2 comments about Gardens from the Air (From the Air).

1. Was paging through this book just yesterday in a local bookstore. It is spectacular! The photos are of top quality, and all from above--of some of the finest gardens one could find. We spotted several that we had been to, and it was wonderful to see them from a fresh perspective. If you love photographs of beautiful gardens, buy this book!



2. This book is a collection of aeriel photographs of famous european gardens. It includes gardens from the Alhambra up through Italy, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Russia, etc. There is basic info about the gardens, but this is primarily a picture book. I have been to several of the gardens included and it is wonderful to be able to see them in a new perspective. You get to see the patterns large scale, the axis used for structure, etc. I love it! The book and pictures are oversized.

No comments about Beyond the Iconic: Contemporary Photographs of Paris, 1971-2003 (Angel City Press).

5 comments about Avant-Guide Paris: Insiders' Guide to Progressive Culture.

1. I just got back from my first trip ever to Paris and sadly, had to leave my copy with a friend who lives there. In short, this guide was so good, so comprehensive, honest, easy to read and understand that she wanted it for herself. (And my copy wasn't even the current one!) I bought four other guide books "just in case" and found them useless compared to this one. I can't wait to buy other Avant-Guides for future trips.



2. I must say that when a friend gave me this Paris guide as a Christmas present last year I thought "oh great, another guide book." Once I started reading it, and after the first time I put the book down, I found myself obsessing about my trip to Paris. This guide is written in an unusually fun and kicky style - which is a big difference from other travel books. Wandering around Paris I found the information about each of the restaurants and bars was spot on. And better yet, I didn't feel so much like a tourist. This guidebook was the most useful I have ever come across! So I just wanted to let everyone know - superb guidebook. I'm certainly going to grab the Avant-Guide London for my next trip there. Maybe it will even change my opinion of that town!



3. This was the best guide that I've ever used for truly gaining a native's perspective of a city. (An almost impossible task in a tourist's timeframe!) I found Avant's information easy to get at, funny to read, and amazingly accurate for finding the hot spots, and also some hidden beauties I would have overlooked. The only major negative was the book's weight. Heavy paper stock and lots of photos definitely made you aware it's with you. After a few successful outings, I had friends from Paris asking to keep my book when I went home!!!



4. There are unfortunately only two main kinds of travel books written in the English language today. You have the scruffy, nasty travel book that expects you to hitch hike, stay in hostels and wear a back pack. Think, "Lonely Planet" or "Let's Go." Then there are the ones that contain many color photos and only lists five star anything in five star cities; I suspect such things are written for wealthy retirees, or people who wish they were. Both kinds of travel book are pretty much useless to me.
   I want travel books which tell me interesting things to do, and don't assume I'm going to live like a jerk on my trip abroad. I want a damn Vacation Book. Avant Guide writes the kinds of travel books I want. I've read all the ones they've published (unfortunately, too few). The Paris one is excellent. The descriptions are colorful, informative and useful, as are the maps. They do not assume I am a millionaire with a Yacht, or a wannabe Hobo who enjoys living like a dirtbag. Instead, they write for the rest of us: young professionals who might visit a city for a week or two. The franchise is small enough they are able to maintain the quality. Hopefully they stay that way.



5. As one reviewer mentions, this guide fits nicely into the big empty, underserved middle of guidebooks that cater neither to broke backpackers or the wealthy. It leans toward the lower end with its inclusion of hostels in the accommodations section, but overall it's a nice alternative to the extremes. I suppose Rick Steve and Frommer cover the midrange budget too, but this one does so with much more originality--its choices are usually a bit less bland or stuffy than those guides.
   
   The guide is particularly welcome in its choices of many interesting cafes, bars and restaurants I did not find in any other guidebooks, including great casual and non-budget breaking neighborhood places for food, and small, atmospheric, authentic cafes frequented by ordinary locals, rather than the usual Paris choice of moneyed professional locals or tourists.
   
   The guides to sights and neighborhoods are, on the other hand, disappointing, for the most part repeating standard guidebook recommendations or, worse, stating the obvious (we recommend you see the Eiffel tower!).
   
   But the goods more than outweigh the bads. (With the exception of the astonishingly obnoxious cover--nothing can make up for that atrocity.)

3 comments about The Cafés of Paris: A Guide, Second Edition.

1. I first had the pleasure of reading the Cafes of Paris guide book just last year as a young woman travelling to Paris for the first time. Since the book was written by my high-school English/Spanish teacher, Christine Graf, the greatest Spanish/English/French teacher of all time, it naturally was a masterpiece!! I recommend that everyone buy this book because she is forced to make her living as a school teacher, and the book is truly wonderful and has vital information for anyone who ever travels to Paris or dreams of travelling to Paris(the city of lights!!!)



