Jude Brosnan

An extract from Allegorizings by Jan Morris

The Stanfords November Book of the Month is Allegorizings by Jan Morris. Published one year on from her death, at the age of ninety-four, it is the final despatch from one of the greatest chroniclers of the Twentieth Century. To give you a taste, here is an extract from Allegorizings:

Paradise Somewhere

If paradise is the stuff of the conventional promise, all sweetmeats and complaisant houris, then I certainly have never experienced it. But a nirvana of a different kind I did transiently enter long ago, when I was on my way back to Kathmandu, in Nepal, out of the Himalayas. I was travelling with a Sherpa friend of mine. His name was Sonam. We had come out of the mountains fast, and when we got down into the foothills I began to feel ill and weak – the reverse of altitude sickness, I suppose. The monsoon had broken upon us, and the endless rain did not help, but ‘Come with me to my home village,’ Sonam said, ‘and we will make you better.’

A Walk in the Wild, a Bed in the Bush

By Denis Costello, co-author of Walking Safaris of South Africa

Wandering in the tracks of African megafauna in deep wilderness is the essence of the walking safari experience and in the safe hands of knowledgeable professional guides, it’s never less than a fascinating adventure. Thanks to its size and variety of biomes, South Africa is prime walking safari territory. With so many options, the secret to finding the right one for you is to think less about the walking and more about the sleeping arrangements. Here’s five styles to consider, from camping mat to luxury sleep-out.

Fifty Words for Snow by Nancy Campbell

Fifty Words for Snow is a journey to discover snow in cultures around the world through different languages. The climate is a prism through which to view the human world – just as language can be. It is possible to see back into the distant past and trace the historical movement of people through a single unit of meaning: in Europe, for example, many words (snow, snee, nieve, etc.) stem from the same root, the ancient Latin nix and Greek nipha – the initial s comes and goes, without concealing the close connection.

Children’s Book of the Month

Stanfords Children’s Book of the Month for November 2021 is The Trans-Siberian Railway Illustrated by Anna Desnitskaya, Text by Aleksandra Litvina.

A gloriously illustrated journey through Russia along the length of the Trans- Siberian railway.

Book of the Month: Allegorizings by Jan Morris

Stanfords Book of the Month for November 2021 is Allegorizings by Jan Morris.

Published one year on from her death, at the age of ninety-four, Jan Morris’ Allegorizings is the final despatch from one of the greatest chroniclers of the Twentieth Century.

‘Almost nothing in life is only what it seems.’

The Atlas of Unusual Languages

Following on from the hugely successful, 2020 Edward Stanfords Travel Writing Awards shortlisted The Atlas of Unusual Borders, Zoran Nikolic is back with a new atlas all about discovering intriguing linguistic oddities and language islands.

We communicate through the spoken and written word and language has evolved over the centuries. Many languages have survived although only in small pockets throughout the world. The Atlas of Unusual Languages explores a selection of those languages and some that have now been lost forever.

Here, Zoran Nikolic tells Stanfords about his latest book:

‘Unlost’ by Gail Muller

Hello, I’m Gail Muller and I’m delighted to introduce my book ‘Unlost’ and share some of my favourite top tips for getting outside and exploring. These tips are practical and actionable, even if you don’t feel confident or experienced. The great outdoors is for all of us, and there is joy, learning, resilience, and peace to be found out there – just beyond your doorstep.

An extract from ‘On Gallows Down’ by Nicola Chester

The following is an extract from On Gallows Down: Place, Protest and Belonging (Chelsea Green Publishing, October 2021) by Nicola Chester and is reprinted with permission from the publisher.

Bird in a Landscape

It is St George’s Day, late April, two days shy of my birthday. The sky is the colour of a pheasant’s egg and skylarks are singing against it at such a height I can’t see them. A just discernible shimmer of heat blurs the near horizon of orange gravel that marks the old runway of this former US airbase. I am sitting on my hands on top of an old American fire hydrant, its once-smooth sides speckled with rust and yellow and red paint curled and crusted like lichen. I can’t quite reach the ground and sit swinging my legs, a toe occasionally reaching a knobbly chunk of flint to kick away. I think I’ve been stood up.

Atlas of Imagined Places: From Lilliput to Gotham City

Atlas of Imagined Places: From Lilliput to Gotham City is a stunning map collection of invented geography and topography drawn from the world’s imagination.

The maps feature fictional buildings, towns, cities and countries plus mountains and rivers, oceans and seas. Ever wondered where the Bates Motel was based? Or Bedford Falls in It’s a Wonderful Life? The authors have taken years to research the likely geography of thousands of popular culture locations that have become almost real to us.

Here is an extract from the chapter on CENTRAL AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN by Matt Brown & Rhys B. Davies with maps by Mike Hall.

Book of the Month: The Amur River by Colin Thubron

Our October Book of the Month is The Amur River by Colin Thubron £20.00

The first travel book in a decade from Colin Thubron, the 2019 recipient of the Edward Stanford Award for Outstanding Contribution to Travel Writing.

In his 80th year, Thubron made an ambitious journey along the 3000-mile river that divides China and Russia.

The Amur River is almost unknown. Yet it is the tenth longest river in the world, rising in the Mongolian mountains and flowing through Siberia to the Pacific. For 1,100 miles it forms the tense border between Russia and China. Haunted by the memory of land-grabs and unequal treaties, this is the most densely fortified frontier on earth.