City Style and Living - Spring 2008 - (Page 42)

City style & Living travel PASSPORT | BOOKCASE Most coffee table books get relegated to the tabletop and never read. The Cities Book (Raincoast Books, $62.50) is a treasure. Endlessly fascinating, the book probes the inner life of cities with meticulous detail – orphaned children in Ulaanbaatar, the furthest capital city in the world from the sea, live underneath the city in slums; Nuuk, Greenland houses the world’s biggest postbox. Though the maps provided could be more detailed, the book is a wonderful way to explore geography. Armchair travellers will feel they have toured the world. This is a book to be read and reread. www.raincoast.com 42 | SPRING 2008 | citystyleandliving.com www.amazon.ca www.rizzoliusa.com This is Rome is a captivating book and a wonderful way to forge a sense of wanderlust in young readers. Most travel begins in the imagination, and is inspired by books. This is Rome is the place to start. www.amazon.ca www.rizzoliusa.com COURTESY RAINCOAST BOOKS; RANDOM HOUSE (2) The book is in an easy to read format. Subtitles as varied as anatomy, people, defining experience, gold star and cityspeak, are used to convey information about each city. The Cities Book does not coat its observations in niceties. Instead it lays bare the rawness of each place. Every description is accompanied by photography of the atmosphere and people of the city. The Cities Book explores not just cultural monuments and demographic information, but also the vibe of a place, so difficult to capture in a travel book but so essential to its success. Of Lauang Prabang, Laos, The Cities Book says “laid-back, relaxed, cruisey, slow paced, [the citizens] avoid any undue psychological stress, choosing not to participate in any activity …unless it contains an element of múan (fun).” Recipes contained in each of the four sections – starters, pastas and risottos, main courses, desserts, adhere to the motto that “simple cuisine makes the home great.” More rustic fare including bottarga (roe), tripe and skewered and roasted eel flavor the book with an indepth touch of traditional Sardinia. To hear and understand the stories of Sardinia you need to linger and to eat, Efisio Fannis reminds us in Sweet Myrtle and Bitter Honey (Rizzoli, $49.95). Fannis’ debut cookbook intertwines memories, anecdotes, family and recipes. The title refers to two of the most ancient of Sardinian foods – miele amaro (bitter honey) made from the flowers of strawberry trees and sweet myrtle a juniper-like berry used to flavor everything on the island. Miroslav Sasek was an author and illustrator whose globetrotting This is series produced more than a dozen books and explored places from Edinburgh, Ireland, and Venice to Texas and Paris. These children’s books are insightful travel guides. Originally published in 1960, this newly released version (Universe, $22.00) of This is Rome captivates young and old readers alike. A tour of Rome with Sasek is playful, colourful and quite the education. The language Sasek uses is never condescending rather he informs readers about the very beginnings of Rome with the legend of Romulus and Remus and guides readers through Rome’s cemeteries, museums, parks and monuments. Fannis, restaurateur, and owner of a specialty import company based in the United States, devotes several pages to tips and recommendations for a trip to Sardinia for those of us who are compelled to visit Sardinia after reading the book. The new version includes updated notes about some of the facts in the book. For example, the statue of Marcus Aurelius, the great Roman philosopher and soldier, no longer stands at the Capitol as it did when Sasked wrote, but is now on display in a museum nearby. http://www.amazon.ca http://www.rizzoliusa.com http://www.amazon.ca http://www.rizzoliusa.com http://www.raincoast.com http://citystyleandliving.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of City Style and Living - Spring 2008

City Style and Living - Spring 2008 Contents Editor's Note Behind the Cover The District Need It Want It Fusion Sweet Secret Restaurant Inspiration Eat Like a Locavore Covet Helen of Troy Prêt-à-Porter Anatomy Of Spring Fashion Trends Secret Garden Passport Bookcase Great Eats in Maui Tunisia Ombudsperson Horoscopes Final Thought

City Style and Living - Spring 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.