Posts by Kimberly Sullivan
Book 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 MoreStretching my legs with a passeggiata in Sora, Italy
I’ve long been curious to visit the town of Sora, in Italy’s Lazio region and located in the province of Frosinone – just along the border with Abruzzo. Since it’s a little off the beaten trail from the surrounding areas I visit more often (including the wonderful Parco Nazionale d’Abruzzo), I’ve never managed to get…
Read MoreQuality over quantity – E.M. Forster
“My regret is that I haven’t written a bit more.” E.M. Forster I was surprised to read E.M. Forster’s regret – if anything, it proves that harboring regrets makes no sense. It’s true that the British writer Forster (1879-1970) only wrote six novels (one published posthumously) over his long lifetime – in addition to his…
Read MoreOslo’s National Museum of Art
On a visit to Oslo, there were three museums I wanted to visit, but I only had time for one. Therefore, the centrally-located National Museum of Art made the cut, and I have two more museums I need to see on my next trip! Oslo’s National Museum of Art is definitely worth the trip on…
Read MoreDo you often remember where you read your novels better than the books themselves?
I’ve already written a post about context reading. The concept is the same as ‘context drinking’ – how that Tuscan wine just tastes so much better when you drink it on holidays on a sunny piazza in Italy than it does when you bring it home to Peoria. When I travel I often look for…
Read MoreBigger than Versailles – the Royal palace at Caserta
I’ve already written about exploring the amazing gardens of the Reggia di Caserta. It had been years I’d been ‘ meaning to visit’, so I was thrilled to finally make it to this royal palace in Italy’s southern Campagna region. After the impressive gardens – DO do do dedicate enough time for a proper wander…
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