Lujuria (lust), Gula (gluttony), Avaricia (greed), Pereza (sloth - which is what Daniel says I should get), Ira (wrath - which is what Daniel got...hehe), Envidia (envy - perfect for everyone with book envy) and Soberbia (pride). You can see the different designs and colors at the online store (http://www.alfalfa-seeds.com/) and if you want to order one, you can use the special discount code Rafael gave me for 20% off. The coupon code is: Lenore. (I've always hoped my name would one day be used as a coupon code, woohoo!)

So tell me, what are YOU excited about this week?

Barcelona Recap and Nothing but Ghosts Excerpt

Last weekend I was in Barcelona for a wedding. We had a delicious dinner of Paella one evening down in Barceloneta, the former fishing part of town, and the next night we danced under the stars at the beach. Despite the heat, I made the rounds of the tourist attractions - La Rambla to check out the colorful mimes, 3 of Gaudi's masterpieces (La Sagrada Familia - looking no more finished than when I saw it 13 years ago, La Pedrera, and Casa Batllo), and the Barcelona History Museum where you can see the ruins of the Roman city of Barcino.

That last one I would have never known about if it hadn't been for reading Beth Kephart's NOTHING BUT GHOSTS a week prior. I e-mailed Beth asking if the ruins she described really existed, and she confirmed they did. Then it was just a matter of tracking them down. I loved visiting this site. You go underground where is the air is cool and the light is really an orange/yellow as Beth describes. You see remnants of Roman industry - a laundry (where Romans used urine as a detergent - ew!), a dye factory (urine also used), a fish sauce factory (urine not used, thankfully), and a winery (also no urine, hopefully) - as well as a residence and a church.

You aren't supposed to take pictures, but I HAD to sneak one of the wine vats:

And to accompany the following excerpt from NOTHING BUT GHOSTS (used by permission), I have a picture of the make-up jars Beth describes.

“You want to hear the weird thing about Barcelona?” I ask him.

“What’s that?”

“It keeps its ghosts underground.”

Danny laughs. “You know for a fact?”

“I do,” I say. “I saw them.”

Now Danny pushes back against the tree, fits his arms across his chest, and waits for me to explain about the ghosts, which is one of the things that I appreciate about Danny. He’s not the kind who’s always looking for ways to push himself into the talk, not all look at me, not my story’s better than yours. He has patience, and I like that about him, and maybe it’s okay right now, because it’s just the two of us, and because he asked, to tell him something about the day my mom and I climbed down beneath the streets of Barcelona, to find the other Barcelona, the one the Romans built 2000 years ago, and the Iberians before that. The one I wrote about.

That Barcelona is under glass, inside the thickest walls I’ve ever seen, and cool when up above it’s broiling hot. Everything down there in the ghost world is lit up orange and yellow with big glow lights that make it seem like day is fighting with night. Fine lines. They have fourth century B.C. goddess heads down there. Iron swords. Sewing needles made out of bone. Beds and candles, oil lamps, hinges and locks and keys, and places in the walls where little god statues stood, beckoning to the souls of the dead. What my mother loved, what she couldn’t stop staring at, were the rooms they called the cubicula, tiny private rooms—a bed and a chest and a chair, and the most beautiful, most delicate containers for make-up—mortars for mashing colors and spatulas for mixing and carved combs and flasks made out of glass.

“Can’t you see them?” my mother said, and I said, “Who?”

“These women,” she answered.

“The Romans?”

She nodded. “Yes.” Her eyes were so wide and her face was so pale and right then she was just as much a ghost as they were. If my mother could have walked through glass, she’d have walked straight through to the other side, to one of those little rooms, and sat right down on one of those little chairs and I would have seen, I swear to God, the Roman women talking to my mother, beauty to beauty, infinitely beautiful, forever. She stood staring at the cubicula for such a long, long time. After that she found a bench.

“You okay?” I asked her, and that’s the thing: She didn’t answer and she was honest, and why didn’t I notice, why did I say, right after that: “Dad’s probably packing; we should go.”

“Honey,” she said, “remember this. Remember how alive we are now.” I do remember, and that’s what I mean: In Barcelona there are ghosts.

