Tag: Roaring Twenties

The Best Train Journeys in the World by Franco Tanel

- Michelle Leave a comment

The Best Train Journeys in the World by Franco Tanel is a lush travel guide highlighting the unique experience of train travel accompanied with full color itineraries and logistics for those readers who are inspired to plan their next journey.  The book is organized by geographic location and offers the most historic and stunning train trips for each area of the world.  Author and photographer Tanel showcases 40 train adventures over 6 continents.  The trips represented are a variety of lengths, accommodations and terrain for those on a budget or those planning a once in a lifetime experience.

For each journey, Tanel provides historic information as to how each route was established and its historic significance.  Also included are little known facts about the train, route and economics that made the routes needed and enjoyable today.  Practical tips include maps of each route, the best scenery along the way, websites for reservations and more information, unique elements of the train and journey and the nuts and bolts of pricing and options.

Some highlighted trains and routes include :

Rocky Mountaineer  (Canada) – With a choice of four different itineraries, passengers travel for a total of 2-3 days per route in the Canadian Rockies on the Rocky Mountaineer.  At the end of each day, passengers spend the night in luxury hotels along the way so the beauty of the terrain is not missed overnight.  The most popular route cuts through Banff National Park and Lake Louise on the way to Vancouver, where the journey completes.

Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad (Colorado) – The Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad route was opened in 1882 to haul silver and gold ore and makes the 45 mile trek between Durango and Silverton (Colorado) roundtrip in 9 hours.  Never traveling faster than 18 miles per hour, the steam train tracks are at a high altitude and built along sheer cliffs above the river in which a slower pace is needed.

Madaraka Express (Kenya) – Making the trek between Nairobi and Mombasa, the Madaraka Express in Kenya completes the journey in approximately 5 hours.  Much of the scenic railway, which was developed in 2017, is built on viaducts above cities in order to allow the natural landscape to remain below.  Along the way travelers pass through both the Nairobi National Park followed by the famous Tsavo National Park so all the stunning wildlife can be seen from the train’s oversized picture windows.

The Jacobite (Scotland) – As part of the journey was made famous in the Harry Potter movies, The Jacobite steam train is a tourist service that begins in Glasgow passes through Fort William and finishes up in Mallaig and returns in 4-6 hours depending on the time of day.  Much of the terrain can only be viewed on this train line, especially  the long stretches between the small stations of Rannoch Moor and Corrour, making The Jacobite the best way to take in the breathtaking views of the Scottish Highlands.

The Orient Express (Italy and France) – Reimagined from its heyday in the 1920s, this new rendition of The Orient Express travels from Paris and makes it way to Venice over the course of two days.  The original Orient Express began in 1883 and continued running (with some breaks during wartime) until May of 1977.  The original route stretched from Paris to Istanbul.  The new Orient Express train has all the majesty of the 1920s – glass panels, intricate woodcarvings and rich fabrics.  Passengers have the option of three dining cars per meal and travelers follow a strict dress code while being served by international chefs.  The Orient Express is a luxurious step back in time!

If you are a adventurous armchair traveler or are planning the trip of a lifetime, The Best Train Journeys in the World will open up a world of train traveling possibilities!

Beautiful Little Fools by Jillian Cantor

- Anna Leave a comment

“‘I always thought it was us women who were the fools,’ I whispered. ‘But I was wrong, it’s been the men all along…'”

I am so excited to share yet another retelling of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby with all of you. Due to this classic recently entering the public domain, this is already the second retelling I have been privileged to read over the last few months (please see my previous post for the title The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo for another great retelling). While I enjoyed Vo’s version of events, I have to admit I liked Jillian Cantor’s Beautiful Little Fools even more, so let’s dive right in!

As a brief recap for the original narrative, The Great Gatsby is set over the course of one summer during the Roaring Twenties on Long Island (New York) and primarily revolves around Jay Gatsby, a mysterious man of great wealth, and Daisy Buchanan, a beautiful socialite he falls in love with before going off to war. Taking place a few years after their initial meeting, this book picks up with Daisy having married a wealthy and unfaithful husband (Tom Buchanan) and Nick Carraway, Daisy’s distant cousin, unknowingly moving next door to the lavish mansion of Jay Gatsby. Before long, Nick plays a key role in reuniting Daisy and Gatsby once again.

While Fitzgerald’s story lends Nick the sole perspective as narrator, this retelling features three female voices: the aforementioned Daisy; Jordan, Daisy’s best friend from childhood; and Catherine, the sister of Myrtle Wilson (Myrtle is a rather major character in the original, while Catherine is not). While each of these characters is in the original story, the text never reveals their thoughts and backstories, forcing readers to assume their motives, so this shift in storytelling turns the original on its heels and lends the female leads a complexity that truly makes this book one of my top reads of the year thus far.

