I approached the Front Table this month thinking I’d see the beginnings of the summer blockbuster publishing blast: a Maeve Binchy, a Carol Higgins Clark, maybe even a new Dan Brown. Instead I found a selection of interesting non-fiction and two intriguing novels by first-time authors. And all of them would make great “pre-trip” reading for your summer travels.
Planning to take advantage of the improved exchange rates with a trip to France this summer? Eiffel’s Tower by Jill Jonnes offers not only the back story on the construction of Paris’ iconic landmark but a social history of the era that produced it. Built as the centerpiece of the 1889 World’s Fair, the tower was an engineering marvel, the tallest structure in the world although the design was immediately reviled by a society on the brink of the modernist revolution. The fair was a showcase of all that was new with art represented by still controversial impressionists like Gaugin and Whistler and technology on display with Thomas Edison’s phonograph as well as Otis’ elevators in the tower itself. Jonnet’s prose is full of the same vibrant energy that typified the fair and the time. This is a wonderful way to learn about the Belle Epoque France that still so influences French identity. ($27.95)
If your European travels will take you further south, take a ride with Matthew Fort in Sweet Honey, Bitter Lemons: Travels in Sicily on a Vespa. These days a well-known food writer for Britain’s The Guardian, Fort originally traveled through Sicily with his brother in 1973. Considerably older now and hopefully wiser, he decided to retrace some of his steps and take some new ones, seeing the changes thirty odd years makes in a place we often think of as unchanging. The glorious food of the island was a central theme of both journeys, and we are treated to entertaining explorations into the relative merits of the sausages of rival villages and the million varieties of honey-sweetened pastries. Fortunately, he also includes recipes. As in his previous book, Eating up Italy, Fort captures our Italian fantasy trip with sunshine, history, a hip little Vespa scooter and fantastic food. ($24.95)
Hungary doesn’t seem the obvious choice for a first novel setting by a Brooklyn-born, Atlanta resident but Marc Fitten’s move to Eastern Europe as a twenty-something student has given him wonderful material for Valeria’s Last Stand. Set in a small village so far off the beaten path that World War II passed it by unnoticed, the novel centers on the late life romance between the spinster Valeria, a feisty character who thrives on her neighbor’s scorn while growing the area’s most perfect vegetables, and the widowed potter. As one would expect in a small town, the intimate relations of long-time neighbors add complications to the romance but love wins over all. Fitten uses the ancient traditions of the folk tale to tell his story, giving it a ring of authenticity, bringing in the iconic characters one would expect to meet in such a village. This is a sweet, funny, earthy look at a culture that deserves the attention. ($24.00)
Anyone traveling to Turkey or the Middle East or Central Asia or even Indonesia should consider reading Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World through Islamic Eyes by Tamim Ansary. Most of us raised in the Western educational system got only the most glancing view of the history of the great Islamic empires, often in a slightly disparaging way. Ansary’s book begins with Mohammed and his immediate successors, moves on to the concept of caliphates (quick, define caliphate for me) and then tells of the Moguls, the Selcuks, and other great Islamic civilizations that many Americans know very little about. He also explains how little most of those societies knew or cared about European history and how that has lead to much of our current situation of mutual misunderstanding and disrespect. Written in simple, readable language, this quick overview of Islamic history gives us a fuller understanding of our world. ($26.95)
For those of you who would prefer not to be tied to any particular spot on the planet, there’s another eat your way around the world book on the Front Table this month. What makes this one worth reading? Well, Simon Majumdar is part of that new phenomenon, the blogger turned published author. His new book, Eat My Globe, grew out of the blog he and his brother write that mostly reviews London restaurants. As Majumdar explains in the prologue, his entire family are foodies of the most extreme kind and his personal mantra is “go everywhere, eat everything.” Sounds good to me. With support from the bloggo-verse, the author did just that, he went everywhere he could think of and ate whatever was most typical, most highly recommended or just plain weird enough to be interesting. Chapters are short, breezy, funny, and completely food centered. I admit, I’ve already made notes of the restaurants he visited in Buenos Aires. ($26.00)
And finally, my favorite of the bunch, the cross country road trip as whimsically presented in another first novel, The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet by Reif Larsen. Tecumseh Sparrow Spivet (I’m already sold just from the name) is a precocious twelve-year-old living on a ranch in Montana with his scientist mother and cowboy father. He obsessively chronicles everything in his life in “maps,” drawings that depict everything from the layout of his bedroom to the path of a working dung beetle, many of which are presented in the margins with T.S.’s explanatory notes. Awarded a prize by the Smithsonian, he hops a freight train and heads to Washington D.C.to collect it, a trip that inspires deep philosophizing on the nature of man, travel, destiny and the world. This is an inventive and entertaining novel with a charming main character. I’d take this one over a new Dan Brown any time. ($27.95)
Enjoy the start of the sunny months!