2. This book is mostly about cafes of the past. Very interesting reading if you're a fan of Sartre, Hemmingway, etc., & the book has plenty about those writers' cafe haunts & habits. But there's not much about what these cafes are like today or what modern cafes are the big literary hangouts.



3. The book, "Cafes of Paris," offers American tourists the cheapest and, I believe, the most entertaining and comfortable way to experience Paris, especially with the weak U.S. dollar. You can sit in a coffee shop for hours - reading and enjoying Paris street life - all for the price of a cup of coffee. Inexpensive lunches can be shared with friends in the cafe's casual atmosphere. The book is extremely well organized for the sight-seer; cafes are indexed by tourist attraction and arrondissement with the nearest metro stop and the price of a cup of coffee available at a glance. And if you aren't going to Paris, read the humorous anecdotes, descriptions of the decor, and the literary history of cafe life for a vicarious mini-vacation. Revised in 2000, prices have gone up but the richness of Paris cafe life will never be out of date.

No comments about A Harvest of Sunflowers.

2 comments about A Journey into Flaubert's Normandy (ArtPlace series).

1. My brother gifted me this book after he found it an excellent armchair companion. (He's been there before, reads Flaubert, the whole deal.) I found the book a great combination of biography (of more than one notable personage), travelogue, history, culture (present and past). Very good layout and photos, handy maps to check where you'd be when she writes of a town. Her writing style is light and flowing, so I finished it in a few hours, and am comfortable with the idea of returning to it as needed... maybe even one day, managing to get to France, to Normandy, to Ry and the rivers and cheeses of the region.



2. Ms. Patton's book is a rare combination of travel guide, literary criticism and biography penned in an engaging and witty style. It even has a section on Normandy cheeses. Yum. Read it before you read Flaubert, or while you read Madame Bovary, as I did. Read it before visiting Normandy. Or just read it because it's so enjoyable. The type of book that brings a place to life more than your average travel guide.

No comments about Insight Guide Instant Paris.

5 comments about One Day at Disney.

1. Drink in the sights with this great book. It's not one you would buy to read in detail about the parks as it is 95% photos, but what great photos at that.

   If you like the Disney parks, you will love this book.

   A simple review, for a simple but superb book.




2. This book is a must have for anyone who loves disney or theme parks. Each page has amazing pictures of the parks- the kind of pictures that you can just stare at for hours. Also a great book for people who wonder how Disney takes care or the park after hours. An overall great book.



3. This is a well done photo tour of all Disney theme parks, foreign and domestic. It shows a lot of the behind the scenes goings on and has very nice full page pictures. If you are looking for information, though, it doesn't have much, it is mostly just a picture book. Well worth it if you enjoy books like this.



4. As was once the case with the British Empire, the sun never sets on Disney's theme parks, with little havens of happiness (and profit) around the world -- California, Florida, France and Tokyo, with more just opened (Disney Sea, also in Tokyo) and more coming (Hong Kong).

   What this book does, like all the other "A Day at/in..." books, is give you a 24-hour time span. At the same time, it jumps from park to park, showing different aspects of different parks, at different times of the day or night -- with guests streaming in, cast members working, resting, smiling or laughing (if you're looking for a critical eye towards the Disney empire, this is not the book for that), or simply landscapes framed by the good work of Mother Nature and the photographer.

   For those who haven't traveled the world (and that's most of us), it gives you a detailed view of what the rest of the world sees when it looks at Disney, noting the differences and the similarities.

   And finally, if you just love the theme park(s), this book will help keep those memories fresh. It works for me.




5. I don't remember where I got this at, but even at cover price it's a GREAT book. If you love Disney parks, GET THIS BOOK!! Yes, it's mostly pictures, but being able to see all 4 castles on one page or the differences between the Haunted mansions is really cool. Not much reading, it is mostly pictures. A great coffee table book. Keeps you dreaming/ remembering until the next trip.

1 comments about The Robert Louis Stevenson Trail: A Walking Tour in the Velay and Cevennes, Southern France (Cicerone Guide).

1. This wonderful little book has now got even better with the release of the second edition.
   
   I walked the Robert Louis Stevenson Trail last year and this guide was invaluable. Alan Castle knows his stuff and brings alive the history of the walk, every step of the way, as well as providing easy instructions for a novice walker such as myself. I would label this the definative guide to anyone considering walking the GR70.

No comments about World Travel France.