Reviewed By Geree McDermott for Readers' Favorite

If you love reading and visiting book stores, you’ll love Bob Eckstein’s Footnotes from the World’s Greatest Bookstores - True Tales and Lost Moments from Book Buyers, Booksellers, and Book Lovers. It is a delightful description of many distinctive bookstores worldwide, complete with anecdotes from and about famous visitors as well as from the bookstores’ owners and employees. We, the readers, join Mr. Eckstein on his global book tour for a brief yet intriguing and insightful glimpse of some of the world’s most interesting, most unusual, oldest, and fabulous bookstores. We discover bookstores that have been in the same location for centuries, others that are on wheels, and one that floats, one that serves food and drink and gives away free books, while still others allow patrons to sleep in the aisles.

Footnotes from the World’s Greatest Bookstores has exceptional watercolors of each bookstore, painted by Mr. Eckstein. The anecdotes about each bookstore are fun to read, surprising, and memorable. Although Mr. Eckstein chose not to include the many ‘bookstore cat stories’ he heard, as a cat lover as well as a book lover I would have enjoyed reading at least one cat story. But I choose not to hold that against Mr. Eckstein and Footnotes from the World’s Greatest Bookstores because I absolutely love the concise artistic tour of bookstores around the world. The unique perspective offered by Mr. Eckstein motivates me to plan a lengthy around the world sojourn so I can experience Footnotes from the World’s Greatest Bookstores myself.

Reviewed By Romuald Dzemo for Readers' Favorite

Australian Memories: Discover Aussie Land and the Mysterious Red Center by Ndeye Labadens is the first installment in a series featuring the author’s adventures through Australia. From the natural beauty of its lovely locales to fun activities like outdoor concerts, from the exquisite and gorgeous cafés of laid back cities to the glitz of high rise establishments, from the song of birds to the buzz of busy cities, the author reserves surprises for readers, unveiling hidden and somewhat not-so-noticeable gems of Australia. Here is a book that allows readers to get a feel of the culture, a glimpse of social interaction, and a good idea of Australian hospitality.

Told in an exciting and ebullient voice, this book combines elements of a great memoir with adventure to inform and entertain readers, opening their eyes to the wonders of Australia. Although the prose isn’t exceptional, it is friendly and the reader can feel the excitement as the author leads them on her adventures from Sydney to Tasmania, to Alice Springs, to Kakadu, to Darwin and to Melbourne. The narrative is punctuated with breathtaking images of touristic moments, fascinating sites, and landscapes. The author offers a feel of the Australian culture that tourists and visitors to Australia will find interesting and helpful. Australian Memories: Discover Aussie Land and the Mysterious Red Center by Ndeye Labadens can be read as an adventure of a tourist or an outsider’s view of the country. I found it engaging and surprisingly entertaining. This is one of the books to read if you are looking for fun ideas and information about Australia.

Reviewed By Divine Zape for Readers' Favorite

Walking to Woot by Jackie Chase is a highly entertaining and informative non-fiction narrative, an unusual tale of how travelling dangerous paths together can create a powerful bond between mother and daughter. When the author and her daughter decide to travel to the unfamiliar landscapes of the jungles of New Guinea, it seems like just another adventure. Little did they know that they’d be travelling into a completely new world and age, and that they’d meet weird people and face untold challenges. Their contact with nature, the encounter with a different culture, and the dangers they overcome open their eyes to new realities and awaken a new form of life they haven’t known until then. It will be interesting to see how the experience of a four-week trip into the uncharted parts of New Guinea helps mother and daughter to deepen their love for each other and to discover their hidden strengths and gifts.

Jackie Chase combines great writing with photography to take readers away from their familiar terrain and into a world that is both primitive and virgin. The images speak powerfully of the mode of life of people inhabiting places they visited, painting the kind of world readers who have watched The Gods Must Be Crazy will be infinitely attracted to. It is most interesting to see how the protagonists of this beautiful and hilarious tale fit into the entire scenario. Readers will watch them handle physical challenges, cultivate courage, build self-confidence, reach out to make friends, and learn to accept that people can be different and that there is some beauty in that difference. You’ll laugh and learn as you read Walking to Woot, a most hilariously engaging book. I have never read anything like it before.

Reviewed By Charles Remington for Readers' Favorite

Jonathan Tindale spent a while living in New Zealand, housed in a dilapidated caravan located in the remote South Island countryside that New Zealanders call the wop-wops. Some considerable time later, long after his return to his native UK, he received a scrappy manuscript which, strangely, had been sent by that very same caravan. It consisted of diary entries, which he had written during his stay, linked together with observations, interpretations and information added by the caravan - additions which it had based on the many years spent travelling the New Zealand road system and its observation of the various occupants it had carried. Jonathan has decided to publish the manuscript under the title Squashed Possums, Off the Beaten Track in New Zealand, a book which provides much information about this unique southern hemisphere nation and the nature of its indigenous caravans. There is historical detail, much valuable information on the people, the flora and unusual fauna of the islands, together with some vivid descriptions of the stunning countryside, and harrowing accounts of caravan living during the deep midwinter southerly storms.