Isn't that beautiful? And actually getting to visit myself gave the whole passage so much more meaning.

Ok, now a couple more views of Barcelona.

Here's a photo of a fire baton twirler on the beach (I used a slow shutter speed and no flash).

A photo of a very colorful chimney from Gaudi's Casa Batllo - well worth the 16.50 Euro entrance fee.

Lastly, an ad for THE STRAIN that I saw all over in the subway - looks like it is getting a big push in Spain.

New York City in Books

I still have a couple more NYC posts in me, and today I wanted to give a quick shout out to some of the books I used as reference for my trip.

First up, the full color New York City guide 2009 from Fodor's. I didn't get this in time to actually plan my trip with it, but I did browse through while I was there. It is organized by area and provides a great overview of things to do as well as places to stay, eat and shop. There is a nice balance of information and entertainment in the writing and I especially enjoyed the "close up" features such as the one on the history of Times Square. I will definitely use this to plan my next trip!

At BEA, I grabbed a copy of Lonely Planet's New York City Encounter, which claims to allow you to discover twice the city in half the time. It is a small format, 280 pager that can be easily carried with you when you are out and about. Organized by neighborhood, it presents a few must-sees as well as some "hidden gems". No listing for The Strand bookstore, so it loses some points with me. I liked the interviews with NYC residents and would have like to have seen more of these.

Speaking of The Strand, we picked up a copy of the classic children's picture book This is New York by M. Sasek. It give a lot of fun stats about NYC then and now such as how many elevators operate in the city, how many churches there are, and how many miles of streets need to be policed (6,000 miles). I love the illustrations - especially of the squirrels in Central Park.

We also bought a copy of the recently released A Walk in New York by Salvatore Rubbino. In it, a father and son spend a day in Manhattan starting in Grand Central Station and moving downtown visiting The New York Public Library, The Empire State Building and Union Square Park (all places I visited as well). It's both fun and full of interesting trivia.

What are your favorite NYC guidebooks or books set in NYC? I'd love some recommendations!

Lisbon and OFFF Design Conference Highlights

I was in Lisbon last week for 4 days of sightseeing and 3 days of the OFFF design conference featuring some of the world’s leading designers including Stefan Sagmeister (best known for carving text into his body with a knife for a poster about suffering for your art), Paula Scher (amazing corporate identities), Joshua Davis (the most purely entertaining speaker), and Kyle Cooper (creator of over 150 movie titles including Gattaca, the remake of Dawn of the Dead, and Seven).

Sightseeing highlights included the Lisbon Aquarium (Oceanario de Lisboa), Lisbon Barrio Alto (where we had our apartment and drank 10 year old tawny port wine most evenings), the Botanical Garden in Belem, Roca Cape Cliffs (the western most point of continental Europe) and Historic Sintra (a UNESCO World Heritage site) including Pena Palace, Pena Park, and Sintra National Palace.

Sagmeister was the biggest highlight for me at the OFFF. He came out wearing a swingy dress over jeans and immediately launched into a story about being at an aquarium and seeing a perverted fish. He talked about happiness and what makes him happy as a designer. He also talked about his project Things I Have Learned In My Life So Far which includes a series of art installations, a book (pictured at left, and yes I own it and enjoy looking through it), and a website where users can upload their own life lessons. He also introduced the logo and corporate design he developed for La Casa de Musica in Porto, Portugal as well as some furniture he is designing while on his one year sabbatical in Bali.

Paula Scher introduced some of her recent projects including the new corporate identities for MoMA and the New York City Ballet. Another highlight was the customized LED newsticker she developed for the Bloomsburg building.

Former professional skateboarder Joshua Davis uses programming tools like Bezier curves and perlin noise to create his colorful designs. He leapt all over the stage during his presentation and talked about his work and inspirations with such a high energy level, I couldn’t take my eyes off him. He said he’s been recently inspired by Spanish and Portuguese tiles (such as the ones found in Sintra), Japanese wallpaper, and WWII airplane, especially the leopard print Italian planes (quote: “We go to war, but we go BEAUTIFUL”).

