SquawkRadio Comments

Eloisa, our local PBS station just happens to be bringing a segment on Provence today!  I have a hard time reading travel books but I like watching the shows.  I tried reading the Tuscany book (can’t think of the title) the movie was based on, but I really couldn’t get very far.  The other members of my book club loved it, though!

The SEX LIVES OF THE CANNIBALS does sound interesting, though so I’ll have to put it on my list.

gives “being eaten” a whole new flavor, hmmm?  Talk about an interesting visual picture....

Reminds me of the scene at the end of my book ONCE AN ANGEL where the villain is dragged off to meet his demise at the hands of the angry natives who are known to dabble in cannibalism. 

The next thing you know they’re preparing for the wedding feast.  I always have wondered about the ingredients in the canapes…

ewwww!  Terri, I so didn’t want to have that thought in my mind--that’s my favorite book of yours!
Eloisa

Where did your pretty picture go, Eloisa?  Has your avatar been eaten by the cannibals?

Oh for heaven’s sake. Here I was being all productive and “undecorating” the house, taking down the tree....and so on.  Then I thought I would just check in for a brief minute to see what the squawkers and fellow-squawkettes are doing.

And here I find myself not only adding a new book to my list, but searching the local library on-line to see if they have it so I can run over there.  It’s checked out...whew.

I love books that take place in far-away places that I realistically know I will never get to visit.  It’s my way of seeing the world.  Thanks for tip Eloisa.

BTW, How does one “dabble” in cannibalism? Just curious.

Maybe “dabble” constitutes a nibble here and there rather than a full course meal?

Prudence and PJ, you’re awful! Love it!

And dabbling in cannabalism involves cooking with a good port-wine sauce, of course.

Prudence I KNOW exactly what you mean. I was taking a break from organizing paper work …And …and Oh Eloisa That book sounds fascinating…It is definitely going on my TBR list. However I would definitely have to cover up that cover. My husband would take a look at it and think…HEY what a great idea for a family vacation! 
Here is My Whose Idea Was This Vacation Story:
I have a friend whose DH was going to take her on a vacation to a very remote isolated island. No shopping. No room service. She wasn’t exactly thrilled about her DH’s idea for a perfect vacation getaway. She pleaded with her hubby to pick a different vacation spot. And finally he did chang his mind… But only Because the damn island blew up… a week before they where scheduled to be there! Seems the island was part of an active chain of volcanoes! How Lovely.

Christina, I Knew that there was something about you that I just couldn’t put my finger on… it figures that you would have a recipe for…for…Hmm, Port Wine Sauce you say?  Which reminds me, did I ever tell you guys about the time my Younger Sister found a head in the freezer?

Eloisa - Have you read any of Christobel Kent’s books set in Italy?  They are fiction, and I would be curious to know your thoughts about them.

Sounds like an interesting book.

All right, who else couldn’t get passed “spitting on the floor after the infidels left their store”?? 

In keeping with your cannibal theme, Eloisa, I’m begging you, DO DISH.

Is it mostly the women...or the men?

LOL, I know exactly what you mean about ‘spitting on the floor after the infidels left thier store’!  Some clerks in Italy just don’t like everyone. 

My mom and I were in a store in Bari shopping for my tourseau (yes, I am the last person on the planet to actually have one) when the clerk kept insisting my mother was not Italian.  Helllooo, she’s speaking the language....fluently.

I guess it’s back to the bookstore for me so I can get my hands on this book.  Thank God I convinced my brother that a gift card to a bookstore was the best gift for me!

Eloisa, in Spain they didn’t even wait until we had left the store.  I was in Barcelona with a girlfriend and we were looking for a pay phone.  I was speaking to a young woman who was working in a small store and asking (in Spanish) if she could direct me to one.  At the same time, my friend was asking the older man behind the counter if he knew where a pay phone was located.  The minute he heard my friend speak English he started swearing at us in Spanish and yelling at us to get out of his store.  I thought he was going to grab a broom and chase us down the street.

So.. I need to get myself to Florence for three reasons now :O)~!

Can I guess that you weren’t a big fan of Under the Tuscan Sun?? :O). or Only You?

lol

anyway, very fun blog, and I love coming home to SR after all of these insane parties of the season. http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0443543/uts a big smile on my face.

PJ I also love your avatar. SO cute!

Daria,
I haven’t read Kent’s novels.  Should I?  And Laura T, I am definitely not a fan of Under the Tuscan Sun—though I liked the movie.  What’s not to like?  That one shot of her (young) lover’s back was worth the price of admission, imo!

And J. Perry....in reality, no dishes in a plate, even with port sauce…

Eloisa

This is a wonderful topic! I love travel narratives or travel essays, as the bookstores call them. I also prefer the ones where the author isn’t seeing the world through rose-colored glasses, but I don’t like mean-spirited ones. One of my favorites of all time is a book called “The Innocent Anthropologist” by Nigel Barley. It’s the story of his field work in Cameroon, and so, so funny.

Two other classics are “Into the Heart of Borneo” by Redmond O’Hanlon, and “A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush” by Eric Newby. Both are wonderful writers and just so darned amusing.

I also love books by people who have lived in a place, rather than just visited. Two wonderful books: “Guests of the Sheik” by Elizabeth Warnock Fernea, who married and quickly moved to a small Iraqi village in the 1950’s while her husband was doing research. She does a great humorous description of trying to adjust to married life in a completely unfamiliar environment. Also, “At the Drop of a Veil” by Marianne Alireza. She married a Saudi student in the U.S. in the 50’s and went back to Saudi Arabia with him. He eventually divorced her, but the family continued to love her and she’s now their honorary matriarch. It’s a really unique and sympathetic look at life in an Arab family. (My husband and I lived in the Middle East for 10 years, and I hate the books by people with an ane to grind, like “Not Without My Daughter” by Betty Mahmoody.)

Sorry this got so long! I have a ton of these books, and I never get a chance to talk about them!

Stacy

something spammed my comment. I didn’t put that link in there that leads to nothing… lol..

Wow, Eloisa! Have you read Une Année en Provence, er, A Year in Provence (and, obviously, all the follow-ups to that first book)?  Sorry--the French in me coming out... I love Peter Mayle’s accounts of living in Provence and he’s quite popular amongst the French as well. I had a friend (while I lived in Normandy) who asked me if I was familiar w/his writings. His books--in both English and French--grace my bookshelves.

And what’s this about A Year in the Merde? I’ll have to look up that one.

As for the the cannibals one, the title alone sounds so fascinating! I’ll have to look into that one!

And as for Under the Tuscan Sun, blech! The hot lover was the only thing worth watching in that movie…

LdyB

Long pork, it’s what’s for dinner. Tonight.

Actually this sounds like a fab read. I couldn’t really get into Francis Whatshername’s Tuscany book, but this one sounds right up my alley.

Statch, thanks for the recommendations!  They sound wonderful.  And LadyB, I have Mayle has written, including his (fairly) weird book of essays about being a gentleman in London--all about how important it is to have made-to-order shirts for 300 pounds each.  He’s great!

Eloisa