Puss Reboots: Blog: June 2011: West Coast Journeys

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Reviews
Alone on a Wide Wide Sea by Michael Morpurgo
Babymouse Burns Rubber by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm
Babymouse Cupcake Tycoon by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm
Bite Me by Christopher Moore
Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut
Bumped by Megan McCafferty
Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett
Fever Crumb by Philip Reeve
A Fine and Private Place by Peter S. Beagle
For Biddle's Sake by Gail Carson Levine
Fullmetal Alchemist 03 by Hiromu Arakawa
Fullmetal Alchemist 04 by Hiromu Arakawa
Ghostopolis by Doug TenNaple
The Green Ripper by John D. MacDonald
The Lost Elephants of Kenyisha by Ken Altabef
Mercury by Hope Larson
Meanwhile by Jason Shiga
The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart
The Night at the Museum by Milan Trenc
The Odyssey (All Action Classics 03) by Homer and Tim Mucci
Princess Academy by Shannon Hale
Queer Phenomenology by Sara Ahmed
The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan
Tuesday by David Wiesner
Twin Spica 01 by Kou Yaginuma
Twin Spica 02 by Kou Yaginuma
Urgent 2nd Class by Nick Bantock
The Way They Wove the Spells in Sippulgar by Robert Silverberg
West Coast Journeys by Caroline C. Leighton
Writers of the Future by Charles Oberndorf

Miscellany
Canadian Book Challenge 5
Twenty-four Years of Reading
Why YA Matters to Me

Previous month

West Coast Journeys: 06/01/11

West Coast Journeys by Caroline C. Leighton is a compilation of diary entries and letters she wrote during her trips from San Francisco through parts of California up through Oregon, Washington and into Canada.

Washington was still a territory at the time of Leighton's travels. Although things have changed and transportation options have improved, Leighton's precise and pictorial descriptions of her journey makes it easy to follow along on a modern day map. I read with a copy of Google Maps open so I could zoom into some of the most rural areas.

The book wraps up with Leighton settling down in the Bay Area. Her descriptions of San Francisco, Oakland and Alameda are fascinating.

The edition I read had some historical perspectives added as introductions to the different time periods. They were were nice but unnecessary given Leighton's own attention to detail.

Four stars.