Kyle Cooper introduced many of the main title sequences he’s done for feature films with his former agency Imaginary Forces and his new agency Prologue. He told little stories about each one. My favorite was that for the Mimic titles, a woman from an animal protection agency was paid $500 a day to make sure he didn’t impale any bugs!

Digital Kitchen is another agency that does main title sequences, mainly for television. They did Dexter, House and True Blood, among others. They screened the titles for True Blood and then spent the hour talking about the making of. Apparently the baptism scene was filmed in a lake infested with snakes.

PES showed us many of the innovative short films he does in stop motion animation. I really liked the film where a peanut is drowning in a sea of peanut butter and his film Western Spaghetti where he used everyday objects in place of food (butter = post it notes, sea salt = googly eyes, boiling water = bubble wrap, dry spaghetti = pixie sticks, cooked spaghetti = rubber bands). Go to eatPES.com to watch all the videos. Totally worth it!

Multitouch Barcelona showed their Human Interaction box and Guten Touch - an interactive wall where you can play Space Invaders by throwing rubber balls at the screen (I tried this and failed miserably). They also talked about twitter, saying WARNING: Twittering a moment may reduce your enjoyment of the moment. Ha, ha. So true.

Karsten Schmidt from Toxi introduced socialcollider.net, an online tool which reveals cross-connections between conversations on Twitter. He also talked about Faber Finds, a fully automated print on demand service from publisher Faber + Faber that prints unique covers for out-of-print books.

Jason Bruges Studio showed some interative stuff he's developing for the 2012 London Olympics, such as Fast, Faster, Fastest, an installation that lets you run against the moving world record line.

Champagne Valentine mentioned their upcoming show about the Facebook/Internet stalking phenomenon called My Lover the Server which will premiere in Amsterdam and then travel to other international cities.

There were a bunch of other speakers as well, but those were the highlights for me.

And now, here are a couple of pictures.

Roca Cape Cliffs

Pena Palace in the mist

Book Review: Shadow of Colossus by T.L. Higley + 5 of my Rhodes memories

The year is 227 B.C., shortly before the earthquake occurs that destroys The Colossus of Rhodes, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Tessa of Delos has been enslaved 10 long years as a hetaera (a Greek courtesan) to the island's most powerful men, and she wants nothing more than to end her life. But when her current owner's rival plots to take over the island, Tessa is drawn into a web of political intrigue as well as an unlikely romance with a stranger (who just might find a way to finally set her free).

My stepmother read this last September and she liked it so much, I just bought her the newly released book 2 in the Seven Wonders series about the Pyramids at Giza called CITY OF THE DEAD.

The story and the character interaction held my interest well enough, but the real star of this show was the setting - and the fact that I was actually in Rhodes while reading this. Although all traces of the Colossus are long gone, I did visit the harbour area and Jewish quarter where a lot of the action takes place.

SHADOW OF COLOSSUS is available in paperback now.

So now I can finally share a few "highlights" from my Rhodes trip (one for each day I was there).

1. Most memorable was my friend Heather driving our rental car into the sand on the beach and getting stuck. We didn't panic though. Soon enough, a whole group of Greek men was helping us try to dig it out and pushing with all their might. When that didn't work, a man with a tow-line was called in and our car was pulled to safety. My other friend Tracy has a ton of pictures which I hope to be given one of these days (hint, hint!).

2. My sightseeing highlight was walking along the wall that surrounds Rhodes Old Town. You get great views of the city and the ocean, and it just feels cool to walk around on something so ancient.

3. I also very much enjoyed just walking through the tiny, winding alleys of both Rhodes Old Town and Lindos Old Town. There are a ton of cute little shops and restaurants with very friendly yet polite propriators.

4. We visited a couple of very nice beaches as well that were practically empty. The water was too cold for me to swim (though Heather took a dip) but the sun was warm (and shining - unlike Frankfurt) and the general atmosphere was very relaxing. Low season rules!

5. I think I mentioned that the food was amazing. There wasn't one thing I put in my mouth that I didn't just want to rave about. Rhodes is known for its delicious Thyme flavored honey and let me tell you, the resulting baklava is to die for.

