No comments about art/shop/eat Barcelona, Second Edition (Art Shop, Eat Barcelona).

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1 comments about Jewish Time-Travel: A Travel Narrative and Guide to Jewish Historic Sites in Europe and Israel.

1. Jewish Time Travel is a wonderful and unexpected combination of chatty travel narrative and serious scholarship. Mae Sander's first book gives us a window into Jewish life in four periods and places where cultures collided, and takes us to revisit those places with her today. In Israel, France, Spain, and Italy, we learn details of the past that are usually available only to those who are willing to spend hours in graduate libraries. But the author distills this material for us, and her book is a pleasure to read and re-read.

   We are transported to ancient Israel, where Herod , doomed to madness, tries to please both his Roman overlords and his Jewish subjects. The tenuous peace unravels after his death, and the dispersion of the Jews begins anew under Roman rule. Jewish Time Travel takes us to many places in today's Israel where there are echoes of this cultural crossroads. A true historian, Mae Sander relates the stories told by 20th century guides and archeologists, but also shows us the political climate in which they work.

   Following the travels of medieval merchant Benjamin of Tudela, we get a glimpse of daily life in the south of France during a period that is almost never covered in history books. We journey to Spain, in the years just before and during the expulsion of the Jews. And we travel to the Jewish ghetto in Venice, where a famous Jewish printer plies his trade. Each time, we accompany Mae as she visits these places centuries later. We are left with a sense of sorrow for what is lost, interest in what is preserved, and awe that Jewish culture could have survived at all.

   Best of all, Mae Sander's fresh voice and comfortable style give us the benefit of years of scholarly research without the struggle. Whether you are an intrepid voyager or an armchair traveler, you'll find Jewish Time Travel a fascinating and indispensable volume.

No comments about Passport Spain: Your Pocket Guide to Spanish Business, Customs & Etiquette (Passport to the World) (Passport to the World).

No comments about Costa Blanca Mountain Walks: West (Cicerone Guide).

No comments about Lisbon and Portugal Travel Pack (Globetrotter Travel Packs).

5 comments about Duende: A Journey Into the Heart of Flamenco.

1. This book is very interesting, but don't expect to find the real duende or understand flamenco any more than you might already, after all, it's not something that could be described in books anyway. Jason gives an excellent perspective of an outsider in relation to flamenco and how guiris like us relate to it, and that's the beauty of his story.

   There aren't that many white boys and girls looking for the real stuff, that which is not sold at tablaos for foreigners. His encounters with people, his search for flamenco action, and his ultimate lessons about the culture of the gypsies and their invariable connection with flamenco make this book worthwhile.

   This book is a very light read; it's entertaining, frustrating, sad and funny. But above all, it's one man's adventure, it's his diary, and being a devout fanatic of flamenco myself, I feel fortunate that someone as crazy about flamenco as I has shared his experience.




2. I enjoyed this book. I think he does a good job of making you feel like he has come full circle in search of this duende that he seeks. To read his story of leaving everything just to follow his dream of living and breathing Spain and the music of flamenco is an intriguing story only because it is such a frightening and exciting thought. How many people uproot themselves and move to a foreign land to live and barely scrape by all because of the love of music.



3. Maybe it takes a Spaniard to fully appreciate this book. I thought it was absolutely hilarious! Webster's understated British humor and Spain and the Spaniards...wonderful! The Spaniards are a beautiful, passionate, fascinating and naturally funny people. Webster found the heart and soul of Spain and the Spaniards. Some things cannot be explained. You either get them, or you don't. To those of you who don't, you have my sincerest sympathy. !Viva Espana!



4. I have been the Flamenco correspondent for Classical Guitar magazine for a decade, and for Guitar International for a decade before that; and everything Jason Webster says about Flamenco here seems to me absolutely accurate, with the piffling exception of a couple of misremembered names. (I think the Pedros Habichuela and Pinto should both be Pepes, but that could just be my ignorance).
   
   But if your object is to find out about Flamenco, then this is not the book to read; the classic in that regard is Donn Pohren's The Art of Flamenco.
   
   The present book is less about Flamenco than it is about the author, but I don't regard that as an obstacle. What is certain is that he is a born story-teller; and if his narrative ends up portraying him as rather self-centred, at least he has the grace to realise it and the honesty to admit it.
   
   Jason Webster is not the first to have found life in the anglophone world empty, and to have sought its meaning in Flamenco. He is, however, the first (as far as I'm aware) to write such an account after the Spanish way of life changed so drastically (following the death of Franco).
   
   If your budget will run to it, read Gerald Howson's The Flamencos of Cádiz Bay first, and then this. Both are unputdownable.



5. There are a lot of reviews on this book but I want to throw in my two cents. I picked this up some what reluctantly as it seemed like it might veer into the realms of a romance novel. Well, it doesn't, but it is still a romanticized look at Flamenco and the surrounding culture. It is also a great read for those of us that are not ever going to head off to Spain, find a flamenco teacher and worry about food and shelter later. I always find stories of people that blindly chase their dreams very interesting, combined with my strong interest in Flamenco and this makes for good stuff! Don't take it as some sort of serious expose on Flamenco; it's an interesting story about an outsider, a directionless college grad in the grimy world of musicians (that happen to be Flamencos) that are trying to get by in the world. They are tied to their music by tradition and birth as much as the love of the music.

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