Posts under ‘books’

One of this summer’s greatest pleasures has been reading the books that comprise the Stieg Larsson mystery trilogy. (I’m still waiting for my friend to loan me his copy of the last book: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest). Besides the thought provoking characters and fast-moving plots, I like the view the books offer [...]

In Donald Miller’s memoir A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, he begins his story in a funk. Writer’s block keeps him from producing a successful follow up to his best selling book Blue Like Jazz, he has no significant other, and there’s a lack of adventure in his life. His awakening comes when he [...]

For my last post, I described the four different types of Latin America travel writers: earnest, intrepid, rogue, and smug. Unlike the rest of the varieties, I was unable to come up with an example of a writer who I thought was “smug.” Fortunately, two Travelojos readers came to the rescue. A commenter who goes [...]

Since starting Travelojos, I’ve reviewed several travel books about trips to Latin America. Most travel books fall into three basic groups, says Thomas Kohnstamm in his book Do Travel Writers Go to Hell: “Earnest writers” who gain insights about a foreign country and themselves as a result of forming relationships with the inhabitants. “Smug writers” [...]

One summer when I was in law school I helped defend someone who was on the wrong end of one of the biggest drug busts in the history of Baltimore. If you’d read about “Doug” in the newspaper, he’d probably seem like a scary guy. He had a long arrest record, a serious drug abuse [...]

Do you have a book or DVD about Latin America that is sitting on your shelf? If so, you can mail it to me and I’ll send you a different book or DVD of your choice from the list below. In most cases, I’ve reviewed the item on Travelojos. Think of it as a pay-it-forward [...]

Stephanie Elizondo Griest has mingled with the Russian Mafiya, polished Chinese propaganda, and belly danced with Cuban rumba queens. These adventures inspired her award-winning memoirs Around the Bloc: My Life in Moscow, Beijing, and Havana; Mexican Enough: My Life Between the Borderlines; and the guidebook 100 Places Every Woman Should Go. She also edited Best [...]

“Challenge and novelty are key elements to happiness,” my guru tells me. She introduced me to blogging, Facebook, and urged me to try Twitter and Stumble Upon. Internalizing some of her catch phrases such as “enjoy the fun of failure” has prodded me to push beyond my comfort zone. Who is the source of this [...]

For me, one of the perks of blogging is having an excuse to read books about Mexico and other Latin American countries. While it’s always helpful to find out more information on the topic, I draw a considerable amount of inspiration from the authors. Below is a list of books that I have written about [...]

It’s 7 am in Nicaragua and the single mother next store has commenced playing the rock ballads that serve as her life’s soundtrack. The vocalized yearnings of Bryan Adams and Bonnie Tyler reverberate through the walls. Her neighbor reaches his breaking point after hearing “Total Eclipse of the Heart” for the umpteenth time. That is [...]