Archive for September 2017
Do you ever need a vacation from the novel you’re reading?
My true problem with reading is that I very rarely give up on a novel. It’s the same mantra I preach to my kids (with varying levels of success). However, sometimes it pays off. My kids’ generation are (sadly?) used to novels that read more like action movies – dumping them in the action in…
Read MoreSummer holidays in France’s Basque country – and beyond
Although I (admittedly) suffer from acute Wanderlust and love travelling anywhere, my main travel weakness is my status as a complete Italophile. However, as a close second, I’m also a hopeless Francophile. These two countries actually have a lot in common, with their strong regional characters that make exploring the various regions a real treat,…
Read MoreMy thoughts will be in Matera for the Women’s Fiction Festival!
I’ve spent many a happy weekend at the Matera Women’s Fiction Festival in the spectacular, southern Italian “cave” town of Matera. After a one year hiatus, the Festival will take place once again at the end of this month, but sadly without me. My inability to attend this year doesn’t mean I won’t be thinking…
Read MoreExploring Narni’s winding, medieval streets
This past summer, my track-and-field-addicted son attended a running camp in the Umbrian hill town of Narni – in central Italy. I’ve travelled a lot in Umbria, but it was my first time in this little village. Picking my son and dropping him off for his camp, I was quite envious he got to enjoy…
Read MoreBook review: Wake
Oddly, I’d had this book on my shelf for some time. I remembered it only after picking it up in French in a French bookstore and being drawn in by the story and the excellent blurbs – before realizing I shouldn’t buy it because I had the original version back home. : ) This novel…
Read MoreAt home in Guéthary, Pays Basque, France
Last week, I wrote a post about an enjoyable coastal hike we took on a family holiday to France’s Pays Basque. This week, I’ll write about the little coastal town that served as ‘home’ during our stay in France’s southwest region. Guéthary, a small town just a few kilometers south of Biarritz, made a perfect…
Read MoreWise words (learned on holidays) to face the ‘rientro’
In Italian it’s called the ‘rientro’. In French the ‘rentrée’. In America, where holidays are so stingy – if you’re allowed to take them at all – I doubt the term exists at all. If it did, it would be called ‘The Return’. Back when I worked in my own country, I wasn’t familiar with…
Read MoreHiking to Spain along France’s Pays Basque coastal trail
This past summer, I enjoyed a fabulous summer holiday to France’s Basque region (Pays basque). It was my first visit to this corner of southwestern France, bordering the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the border of Spain to the south. It was easy to fill my three weeks here with interesting places to visit,…
Read MoreBook review: The Human Flies
I bought this novel when traveling in Norway. Embarrassingly, aside from Ibsen (whom I love), I’m completely ignorant about Norwegian writers. I know Norway boasts thriller writers, such as Nesbo, who fill the book shops, but I was looking for something different and picked up this debut mystery novel by contemporary author Hans Olav Lahlum.…
Read More