If I had a dime for every time someone asks me, "When can we travel again?" The truth is, I don't know. No one really knows. There are just so many pieces and parts and this virus is tricky so the goal post keeps moving . . . 2020 sure didn't end up the way we thought it would when in February we were talking about this strange virus and its impact on travel. I was at an industry conference in late February and it really was the elephant in the room. No one there thought we'd be here today, at the close of 2020. Yet, here we are.
So, with that, since I don't know, you don't know and no one knows what 2021 will bring . . . I bring you something to help us pass the time, to dream of travel, to get through the coming months as we wait for the vaccine and for flights to resume and countries to open and deaths to slow down and for the day when we can look out at the sunshine and breath again, mask free . . . I bring you my book club.
I didn't do as much reading as I should have in 2020. Well, that's not true. I'm a data wonk, so I read a lot, but I read statistics. Infection rates in states and countries. I read about treatment protocols. And I read about vaccine development. I compared notes on how all the places I've lived (Indiana, Ohio, California, Michigan, Maryland, DC, Canada, England, Denmark and Indonesia - for the uninitiated) tackled the virus. I read and read and read. But I didn't read for pleasure. I'm changing that right now and I how you will join me for the ride.
We are going to open up some books this year and go where our imaginations and our authors (let's call them tour guides, shall we?) will take us.
January 2021 - Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe by Bill Bryson
Amazon says - "In the early seventies, Bill Bryson backpacked across Europe—in search of enlightenment, beer, and women. He was accompanied by an unforgettable sidekick named Stephen Katz (who will be gloriously familiar to readers of Bryson's A Walk in the Woods). Twenty years later, he decided to retrace his journey. The result is the affectionate and riotously funny Neither Here Nor There."
Grab your copy here.
Read it. Listen to it. Put it under your bed and hope that osmosis is a real thing. Then join me at the end of January for a discussion via facebook live. Let's make a date, Sunday, January 31 at 2 p.m. EST. See you in my facebook group!
Not a member of my FB group? Remedy that here.
*Buying from these links does pay a small commission. Thanks for your support. Feel free to support your local library or bookseller too. Or check out the Hoopla app! I don't care where you get it - just read it and join the discussion.