"Traveling With a Good Read" by birchy99

So, you think Lewis and Clark were the first explorers to cross North America to the Pacific Ocean. WRONG!!! Alexancer McKenzie was the first to do it In 1793, a full ten years earlier. A fur merchant, McKenzie on his first "voyage" as they called, it traversed the now named Mckenzie River to the Arctic Ocean. This laid the seeds for the next voyage across the Canadian plains to the Rocky Mountains, through the interior of what is now British Columbia and onward through the the Coastal Mountains to the fjiords of the BC Coast. Although not discovering a trade route to the Pacific he did help decipher the geography of the Northwest so that later explorers were able to establish Pacific trading posts.
While a bit pedantic, this tome is very interesting as it shows the progression of the geographic discoveries of the Pacific Northwest. The many reproductions of early maps and the history of the explorations and the highlighting the personalities involved make for fascinating reading. I wouldn't recommend lugging this book along on a flight as it resembles a coffee table book.

This is an historical novel based on clash of cultures in English society in the mid 19th Century. The overall story involves a shipload of Manx freebooters who unwillingly end up chartering their ship to a group of Englishmen bound for Tasmania in search of the Biblical Garden of Eden.
While laced with humor there is also a tragic side as one aspect of the tale is to tell the story of the genocide of the Tasmanian Aboriginees.
The story is told in narrative form through the eyes of the main characters. The narratives intertwine so that you can see a scene through the experience of more than one character. You can calculate the number of views this can give one as you consider the cultures of the Manx, English, Aboriginees, Colonists, and colonial prisoners. This device gives the reader a sense of the cultural misunderstandings that existed.
Based on real occurances and characters this is a good read for a long trip especially if one is journeying downunder.

"The Curve of Time" by M. Wylie Blanchet is a memoir of a woman and her children who explored the inland coastal waters of British Columbia and Vancouver Island. This widowed lady and her children set sail every summer in the 1920's and '30's in a small cabin cruiser to explore and learn about this fascinating corner of the world. She tells the stories through her eyes and through the eyes of the children who are wonderfully attentive to what nature is offering them.
A lot of this story involves navigating the treacherous channels and inlets of southwest BC. This was especially interesting for me as I had that same opportunity as a teen in the 1950's in Southeast Alaska off Baranof Island as my dad and I fished on a comparably sized boat and shared many of the same experiences this family did. The only point I might quibble about is swimming. This family was always swimming!!! My experience is that these coastal waters are very chilly, even in summer.
If you know this area or are a sailor or boater you will enjoy this read. Not long, but riveting at times. Good for an overnight flight.
This book may be out of print as it was published long ago, but you can find it in libraries and on Amazon.

By Mark Kulansky
What a delicious read!!! This is the story of oysters and New York City. Long before it was The Big Apple it was The Big Oyster. New York Harbor and Long Island Sound and surrounding bays and inlets were at one time the worlds largest oyster producer. And people loved oysters. Since the time of the first European settlers oysters were staple foods for the poor and gluttonous feast for the not so poor and filthy rich. For three hundred years the main fishery of this area was oysters.
It wasn't until the 20th century that over population which lead to over pollution killed the oyster beds and made eating them from the harbor a death wish.
This book is delightfully sprinkled with anecdotes, recipes and history. One could take this book and explore the history of lower Manhatten. Other books by this author written in the same historical perspective are: "Cod" and "Salt." Such a simple concept to explain the historical significance of such basic things.

"The Age of Gold: The California Gold Rush and the New American Dream" by H.W. Brands is a terrific account not only of the events of the Gold Rush, but a careful compendium of the lives of the "49'ers" that risked their all for a chance at garnering those riches most people only dream about.
Brands opens with the actual discovery of gold near Sutter's Fort in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. He follows up with well researched histories of the people who rushed to California by ship, by sea and land and overland. The stories of his subjects are woven like threads throughout the whole book, appearing here and there as their fates become pertinent.
Brands tells the stories of the famous and nonfamous as their sought their El Dorado. Main characters in this tome are John C. Fremont, miscreant army officer and one time presidential candidate; his wife, Jessie, who played like Nancy Reagan behind the throne; William Tecumseh Sherman, failed banker and later the Civil War Scourge of Georgia; and Leland Stanford, businessman, railroad tycoon, governor and philanthopist.
One particular story that is most striking is the overland journey of a party who in a misguided attempt to go south around the Sierras stumbled into Death Valley with only a few escaping to the gold fields with their lives.
At the end of the book Brands shows us the lasting legacy of the Gold Rush on not only American history and society but on that of the whole world as this was the first time in world history that the average Joe was free to become a millionare instantaneously.
This is the third book I have read lately about the settling of the American West and it is a compelling read. Pick it up for your next long journey.
Birchy

This is a spy thriller that you can probably consume on a 12 hour flight. It's a fast read but it might leave you exhausted. The main character is a former Washington, DC power broker who spends 6 years in solitary confinement. When pardoned by "the moronic President" as he leaves office, the CIA whisks him off to Bologna, Italy where is given a new identity and a language tutor.
Unknown to him he is being set up as a target in an attempt to find the owners of a super spy satellite. It seems that The Broker went to prison for attempting to sell pirated software for the eye in the sky.
I liked the book, not for the story itself, but for the excellent travelogue of Bologna. The Broker spends a great deal of his time hiking all over the city, dodging in and out of streets and alleys in an attempt to elude his persistant tails, as every nation that he tried to peddle the software to has hit squads out for him.
I'm sure Grisham must have had a great time moving his character around the city. I suppose he could have done it by using Google Earth but I think not. Along with the story the reader learns a lot about the history and architecture of Bologna. At any rate, that was the appeal of the book to me. I have no idea how accurate his descriptions are, having never been to Bologna, but I would imagine they are genuine in order to be believable.
One thing of particular interest was the origin of the towers such as the one in Pisa. It seems Bologna had tens of them during the Middle Ages, all built by weathy families who when rivaling each other launched spears and arrows back and forth at each other.
I found this book entertaining and worth the time. Give it a look if you are so inclined.