Are you looking for some place ... different to go on your next vacation? Or, do you enjoy reading about unusual places? Either way, Atlas Obscura: an Explorer's Guide to the World's Hidden Wonders, by Joshua Foer, Dylan Thuras & Ella Morton should be of interest to you. In the Canary Islands, distance communication was done by whistling! To keep it from dying out it's now taught in the elementary schools. There's a vertically floating log in Crater Lake in Oregon that's been there since at least 1896. In Montana you'll find the last large, concrete arrow that was an aid to the early days of air mail service. You'll find a jail were the cells rotate (not so good if there's a fire), and a road so deadly and treacherous it's become a tourist destination. Like ice cream? How about flavors such as Smoked Trout, Asparagus, or Fried Pork Rinds? The short entries make this easy to pick up and put down.

Do you enjoy those period movies, tv shows and books set in the past? Victorian England, perhaps? Think it would be nice to live in that lovely era of beautiful clothing and elegant manners? Think again! Therese Oneill tells the truth of what it would really be like for a woman to live then in Unmentionable: the Victorian Ladies Guide to Sex, Marriage, & Manners. Read what it was like to dress each morning, how to deal with growing up and all the changes therein, how to set a proper table ... and how to seat a proper table. ;-) The subtleties are many and extremely important. Even walking down the street (which really, you shouldn't do) is full of strict protocol. Interesting and entertaining, but if I wasn't glad I live now (and I was) then I really am now!!

Did you read the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books when you were young? Or The Egg and I, all about a chicken ranch on Vashon Island? Paula Becker did, and loved them but was surprised to discover there was no biography of the author! She decided to rectify that with Looking for Betty MacDonald: the Egg, the Plague, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, and I. It's a wonderful, thoughtful and extremely well researched book. (Check out the bibliography)! She visited every place that MacDonald had lived, scoured newspaper archives, historical collections in libraries, and took many road trips. (Her kids started asking "Is that a Betty house?")

Reading Hermit With Dog