Rhodes Update

If you've been wondering where I've been the past couple of days...I'm on the Greek Island of Rhodes with two friends. We are enjoying beautiful weather, culture, nature and food! Since it isn't high season, we have the place practically to ourselves too. So far, we've had amazing fresh fish (I had the best swordfish I've ever eaten) and Greek traditional dishes. We've been to some lovely beaches (although the water is too cold for me to want to swim in it), and visited some ruins. Our hotel is modern and comfortable in a tranquil setting. We have a nice loungy area next to an infinity pool that looks over the ocean. The best part is the in-room window whirlpool bathtubs where you can see and be seen. We've seen several exhibitionist bathing in their window baths. It is Europe after all! Internet access is highway robbery though, so I won't be online much until Wednesday. See you then!

Books I'm reading here:

Radiant Darkness by Emily Whitman (All about Persephone and the Greek myth)
Shadow of Colossus by T.L. Higley (Set in ancient Rhodes!)
The Lonely Planet's Greek Islands guide

Book Review: Turning Japanese by Cathy Yardley + 13 of my own Japan memories

29 year old Lisa lives a comfortable life. She has a decent, if boring job, supportive friends and family, and a boyfriend she plans to marry. But Lisa’s life is turned upside down when she wins a contest to be an intern at a Japanese Manga publishing house for a year – in Tokyo. Does she dare to dream of a more fulfilled life doing something she is passionate about?

I am very impressed with how well Turning Japanese works as a character study. At the start of the novel, it is clear that Lisa is stuck in a rut. She’s letting others dictate her life choices, even to the point that she goes to Japan because her boyfriend wants her out of his hair so he can study for his MBA in peace. She’s never been adventurous, doesn’t like to travel, and mopes around Tokyo for weeks once she gets there.

But a funny thing happens once she is forced to make her own decisions – she discovers she actually likes having a say in her life. This frustrates not only her Japanese colleagues who value following orders to the letter but also her old friends and her boyfriend who aren’t used to an independent Lisa. I really enjoyed seeing her blossom and grow a backbone.

The setting is also highly entertaining, especially for someone like me who has lived in Japan and knows something about the peculiarities of the Japanese culture. So despite a slow start and an initial exasperation with Lisa’s passive and whiny personality, I found myself cheering for her in her quest to make the most of her internship and fulfill her dreams against all odds, cultural and personal. And I turned the last page with a very satisfied smile.

Turning Japanese will be released in paperback on Tuesday, April 14th.

Since I know you all love them, here are a few of my own Japanese memories:

1. Slept on a futon for the whole nine months I was in Japan on a University exchange program in Fukuoka. I had to roll it up every day and put it in the closet because it took up my whole little tatami mat room.

2. Had a teacher who said at the end of term, “I give you all As. We part as friends.” That kind of summed up how easy Japanese University classes are.

3. Bought Asahi beer from vending machines on the street. It is still my favorite brand of beer.

4. Wore a real kimono for my “graduation” from the international program. Even with professional help, it took over an hour for me to get dressed.

5. Started learning Nihon-buyo (Japanese traditional dance) but discovered quickly I didn’t have the necessary patience. I always wanted to break out into Latin dance moves.

6. Which I did get the chance to do because a friend was a translator for the Blue Note, a jazz club in Fukuoka. When a Cuban acapella band performed, we went out dancing with them afterwards until after dawn. They were amazing dancers!

7. Gave private English lessons to several clients, including a 13 year old girl who only responded to yes or no questions. We became pen pals after I left and she wrote me the cutest letters ever. Her parents always gave me “gift melons” called so because they cost $30 apiece, way too much for one to justify buying it for oneself.

8. Went bowling about once a week. Once got 6 strikes in a row and had the whole alley full of Japanese cheering for me. Ended up with my highest score ever – 198.

9. Visited Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara, Nagasaki and several smaller towns on Kyushu Island. I would have loved to have done more sightseeing, but travelling within Japan was prohibitively expensive.

10. Performed A LOT of karaoke. Mostly in smaller, private rooms in groups of Japanese friends who insisted I sing The Spice Girls. Once on a yacht where we were served shabu shabu.

11. Sat next to a sumo wrestler on a train.

12. Once dropped a large bill on the ground and had a Japanese man run after me to give it back. I felt so safe there, even walking down dark alleys in the middle of the night.

