Other books that might interest you

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  The Lady in the Palazzo - At...

  Marlena de Blasi

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  From village feasts and rustic tavernas to ancient piazzas and moonlit balconies, the smells and tastes and sounds and soul of Umbria come alive in bestselling author Marlena de Blasi's evocative memoir.By turns romantic and sensual, joyous and celebratory, touching and humorous, Marlena de Blasi's account of moving with her husband, Fernando, to Orvieto, the largest city in Italy's Umbria, will appeal to anyone who delights in travel and shares the fantasy of beginning a new life in a very different place.  It is a tale of the couple's search for the right home-which turns out to be the former ballroom of a fifteenth=-century palazzo-and the right balance in their lives, in this case making friends of cooks, counts, shepherds, and a lone violinist.  It is a tale, too, of an American woman finding her niche in a society bound by tradition and seemingly closed to outsiders.With a voice full of wonder, de Blasi brings to life these engagingly quirky people and the aloof, almost daunting society that exists in Umbria.  Not since Peter Mayle's A Year in Provence has a writer so convincingly captures the essence of a singular place and created a feast for readers of all stripes."Vivid writing and an affectionate appreciation of the sounds, scenes and flavors of Italy."-Publishers Weekly

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  That's China - A British...

  Mark Kitto

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  'One of the better known foreign entrepreneurs of his generation in China.' New York Times 
  In his bestselling debut, 'China Cuckoo', Mark Kitto described how he 'lost a fortune and found a life in China'. In 'That's China', the thrilling prequel, he tells the story of how he made that fortune. For seven roller-coaster years Kitto outwitted competitors and jealous partners to build the most profitable and popular English language publishing business in China since 1949. 
  To the Chinese Communist Party, media is state-owned propaganda. No individuals, let alone foreigners, will ever have a stake in it. 
  No foreigner in modern times has come so close to the heart of the Chinese propaganda machine on his own terms. Not even Rupert Murdoch. 
  Told with Kitto's trademark self-deprecating humour and unsettling honesty, 'That's China' is a rare thing, a business saga that will have you on the edge of your seat all the way to the final showdown; in the highest law court in China. 
  'Mark Kitto beat the odds' Sunday Times

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  The Lost Pianos of Siberia

  Sophy Roberts

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  Siberia’s story is traditionally one of exiles, penal colonies, and unmarked graves. Yet there is another tale to tell.
  
  Dotted throughout this remote land are pianos―grand instruments created during the boom years of the nineteenth century, as well as humble, Soviet-made uprights that found their way into equally modest homes. They tell the story of how, ever since entering Russian culture under the westernizing influence of Catherine the Great, piano music has run through the country like blood.
  
  How these pianos traveled into this snow-bound wilderness in the first place is a testament to noble acts of fortitude by governors, adventurers, and exiles. Siberian pianos have accomplished extraordinary feats, from the instrument that Maria Volkonsky, wife of an exiled Decembrist revolutionary, used to spread music east of the Urals to those that brought reprieve to the Soviet Gulag. That these instruments might still exist in such a hostile landscape is remarkable. That they are still capable of making music in far-flung villages is nothing less than a miracle.
  
  The Lost Pianos of Siberia is largely a story of music in this fascinating place, following Roberts on a three-year adventure as she tracks a number of different instruments to find one whose history is definitively Siberian. Her journey reveals a desolate land inhabited by wild tigers and deeply shaped by its dark history, yet one that is also profoundly beautiful―and peppered with pianos.

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  Voices of the Old Sea

  Norman Lewis

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  A memoir of a remote Spanish fishing village just after WWII, a community on the brink of change, by “the finest travel writer of the last century” (The New Yorker). Seeking solace in the everyday after his World War II army service, travel writer Norman Lewis returns to his beloved Spain, to the fishing village of Farol, in the hopes of recapturing a lost sense of home. It is a place he knows better than his native England, and he finds the Spanish countryside “still as nostalgically backward-looking as ever, still magnificent, still invested with all its ancient virtues and ancient defects.” He spends three seasons as a fisherman, basking in the simplicity of village customs. Lovingly written and richly evocative, Voices of the Old Sea is an absorbing look at a centuries-old lifestyle in its final days, as the tide of modernization threatens to change it forever.

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  Among The Faithful - Tunisia in...

  Dahris Martin

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  Dahris Martin, a young American in search of sun, arrived in the holy city of Kairouan in the late 1920s. Befriended by the roguish Kalifa, she is welcomed into his circle of friends and family. Among the Faithful is a unique portrait of traditional Tunisian society. It tells of barefoot pilgrims and bedouin, the deflowering of virgin brides, spirit possession and dances held for djinn. It sings the praises of the unsung: Eltifa the blind musician, Zinibe (who had a heart for all the world) and the entrancing, dancing Aisha. Dahris Martin witnessed domestic life in Tunisia from within, a privilege she shares without pretension, with affection and with a sure lightness of touch.

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  Ghosts of Georgetown

  Tim Krepp

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  Take the Exorcist Steps to meet “the diverse array of ghosts” in DC’s historic neighborhood—from the author of Capitol Hill Haunts (The Hoya).   On the banks of the Potomac River, Georgetown has had three centuries to accumulate ghoulish tales and venerable apparitions to haunt its cobbled streets and mansions. In this historic Washington, DC, neighborhood, the eerie moans of three sisters herald every death on the river, and on R Street, President Lincoln is rumored to have witnessed the paranormal at a seance. Along the towpath of the C&O Canal, a phantom police officer still walks his lonely beat, and on moonlit nights, he is joined by a razor-wielding ghoul. From the spirit of a sea captain who lingers in the Old Stone House to the strange ambiance of the Exorcist Steps, author and guide Tim Krepp takes readers on a chilling journey through the ghostly lore of Georgetown.   Includes photos!   “A great storyteller who, with a confident grasp of the facts and judiciously inserted asides, can bring to life both the haunters and the haunted. His way of ending his chapters with—gasp!—the literary equivalent of a horror movie organ chord lends a delightfully chilling touch.” —HillRag

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