Hunting Mr Heartbreak – A Discovery of America by Jonathan Raban
A few weeks back I “took ship” in Liverpool, and headed off to find America with the English author Jonathan Raban.
It was pure pleasure – page after page of portrait and insight.
Return to Naples – My Italian Bar Mitzvah and Other Discoveries by Robert Zweig PhD
I loved this book and its collection of carefully told memories. If you know Naples, or are curious about the city, this is an easy, fascinating read – a surprisingly gentle ride around a family and a city scarred by war.
Forgotten Kingdom – Nine Years in Yunnan, 1939-48 by Peter Goullart
This is a travel book that unfurls like a lotus flower. It has happiness at its heart but is grown out of hardship in the steep-sided valleys of south-western China.
The decade is the 1940s and the location is the province of Yunnan, geographically cut apart from the rest of China and still webbed with tribes, traditions and traders.
The Phraser 