Part travelogue, part memoir - I enjoyed this book immensely. The unusual juxtaposition of viewpoints, with the author’s diary entries coupled to observations from the caravan in which he lived, gives the narrative an easy pace. A great deal of information is imparted and absorbed in a light, digestible way. One could easily see the technique used in Squashed Possums applied to other situations with boats, cottages, homes or even castles speaking about their histories and commenting on the lives and antics of their occupants. Jonathan Tindale has produced an excellent work which I would highly recommend.

Reviewed By Roy T. James for Readers' Favorite

Kilimanjaro Diaries by Eva Melusine Thieme is about climbing the highest mountain on an entire continent and the highest free-standing mountain in the world. The preparations for this trip, starting with an internet survey, began well in advance, including practicing with climbing boots for the last three months before the trip. The trip passed through dark forest and inhospitable trails and followed a route with good success rate: The Machame Route – also called Whiskey Route. The book mentions an eerie silence there for company, though that is a bit disquieting; concentration is fully on the climb. On the sixth day of their climb, they spot ‘Congratulations! You are now at Uhuru Peak 5895 M A.M.S.L.Tanzania’ and take a return route only used for the descent.

Kilimanjaro Diaries by Eva Melusine Thieme gives a vivid description of the planning behind the trip, specially the ‘pee’ problem and its solutions. The diary closes with an interesting situation; I certainly won’t be envious of it. This book also contains information regarding a packing list and tips on routes and climbing seasons, as well as many web links, making it a good reference material for this trip. An interesting, educative and fun filled narrative replete with adventure.

Reviewed By Ryan Jordan for Readers' Favorite

Fourteen: A Daughter's Memoir of Adventure, Sailing, and Survival by Leslie Johansen Nack is a deeply emotional and moving story about the coming of age of our narrator and author who had to deal with the divorce of her parents, the abuse by her father, and being forced to grow up entirely too soon to protect herself and see the grittier side of the world. It is well told and has an approachable and easy-going narrative style that is very compelling, and I found the story easy to sink into and enjoy. It was almost like reading pure fiction, and occasionally I had to stop and remind myself that this is a non-fiction account of the author's life and the obstacles she had to overcome.

There are some moments that were difficult to read past, but I found myself rooting for the author to have everything work out in her favor. There were scenes, like when her mother came to visit the boat and her dad became aggressive about her complaints about accommodation, that are very well-written and truly bring the characters to life. This is an enticing memoir, and Leslie is writing another story about her family, a sort of de facto sequel that is sure to be just as enjoyable, so I look forward to reading more by her. Fourteen: A Daughter's Memoir of Adventure, Sailing, and Survival by Leslie Johansen Nack is an excellent memoir about the life and trials of a young woman struggling to overcome many obstacles that children aren't usually expected to face. Great memoir! I really enjoyed it.

Reviewed By Jack Magnus for Readers' Favorite

A Camino of the Soul: Learning to Listen When the Universe Whispers is a non-fiction inspirational memoir written by Katharine Elliott. The author and her husband were successful hotel executives who seemed to have the perfect life. Their home overlooked the Puget Sound, they could travel and enjoy the finer things in life, and three loving dogs graced their lives. Things started to change when they learned that his mother's cancer had progressed to the point that she could no longer live on her own. Rather than see her move to an assisting living facility in Germany, they traveled there for a visit with her, but also with the hope that she would agree to move in with them. She did, and the two women, who had once been ill at ease with each other, became the best of friends. Sis, as she was known to her family and friends, would become one of Elliott's angels after she passed on, a warm and guiding presence who would look out for Elliott, supporting her throughout the moves and crises, and eventually the breakup of her twenty-year marriage. Several years before that break, Elliott had begun seeking a more spiritual connection to life, and she accepted that she was meant to walk the Camino. She didn’t know the reason why or how that ambition came to grab hold of her, nor did she question it, and that historic spiritual walk would change her life.

Katharine Elliott's non-fiction spiritual memoir, A Camino of the Soul: Learning to Listen When the Universe Whispers, is a beautifully written and joyful account that held me in rapt attention as I was reading. Elliott's writing is smooth and compellingly honest, and one can't help but feel that she is speaking directly to her readers. I loved reading about how she and Sis went from being wary and unwilling in-laws to becoming dear friends who reveled in their time together, and I found her descriptions of the process of her and her husband's move to Europe to be fascinating. But I'm an avid hiker; so I would have to admit that my primary interest in reading this memoir was to hear about the author's experiences on her Camino, and she came through with flying colors. I had wondered about her taking the trek on her own and loved the serendipity that surrounded her with hale and hearty companions. And yes, I'm glad she listened to her sister's advice to write. She does a grand job of it, and I'm looking forward to more memoirs of her other walking experiences. A Camino of the Soul: Learning to Listen When the Universe Whispers is most highly recommended.

