Other books that might interest you

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  The Aran Islands

  J. M. Synge

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  J.M. Synge, one of the greatest English language playwrites of the 20th century, immortalized the Aran Islands and its people with vivid written portraits that are among the greatest in modern literature. Synge's vibrant language and earthy themes breathtakingly capture the folklore and way of life that has since perished on these remote northen islands. As an aspiring writer in 1897, Synge was commanded by William Butler Yeats to, "Go to the Aran Islands. Live there as one of the people themselves; express a life that has never found expression." Synge captures his first four visits to the islands in this magical book. However, their influence continued to permeate his work, including The Playboy of the Western World. Filled with the exuberant energy of an artist coming into his own, The Aran Islands provides an unforgettable look at a land that holds Ireland's ancestral language, culture and uncorrupted heart. Synge's lyrical glimpses into the past, coupled with Donal Donnelly's rich, lilting voice transports listeners to these tiny Emerald Islands.

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  On a Chinese Screen

  W. Somerset Maugham

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  This is a non-fiction collection of Maugham's observations of life in Asia in the early 20th Century. (Summary by BellonaTimes)

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  A Quest for the Hidden Lands -...

  Norman Levine

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  My budding career as a literary scholar was suddenly hijacked by a singular seemingly random event. It was 1976 when I tiptoed into a tiny Buddhist shrine room in a farmhouse nestled into the Black Mountains of Wales and there beheld a Tibetan master, the 16th Karmapa, sitting on a throne performing a ceremony known as The Black Hat. My mind came to an immediate stop, suspended. It felt familiar, like the secret garden of childhood.I can still remember every detail like it was yesterday:Karmapa occupies the throne completely. He has a spiritual dignity that makes it his rightful seat, just as the lion proclaims his natural dominion. The force of his presence alone brings a hushed silence to the room. It feels like it has expanded into a cathedral. Two monks blow long Tibetan horns in a haunting wail so loud and long it startles thought patterns, blowing them away like clouds. The Karmapa slowly opens the Black Hat-box, takes the black silk crown in his hand, and puts it on his head holding it down with one hand. With the other hand he fingers a crystal rosary moving it deftly, twirling the beads around three times. The horns continue while he gazes with eyes that seem to dissolve the fiction of time and the boundaries of space. Time is standing still.That glimpse into enlightened mind became embedded like a seed and grew into a quest over the next decades to find the key places on our planet called the Hidden Lands.The legend came alive while I was living in a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in the Himalayas. I met Tibetans who had been to the supreme Hidden Land of Pemako while escaping from the Chinese invasion of Tibet. They made it sound like the ‘promised land’ with streams flowing with milky water. There were certain plants that could induce enlightenment.Why did it take decades to get there? What made the right ingredients emerge to penetrate this sacred sanctuary?  And the big question: Who hid it and why?

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  The Bowery Boys - Adventures in...

  Greg Young, Tom Meyers

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  Uncover fascinating, little-known histories of the five boroughs in The Bowery Boys’ official companion to their popular, award-winning podcast. 
   
  It was 2007. Sitting at a kitchen table and speaking into an old karaoke microphone, Greg Young and Tom Meyers recorded their first podcast. They weren’t history professors or voice actors. They were just two guys living in the Bowery and possessing an unquenchable thirst for the fascinating stories from New York City’s past. Nearly 200 episodes later, The Bowery Boys podcast is a phenomenon, thrilling audiences each month with one amazing story after the next. Now, in their first-ever book, the duo gives you an exclusive personal tour through New York’s old cobblestone streets and gas-lit back alleyways. In their uniquely approachable style, the authors bring to life everything from makeshift forts of the early Dutch years to the opulent mansions of The Gilded Age. They weave tales that will reshape your view of famous sites like Times Square, Grand Central Terminal, and the High Line. Then they go even further to reveal notorious dens of vice, scandalous Jazz Age crime scenes, and park statues with strange pasts. 
   
  Praise for The Bowery Boys 
   
  “Among the best city-centric series.” —New York Times 
   
  “Meyers and Young have become unofficial ambassadors of New York history.” —NPR 
   
  “Breezy and informative, crowded with the finest grifters, knickerbockers, spiritualists, and city builders to stalk these streets since back when New Amsterdam was just some farms.” —Village Voice 
   
  “Young and Meyers have an all-consuming curiosity to work out what happened in their city in years past, including the Newsboys Strike of 1899, the history of the Staten Island Ferry, and the real-life sites on which Martin Scorsese’s Vinyl is based.” —The Guardian

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  Peeps at Many Lands: Egypt

  R. Talbot Kelly

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  A short travelogue of Egypt, this book was written as part of an early 20th century series of travelogues on exotic destinations. (Summary by Sibella Denton).

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  Tour du Mont Blanc - The most...

  Kingsley Jones

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  Tour du Mont Blanc is the definitive guidebook for one of the most famous long-distance treks in the world. This trek circles the entire Mont Blanc massif, passing through spectacular scenery in France, Italy and Switzerland. You'll traverse high mountain passes, see stunning glaciers, pass azure lakes, wander through tranquil green valleys and alpine pastures, with snow-capped peaks visible above.
  Written by Tour du Mont Blanc expert Kingsley Jones, this guidebook includes unique customised timings to enable accurate itinerary planning for walkers, trekkers, fastpackers and trail runners, allowing you to plan your Tour du Mont Blanc at a pace to suit you.
  You'll find everything that you need to plan and undertake your Tour du Mont Blanc, including travel information, navigation, accommodation options, equipment and safety, food and drink, as well as useful extra information such as wild swimming locations and trekking tips.
  Together with amazing photography, the route includes clear and comprehensive directions, refreshments stops, accommodation and local points of interest, and is accompanied by bespoke 1:40,000-scale maps. Route variations are also included.

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