13. Was woken up every morning at 3 am by the bosozoku driving by and revving their motorcycles. The police followed behind blaring orders to cease and desist through a microphone.

13 more of my own European memories

Last weekend I shared 13 of my European memories in my review of Maureen Johnson's 13 Little Blue Envelopes. It was so popular, I decided to share 13 more:

1. Relaxed on a deserted black sand beach in Iceland and watched puffins play in the surf.

2. Went to a nude beach in Noordwijk aan Zee, Netherlands. Because of my delicate skin, I covered up after about 15 minutes. It was disconcerting to see whole families hanging around nude together.

3. Backed our rental car up and got stuck on a ledge in Ireland. Fortunately, some friendly Irish folk stopped and helped us break free. We were frightened the rest of the trip that we’d have to pay a big fee to the rental car company, but they didn’t even bat an eye when they saw it.

4. Visited a church decorated entirely with human skulls in Poland.

5. Got on the wrong train to Brasov in Romania. The train we boarded was the slow, old train that didn’t have any internal lighting. When we went through the various tunnels, the train car was pitch black!

6. Heard that the USS John F. Kennedy aircraft carrier was on a port visit in Benidorm, Spain. I was with a group of girls from Texas that flirted their way into a tour from a pilot. He showed us around and even invited us to lunch in the officer’s mess hall.

7. Got a private tour of a luxury cruise ship in Stockholm, Sweden from a friend who worked on one for a summer job.

8. Was invited by a Finnish family in Tampere, Finland to hang out in their sauna and drink wine. I’ve never seen so much wine consumed in my life!

9. Got my wallet stolen on the Greek island of Samos on my first evening there. Didn’t let it ruin my week though. We just went hiking a lot and only spent money on (incredibly delicious) evening meals.

10. Ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches while enjoying the scenery of Lysefjord from Preikestolen, Norway. We camped out in tents and played Euchre under the stars.

11. Went to a cave monastery in Moldova that was filled with churchgoers that looked straight out of the middle ages.

12. Experienced the communist mentality first hand at a post office in Riga, Latvia. None of the four employees were with customers or otherwise busy, but they wouldn’t acknowledge me until I got a number.

13. Took advantage of the free bicycles in Copenhagen to ride around town and visit The Little Mermaid statue. The cobblestones ensure that you hobble around afterwards though!

Book Review: 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson + 13 of my own European memories

In a reader’s poll last month, I asked all of you which book with travel as a main element I should read next. 13 LITTLE BLUE ENVELOPES was the clear winner.

What's it about? Well, Ginny’s aunt sends her 13 envelopes that she has to open one by one, following the directions in each before she can move on to the next one. The first one tells her to fly to London. What surprises will the others hold?

I thought the novel captured the rather arbitrary nature of travel well – how mood, weather, and people you encounter end up shaping your itinerary and experiences. At first I was kind of frustrated with Ginny, how she followed her aunt’s instructions to a T, even if it meant leaving a place before she even saw much of anything. But then I just kind of went with the flow. Ginny’s aunt wouldn’t let her bring guidebooks with her so I guess she didn’t know what tourist haunts she was missing out on anyway (other than the obvious ones, of course, like the Eiffel Tower). She also wasn’t allowed to have a camera – an instruction that helped Ginny really live in the moment instead of worrying about capturing every little thing for posterity. Ultimately, most of Ginny’s journey felt quite authentic, despite a few things that seemed a bit implausible. It was an entertaining read and reminded me a lot of my own first trip to Europe.

The summer I turned 21, I went to Europe with my dad and brothers for 3 weeks, followed by a month of Eurailing with my best friend, Margaret. In honor of the 13 little blue envelopes, here are 13 of my European experiences from that trip:

1. While looking for the metro in Prague (is there a metro? I’m still not sure), we tapped some guys on the shoulder to ask directions. They turned around and were the palest, most vampire-looking guys I’ve ever seen. One guy leaned over and kissed Margaret and then both walked away. When I asked why she let him kiss her, she said “I thought he wanted to smell me”.

2. Also in Prague…we didn’t know how to get to the castle so we decided to follow a tour group. It turned out to be a youth choir from Basque Spain. They noticed us and invited us into their group so that not only did we get in all the sights free, we also got to hear them sing in a variety of locations.