Reviewed By Tracy A. Fischer for Readers' Favorite

In a fun, well-written and informative new book penned by author Marianne C. Bohr, Gap Year Girl: A Baby Boomer Adventure Across 21 Countries recounts the story of the author and her husband as they said goodbye to their jobs and all of their worldly possessions in order to return to places they had visited on their travels in their youth. Following a dream held closely by many of the baby boomer generation, the couple traverses 21 continents during their journey, lives on a budget, and sees and does more than many do in several lifetimes. Readers will smile, laugh, and be touched at the author's recounting of their experiences, and if they didn't have wanderlust before, they certainly will now!

I so enjoyed Gap Year Girl: A Baby Boomer Adventure Across 21 Countries. Author Marianne C. Bohr has done a great job at finding the perfect balance between telling the story of their travels, providing information about each place they visited, and just being plain entertaining. Any reader with an interest in travel, especially those of the baby boomer generation, would thoroughly enjoy this book. I highly recommend Gap Year Girl: A Baby Boomer Adventure Across 21 Countries to any such reader. I certainly hope that author Marianne C. Bohr will continue with her traveling adventures and will continue writing about them. For those of us who find ourselves a bit landlocked at this time, reading books such as hers just might provide us with a little bit of wind in our sails!

Reviewed By Emily-Jane Hills Orford for Readers' Favorite

Kindness One sounds like a course heading for a local college. It's not, but perhaps it should be. Kindness One, a take-off name from Airforce One, the U.S. President's private jet, is a private mode of transportation with the power to spread an important message about, you guessed it, kindness. It's something many take for granted, or don't even consider at all. It's the simple act of doing something positive to help someone else, just for the sheer joy of being kind. Author Leon Logothetis had this brilliant idea after he noticed a homeless man on the streets of Los Angeles, right on Hollywood Boulevard, holding a sign that read: "Kindness is the best medicine." The homeless man was Leon's first inspiration, but he certainly wasn't his only one. He handed the man two twenty-dollar bills and then returned home to his girlfriend with the idea of riding a motorcycle around the world to spread a little bit of kindness. It sounds crazy, but when Leon gets an idea, he goes for it, and his idea went beyond crazy, when he announced that he was going to travel without any money in his pocket. In fact, he was going to depend on the kindness of strangers to buy fuel for his bike, feed him and provide him with shelter.

Leon's story - The Kindness Diaries: One Man's Quest to Ignite Goodwill and Transform Lives Around the World - takes us from his home, to a cattle ranch where he learned how to rope a cow, to the central core of Pittsburgh where he slept on the mean streets with some homeless people, then across the Atlantic on a cargo ship (working all the way), through Europe and Asia, where he met kindness and not-so-kind people, but always finding his way and learning from others. It sounds almost as unbelievable as it is crazy, but that's what was Leon's mission. He helped those he met along the way, those who shared kindness with him. And, he learned the true power of being kind.

Amazingly, Leon actually traveled through Bhutan, a country that has a philosophy well suited to his mission: Gross National Happiness, where "Happiness means simplicity." In the most simple life, one can find true happiness. When things became difficult, Leon would rely on the words of wisdom he had picked up along the way. A friend told him, "Don't quit before the miracle happens." Mother Teresa's words of wisdom to us all are, "It's not how much we give, but how much love we put into giving." Salman Rushdie writes, "To understand just one life, you must swallow the world." And, Shantaram says: "Freedom is a universe of possibility."

Leon's advice, something that he learned from others on his travels is: "Surround yourself with love." He also discovered that the journey would only be complete when he found his way home again. Leon has written a very inspirational true story, one that will warm the hearts of all who read it, and hopefully one that will help spread the positive power of kindness. He has a powerful message to share, one that we should all take seriously. Well done!

Reviewed By Gisela Dixon for Readers' Favorite

The Amazing Journey: Book One by Grady Hicks is nothing short of amazing. Grady Hicks sets out on a world voyage with his eldest son, Austin, and the experience is life-changing for both of them. The father-son duo sets out to explore the world, and thus bond with each other as well as “find” themselves in the process. This is really more of a quest than just your average travel tour. That is part of the reason why the mother and wife, Brianna, is kept out of the loop in the beginning regarding the exact itinerary. Their voyage takes them far and wide and literally ends on the “roof of the world”, a region comprising the Himalayas including Mt. Everest, Tibet, India, Nepal, and the Pamir Mountains among others. During this journey, Grady and Austin deal with people from all walks of life, interact with government officials in various regions, meet with mystics, and more. In fact, after reading this book, I felt that every parent should try to do something like this with their child.

Grady Hicks has written an outstanding travel book and the best part is this is only Book One. Towards the end of this book, Grady states that he has planned similar quests with his other son and his daughter as well, and I, for one, am eagerly looking forward to Book Second and Third in this wonderful series. Grady’s writing style is really simple and genuine that anybody can easily connect with. The actual journey itself is described in a way that brings vivid images to mind and paints a true picture of the places visited. I highly recommend this book to everyone, and especially to all parents out there.