As an example, while Daisy is originally characterized as superficial and driven by materialistic motives, this story reveals a tragic past forcing her to to sacrifice her love in order to care for her family. In Jordan’s case, rather than a scandalous  golfer appearing to be unsympathetic to Nick’s innocent advances, she is forced to navigate making her father proud on the course while hiding her love for a fellow female golfer on the tour. Lastly, while Catherine is merely mentioned as another body at a party in the original, she is a strong and passionate suffragette who refuses to give up her ambitions and be suffocated by the societal expectations to marry and become a mother.

In addition to exposing the thoughts, motives, and backstories of the women, Cantor also flips the script by giving readers the female insight on the male characters. For instance, while I tend to think of Gatsby’s character as a desperate and naïve lover,  but in a sort of innocuous way (especially when compared to characters like Tom Buchanan), this retelling portrays Gatsby not as a blameless lover, but as manipulative, possessive, and, in some moments, predatory. The only male perspective presented in this retelling is that of a detective who suspects one of these women of being the true culprit behind Gatsby’s murder (did I mention this version has murder mystery flair?).

All in all, this retelling has bestowed power and agency to several new literary voices and given the women in this story the nuances and complexity they deserve. Cantor did a masterful job of taking a renowned classic and recasting it in her own compelling way!

This title is also available in the following formats:

Overdrive eBook 

The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo

- Anna Leave a comment

“It was no Mercury dime New York moon, but a harvest moon brought all the way from the wheat fields of North Dakota to shine with sweet benevolence down on the chosen and the beautiful.”

Among all of the works to enter the public domain this past year (due to having been published before 1925), one of the most well-known is The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. As a part of the public domain, this classic is now available for authors to use freely in retellings, which is exactly what Nghi Vo does in her latest work, The Chosen and the Beautiful. As someone who has always enjoyed reading the original, my interest was immediately piqued, and I am excited to share more about this title with all of you.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Fitzgerald’s original work, The Great Gatsby is set over the course of one summer during the Roaring Twenties on Long Island (New York) and primarily revolves around Jay Gatsby, a mysterious man of great wealth, and Daisy Buchanan, a beautiful socialite he falls in love with before going off to war. Taking place a few years after their initial meeting, this book picks up with Daisy having married a wealthy and unfaithful husband (Tom Buchanan) and Nick Carraway, Daisy’s distant cousin and narrator of the story, moving to Long Island from Minnesota to work in bonds. Little does either Nick or Daisy know that the former moves next door to the lavish and excessive mansion belonging to Gatsby and that, before long, Nick would play a key role in reuniting Daisy and Gatsby once again.

Another major character in this story is Jordan Baker, a renowned and opulent golfer who is also one of Daisy’s best childhood friends. In this retelling, Vo explores this story from Jordan’s perspective as a queer, Asian socialite who was adopted from Vietnam and brought to the United States at a very young age. Through her eyes, you are privy not only to more of Daisy’s backstory, but to a brand new literary voice experiencing the societal norms of the ’20s at a remove, as Jordan is often “othered” within their shared social circles as Daisy’s charming and exotic friend. In addition to this major change from the original narrative, this retelling also has magical elements incorporated into it, technically making it a science fiction novel set within the glittering excess of the Jazz Age.

All in all, I think this is a very interesting retelling that presents a powerful new literary voice, and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting Vo’s version of Jordan Baker. While I did find myself becoming lost in the magical components at times, as they seemed a bit random and scattered throughout, I think this was, in part, due to Vo’s diligence in adhering to Fitzgerald’s original account pretty closely. While the transformation of Jordan’s character and her insight were more than enough for a satisfying retelling for me, I think I would have enjoyed the science fiction aspects more if Vo had deviated further from the script and reimagined more of the story, as opposed to just retelling it.

In the end, I would still recommend this novel to both those who have or haven’t read the original, as this new perspective definitely adds to the timeless themes in Fitzgerald’s original, while simultaneously bringing the story up to speed in the 21st century. I also fully intend on reading any future retellings and reimaginings of Fitzgerald’s work, as I am sure there will be many more coming down the pike with this novel in the public domain!

This title is also available in the following formats:

Large Print

Blotto, Twinks and the Ex-King’s Daughter by Simon Brett

- Lynn 1 Comment

If you enjoy P.G. Wodehouse, you will love Simon Brett’s newest mystery, Blotto, Twinks and the Ex-King’s Daughter.   Blotto is even more clueless than the aristocratic Bertie Wooster.

While Wooster has his butler, Jeeves,  Blotto is also lucky enough to have a  much smarter sidekick.  In this case, the handsome son of the Duke of Tawcaster (pronounced taster) is guided by his sister, Twinks. She is not only smart, but beautiful and loves to use her analytical skills to solve mysteries. In this book, she feels fortunate to have a dead body right in her own home, Tawcaster Towers. Her mother, the Duchess, forces the local constable to spirit away the dead body before her dinner party adjourns for cigars.

Britain’s ruling class is parodied in a cheerfully absurdist writing style, and the time between the two world wars seems refreshingly innocent.