Wednesday, July 10, 2013

BGBW Travel Book Club

Hello Everyone! I know it's been such a long time since I've written a post. Well I'm back! I've had the idea to start a travel book club for some time now. Mainly because I read tons of travelogues and have no one to talk about them lol but also because I was first introduced to travel through books and most times when I can't get away (like now) I revert back to my childhood days of living my adventures through a book or food. This is where you all come in.

I've received some interest in this idea of mine so it's time to get things rolling. Below you will find descriptions of 3 different books compliments of goodreads.com . I'm asking that if your interested in participating in the book club that you leave a comment with which book you would like to be our first read. Of course I could just pick the book myself but I really want this to be a collaborative effort. Prospective start date would be Thursday Aug. 1st. Of course if you all would like to start sooner I'm down!

1. Crazy Rich Asians : Culture read  (My preferred pick lol)


The link below directs you to the amazon page that offers a free preview!


Crazy Rich Asians is the outrageously funny debut novel about three super-rich, pedigreed Chinese families and the gossip, backbiting, and scheming that occurs when the heir to one of the most massive fortunes in Asia brings home his ABC (American-born Chinese) girlfriend to the wedding of the season.

When Rachel Chu agrees to spend the summer in Singapore with her boyfriend, Nicholas Young, she envisions a humble family home, long drives to explore the island, and quality time with the man she might one day marry. What she doesn't know is that Nick's family home happens to look like a palace, that she'll ride in more private planes than cars, and that with one of Asia's most eligible bachelors on her arm, Rachel might as well have a target on her back. Initiated into a world of dynastic splendor beyond imagination, Rachel meets Astrid, the It Girl of Singapore society; Eddie, whose family practically lives in the pages of the Hong Kong socialite magazines; and Eleanor, Nick's formidable mother, a woman who has very strong feelings about who her son should--and should not--marry. Uproarious, addictive, and filled with jaw-dropping opulence, Crazy Rich Asians is an insider's look at the Asian JetSet; a perfect depiction of the clash between old money and new money; between Overseas Chinese and Mainland Chinese; and a fabulous novel about what it means to be young, in love, and gloriously, crazily rich


2. Wanderlust- A Love Affair with Five Continents: Travelogue (International)

 The link below directs you to the amazon page that offers a free preview!
 
 
Spanning 15 years of travel, beginning when she is a sophomore in college, Wanderlust documents Elisabeth Eaves’s insatiable hunger for the rush of the unfamiliar and the experience of encountering new people and cultures. Young and independent, she crisscrosses five continents and chases the exotic, both in culture and in romance. In the jungles of Papua New Guinea, she loses herself—literally—to an Australian tour guide; in Cairo, she reconnects with her high school sweetheart, only to discover the beginning of a pattern that will characterize her life over the long-term: while long-distance relationships work well for her, traditional relationships do not.

Wanderlust, however, is more than a chronological conquest of men and countries: at its core, it’s a journey of self-discovery. In the course of her travels, Eaves finds herself and the sense of home she’s been lacking since childhood—and she sheds light on a growing culture of young women who have the freedom and inclination to define their own, increasingly global, lifestyles, unfettered by traditional roles and conventions of past generations of women.


3. Black Girl in Paris: Travelogue

  The link below directs you to the amazon page that offers a free preview!

 
Black Girl in Paris wends its way around the mythology or Paris as a city that has called out to African-American artists. Like James Baldwin, Langston Hughes, and Josephine Baker before her, Youngblood's heroine leaves her home, in the American South, nurturing a dream of finding artistic emancipation in the City of Light. She experiments freely, inhabiting different incarnations - artist's model, poet's helper, au pair, teacher, thief, and lover - to keep body and soul together, to stay afloat, heal the wounds of her broken heart, discover her sexual self, and, finally, to wrestle her dreams of becoming a writer into reality.
 
That's it people! Comment below!