3. In Salzburg, Margaret made me go on the Sound of Music tour even though I’d never seen the movie. We saw fields (“The fields where they danced!”), a tree lined avenue (“That’s where they played in the trees!”), and a gazebo (“That’s where the Nazi guy kissed the 16 going on 17 girl!”).

4. Also in Salzburg, we bought Apple Strudel and then watched as birds descended on our table and carried it away.

5. In Vienna, we arrived at midnight, without a place to stay because all the hostels were full. We decided we’d stay up all night in a bar. We quickly discovered that Vienna has no nightlife. So we thought we’d spend the night outside…until a rollerblading local asked us why we weren’t scared of getting raped. We immediately checked into a hotel, blowing our budget, and ensuring we’d be eating only bread for the next week.

6. Except that the next day, as a joke, we took a picture of a group of Asian men in front of a statue of Johann Strauss. They turned out to be high ranking officials in the Thai government and they treated us to a five star dinner.

7. In Paris, we ran up all the stairs of the Eiffel Tower and back down. Twice. Then we went to Disneyland and later slept on the floor of a church.

8. In Arhus, Denmark we stayed at the Arhus City Sleep-in (even the hostels were out of our price range) and met a host of colorful characters including a drunk who often fell off his bunk, a Russian guy who drank all our bottled water without asking, and a Danish girl who took us out on midsummer’s night eve. At some point, we ran into her ex-boyfriend, who pulled a knife on her, so we ran through the cobbled streets until we lost them.

9. In Amsterdam, we stayed with a friend and spent most of our stay bicycling around and bar hopping like locals. One evening our friend had to work, so we went to her favorite bar and were telling some guys how we didn’t feel like we were tourists. At that moment, the barkeep came over and told us there was a phone call for me. It was like a scene from a movie – and the guys were duly impressed.

10. In Rome, we met a guy at the Colesseum who told us he was a psychic and he knew we wanted to see the remains of St. Peter (which we did!). So he led us there and then mysteriously disappeared. He was like a travel angel.

11. Also in Rome, drank out of the fountain in front of the Spanish Steps. And didn’t die.

12. We joined up with a church group and became counselors for a camp in Switzerland. The hot water in the showers only worked for about 5 minutes at 5 am every morning.

13. Had my baseball cap fly off while atop the William Wallace (Braveheart) monument in Scotland. Which is just as well, since baseball caps, tennis shoes and t-shirts with slogans on them scream “Tourist!”

How about you? Any adventures you want to share?

Library Thing Tuesday (9)

This week's question:

Since we're past the Fourth of July and the summer season has officially started, what are your plans for the summer? Vacations, trips? Trips that involve reading? Reading plans? If you're going somewhere, do you do any reading to prepare? Do you read local literature as part of your trip? Have you thought about using the LT Local feature to help plan your book-buying?

My answer:

I don't have many exotic plans for the summer actually. We'll be attending a wedding in Berlin over Labor Day. Then, in September, my father and stepmother are coming over to Europe and we'll be driving to France together. He has bought the DK Eyewitness Travel books to France and Paris, as well as a Streetwise Paris map. So we've been looking through those in our planning. I do like reading local literature, or books set in the country or place I'm visiting, in preparation for my trips. Here are a few of my favorites:

Before I went to Burma, I read The Glass Palace: A Novel by Amitav Ghosh. It is a historical novel set partly in Burma and it gave a good feel for the history, culture and environment of the area. Plus it is a really great story. I also picked up Twilight Over Burma: My Life as a Shan Princess by Inge Sargent.

In preparation for my trip to the Republic of Georgia (a gorgeous country by the way), I read Journalist Wendell Stevenson's Stories I Stole, a collection of her impressions of the country. I so liked her description of the bizzare Stalin museum in his hometown of Gori, that I had to stop by for a visit myself.

A couple of weeks before I travelled to Iceland, I chanced upon Zane Radcliffe's thriller The Killer's Guide to Iceland. The atmosphere is very authentic. The twisty plot and interesting characters elevate what could have been a more run-of-the-mill cross between a travelogue and mystery novel.