Category Archives: Travel Guides
The Year of Eating Dangerously
Tired of the bland, processed pap served up in supermarkets and identikit restaurants across the UK, food writer Tom Parker Bowles embarks on a picaresque global odyssey in search of culinary extremes. The first to admit he has a timid tummy, Tom eschews the Michelin-starred restaurants he`s grown accustomed to and seeks out the most
Forza Italia
When journalist Paddy Agnew and his girlfriend Dympna touched down in Rome in 1985 in search of adventure, sunshine and the soul of Italian football (well, Paddy was looking for that), they were travelling into the uncharted terrain of a country they did not know and a language they did not speak. It soon became
Join Me
Danny Wallace was bored. Just to see what would happen, he placed a whimsical ad in a local London paper. It said, simply, `Join Me`. Within a month, he was receiving letters and emails from teachers, mechanics, sales reps, vicars, schoolchildren and pensioners – all pledging allegiance to his cause. But no one knew what
Yes Man
I, Danny Wallace, being of sound mind and body, do hereby write this manifesto for my life. I swear I will be more open to opportunity. I swear I will live my life taking every available chance. I will say Yes to every favour, request, suggestion and invitation. I WILL SWEAR TO SAY YES WHERE
Friends Like These
Danny Wallace is about to turn thirty and his life has become a cliche. Recently married and living in a smart new area of town, he`s swapped pints down the pub for lattes and brunch. For the first time in his life, he`s feeling, well …grown-up. But something`s not right. Something`s missing. Until he finds
Googlewhack
If someone called you a `googlewhack` what would you do? Would you end up playing table tennis with a nine year-old boy in Boston? Would you find yourself in Los Angeles wrangling snakes, or would you go to China to be licked by a performance artist? If your name is Dave Gorman, then all of
Tick Bite Fever
Tick Bite Fever is the unconventional memoir of a very unconventional childhood. In the early Seventies, Dave Bennun`s family transplanted themselves from Swindon to the wilds of Kenya. His father, who was a doctor, had lived in Africa before (but had felt it expedient to leave when the South African government realised he was carting
Luberon Garden
`The rollicking adventures of an English garden designer in Provence` Independent `Escapist reading-magic` The TimesAlex Dingwall-Main left London with his wife and dog nine years ago for the Luberon region of the South of France. A landscape gardener of international renown he was in search of a challenge – a new climate, a new way
Cider With Roadies
Cider with Roadies is the true story of a boy`s obsessive relationship with pop. A life lived through music from Stuart`s audience with the Beatles (aged 3); his confessions as a pubescent prog rocker; a youthful gymnastic dalliance with northern soul; the radical effects of punk on his politics, homework and trouser dimensions; playing in
The Vine Garden
What happens when you relocate to the perfect house, in the perfect village in Provence, and nearly ten years later the shine has gone? Garden designer Alex Dingwall-Main is facing lavender fatigue, strife at home, neighbourly warfare and non-paying business clients. He is on the verge of packing his bags and starting all over again,
The Weekenders
What would happen if you took some of Britain`s best writing talent, put them on a plane and flew them to one of the most extraordinary and inaccessible places on the planet? What would happen if you took Irvine Welsh from the streets of Edinburgh and showed him a remote, dangerous village in Africa? What
The End of The Line
We have reached a pivotal moment for fishing, with seventy-five percent of the world`s fish stocks either fully exploited or overfished. If nothing is done to stop the squandering of fish stocks the life of the oceans will face collapse and millions of people could starve. Fish is the aspirational food for Western society, the
One Hit Wonderland
It`s 1988 and radios across the land blast out the Top Ten hit `Stutter Rap` by Morris Minor and the Majors. The man behind the fake moustache is Tony Hawks. Fast forward to the 21st century and those heady days of pop stardom are a distant memory. That is, until it is suggested that Tony
Travels With Macy
After a thirty-year career as a high profile vet, columnist, presenter and author Bruce Fogle – the UK`s bestselling cat & dog writer – decided to leave urban Britain and take a journey with his dog Macy. Travelling in the footsteps of the great American novelist John Steinbeck, who published Travels with Charley – his
Touching My Fathers Soul
A book of adventure, wisdom and spiritual enlightenment. Touching My Father`s Soul recounts Tenzing`s son, Jamling Norgay`s treacherous climb to the world`s most forbidding summit. As retold in Krakauer`s Into This Air, the 1996 IMAX climbing expedition collided with tragedy. As the climb unfolds so too does Norgay`s inner journey. His desire to finally stand
Are You Dave Gorman ?
After a heavy night of tequila, flatmates Dave and Danny set off on what turns out to be a 24,000-mile journey to meet all the other Dave Gormans in the world. They visit Scotland, Israel, America, France and Ireland. They even hold a party in London where 50 Dave Gormans attend, including two women who
Russian Disco
Born in Moscow, Wladimir Kaminer emigrated to Berlin in the early `90s when he was 22. Russian Disco is a series of short and comic autobiographical vignettes about life among the emigres in the explosive and extraordinary multi-cultural atmosphere of `90s Berlin. It`s an exotic, vodka-fuelled millennial Goodbye to Berlin. The stories show a wonderful,
Captain Cook – Obsession and Betrayal in the New World
A uniquely woven story encompassing three separate centuries and three different lives. Captain Cook, best known for his heroic voyages through the Pacific Ocean, is brought to life in vivid detail. We follow his humble beginnings as the son of a farm labourer, through his convention-shattering treatment of the indigenous groups he met on his
Manhood
Most men don`t have a life` is the dramatic opening to Steve Biddulph`s bestseller Manhood. Exploring two critical social issues: establishing a healthy masculinity and how men can release themselves from suffocating and outdated social moulds, Biddulph addresses the problems and possibilities confronting men in their daily life. Women have found the book to be
The Angel Tree
As readers of The Luberon Garden will know, Alex Dingwall-Main has come across some very odd garden desires in his time. But none so odd as the Frenchman who asked Alex to find him the oldest olive tree in existence and fetch it to the South of France to take pride of place in his
