Queen of the Road by Dorren Orion. “The True Tale of 47 States, 22,000 milles, 200 Shoes, 2 Cats, 1 Poodle, a Husband, and a Bus with a Will of Its Own.”

Looking for a light summer read that makes you yearn for adventure? Pick up the Queen of the Road and you will find yourself laughing out loud on page one and inspired by about page 95. When I say this book will make you “yearn for adventure,” I not necessarily referring to rock climbing or parachuting out of airplanes. I am speaking about a more terrifying adventure such as tossing all of your fancy belongings, renovating a 1998 Prevost bus, and traveling around the country in an attempt to rectify a midlife crisis. Queen of the Road is a testament that a crazy idea can not only be made into reality but it can change you for the better. This book is a travelogue of one couple, completely clueless about the open road, trying to get themselves from one coast to another as well as everywhere in between. The challenges and mishaps that this couple faces at the onset of their journey are entirely relatable not to mention hysterical. As their journey comes to a close, you too will feel the same nostalgia that they felt. Before you are even done with the book, I guarantee that you will be looking forward to your next midlife crisis and the adventures that it will bring.

Fly Solo: The 50 Best Places on Earth for a Girl to Travel Alone written by Teresa Rodriguez Williamson.

I was drawn to this book because I am female who often travels alone. However, after flipping through the pages I realized it was a fun travel resource for anyone, whether you were traveling solo or with a circus full of people. The icing on the cake is that all of the suggestions are ideal for female solo travelers.

The book features various destinations that are both fun and safe for female solo travelers. The author also categorizes travel opportunities based on what she calls CAWS: Cultural Opportunities, Activity Level, Weather Preference, and Social Interaction. You can pick through the book’s offerings according to how strongly you feel about each category. My favorite part is the “Accessory” section listed under each destination. No, I am not talking accessories like Jimmy Choos or Chanel watches. They are basic but essential suggestions for what you should bring with you when you travel, making it informative for any type of traveler. (more…)

There exists a cookery book that was written by a woman on the brink of starvation in a Japanese internment camp in China during the Second World War.

“You would expect from a wartime recipe book – all rations and digging for victory, or subsistence on rotting vegetables and donkey meat in a Japanese internment camp. However, this is a book written as if the war wasn’t there at all. As if everyone was back in their warm, safe homes with their families and friends, the larder full and the table heaving with fresh, just-cooked food. It gives advice on how to make good things last longer, how to live and eat to the fullest. The pages are jam-packed with recipes with old-fashioned names: cream puffs and popovers, butterscotch and blancmange, galantine of beef and anchovy toast, jugged hare and ulligatawny soup. There are dinner-party menus, children’s menus, cocktails, ice creams, sweets. Its a book for making the best of times in the worst of times, a book that makes you believe that if you could fill your mind with cream cake or anything delicious, then you could transform the bitterest experience into something sweet and shut out the things that you need to forget.”

- page ix, Lilla’s Feast by Frances Osborne (more…)