The book is a non-fiction travel book, narrated in the first person by the independently travelling author. Three different journeys from the period 2001-2003 are described in three main chapters: The Utterly Deep South While traveling in Patagonia the author manages to get a discounted "last minute ticket" to a cruise to Antarctica. He has to wait a couple of weeks in South America for the cruise to begin, and spends the time hiking in Torres del Paine National Park in Chile and near El Calafate in Argentina. The main part of the chapter is dedicated to describing what visiting Antarctica is like. In and Out of Africa A travelogue from two months of independent travel ("[backpacking]") in Southern Africa. The trip begins and ends in Cape Town, looping through South Africa and its neighbouring countries, most of the time visiting national parks and small towns. Summer in the Pity A month of travel on and along the Trans-Siberian Railway, starting in Vladivostok and ending in Moscow, with several stops in between. A part of the distance is done by boat, from Kazan to Nizhny Novgorod on the Volga River.

One for the Road

Steph Landry has been the target of jokes since sixth grade when she spilled a red Super Big Gulp on Lauren Moffat''s white D&G skirt. In response, Lauren coined the phase "Don''t be such a Steph Landry" to ensure she never lived it down. Steph has since been content to hang out with her best friends Jason and Becca, but as she enters eleventh grade, she wants more out of high school. Luckily she finds a copy of an old book titled none other than How to be Popular when cleaning out Jason''s grandmother''s attic. The book is full of useful tips. She follows the book''s advice and begins the school year with flat ironed hair and a new attitude. Steph is determined to be confident and enthusiastic about school. She sits with new people at lunch and organizes a talent auction. Steph does not anticipate Lauren being so angry about her attempt to join the popular crowd or that Jason would be so hurt that she is leaving him behind. As her popularity grows, Steph is forced to make difficult choices about who and what is truly important to her.

How to Be Popular

While looking at a cottage with her friend Mrs. May, Kate discovers that the present tenant, Tom Goodenough, knew Arrietty Clock, a tiny "Borrower" that Mrs. May''s brother claimed to have met. He tells her what happened to Arrietty and her parents after they were driven from their original home in an old, English house. Homeless, they are forced to live outside. When they discover that the relatives they had hoped to stay with are nowhere to be found, they take up residence in an old boot. Arrietty meets a mysterious, wild Borrower named Spiller who assists them by bringing them meat and saves Arrietty''s life from a dog. Although nearly everything outside - cows, moths, field mice, cold weather - is a life-threatening danger for the tiny Borrowers, they learn how to survive in the wild. One night the boot''s owner, a gypsy named Mild Eye, discovers his lost property and brings them back to his caravan. With the help of the human boy Tom Goodenough, Spiller rescues them and leads them on to the their next home, the cottage that Tom lives in. There the Clocks find their long-lost relatives and Arrietty finds a friend in Tom.

The Borrowers Afield

After her adventures in Nightbirds On Nantucket, Dido Twite is travelling back to England on the HMS Thrush. En route, she befriends the ship''s open-minded steward, Holystone. The ship changes course, landing on the coast of New Cumbria. Bound by ancient treaties between Britain and New Cumbria, they are given orders to assist Ginevra, the Queen. Travelling to Bath, the capital city, the crew learn that Ginevra wants them to help her recover a lake, which she claims has been stolen by New Cumbria''s neighbour, Lyonesse. It seems that she is the same immortal Ginevra, or Guinevere, of myth and has waited centuries for the return of her king, Arthur. Unfortunately, she has attained immortality by cannibalistic vampirism, murdering and consuming local maidens. It then transpires that Holystone is an incarnation of Arthur, who for a thousand years had lain in suspended animation on an island in the missing lake. But this Arthur is not at all pleased at the monstrosity his ancient spouse has become.

The Stolen Lake

Abandoned as an infant, ten-year-old Chamdi has spent his entire life in a Bombay orphanage. There he has learned to find solace in his everyday surroundings: the smell of the first rains, the vibrant pinks and reds of the bougainvilleas that blossom in the courtyard, the life-size statue of Jesus, the "beautiful giant," to whom he confides his hopes and fears in the prayer room. Though he rarely ventures outside the orphanage, he entertains an idyllic fantasy of what the city is like – a paradise he calls Kahunsha, "the city of no sadness," where children play cricket in the streets and where people will become one with all the colours known to man. Chamdi’s quiet life takes a sudden turn, however, when he learns that the orphanage will be shut down by land developers. He decides that he must run away in search of his long-lost father, taking nothing with him but the blood-stained white cloth he was left in as a baby. Outside the walls of the orphanage, Chamdi quickly discovers that Bombay is nothing like Kahunsha. The streets are filthy and devoid of colour, and no one shows him an ounce of kindness. Just as he’s about to faint from hunasoned street children offer help: the lovely, sarcastic Guddi and her brother, the charming, scarred, and crippled Sumdi. After their father was crushed by a car before their eyes, the children were left to care for their insane mother and their infant brother. They soon initiate Chamdi into the brutal life of the city’s homeless, begging all day and handing over most of his earnings to Anand Bhai, a vicious underworld don who will happily mutilate or kill whoever dares to defy him. Determined to escape the desperation, filth, and violence of their lives, Guddi and Sumdi recruit Chamdi into their plot to steal from a temple. But when the robbery goes terribly awry, Chamdi finds himself in an even worse situation. The city has erupted in Hindu-Muslim violence and, held in Anand Bhai’s fierce grip, Chamdi is presented with a choice that threatens to rob him of his innocence forever.

The Song of Kahunsha

DryCo has sent two operatives, retired African-American general Luther and his white bodyguard Jake, to post-communist Moscow, where rival multinational corporation Krasnaya dominates Russian society through consumer capitalist mass production of products. However, Luther and Jake discover that Krasnaya has two highly advanced quantum physicists under duress, Oktobriana Osipova and Alekine. The two Dryco mercenaries manage to abduct the physicists, but their escape sends them back to 1939 in a conservative alternate history. In this world, Abraham Lincoln was killed by a Baltimore pro-slavery mob in 1861 CE, so the American Civil War never happened, and Theodore Roosevelt abolished slavery in 1907 due to European pressure on J.P. Morgan, who feared loss of his European financial assets. In 1932, Giuseppe Zangara assassinated Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill died from a car accident. As a result of Roosevelt''s premature death, it is noted that John Nance Garner proved to be a fiscal conservative, leading to a situation where much of the western United States had to threaten civil war to obtain economic relief from the ongoing Depression. As the novel progresses, Alekhine, actually a Krasnaya operative, abducts Joseph Stalin from Moscow, to be transferred to Krasnaya custody and kept in a dacha, in a future which has abandoned communism and uses the image of "Big Boy" as nostalgic consumer iconography. When this world eventually does undergo its World War II, it is assumed that there will be no effective opposition to Nazi Germany from its Soviet Union or United Kingdom as a result. However, as is disclosed in its sequel, Elvissey, this is an incorrect assumption. Luther and Jake make the accqaintance of Norman Quarles, an African American doctor and his wife, Wanda, but their presence attracts the suspicions of (unseen) J. Edgar Hoover, who sends FBI agents in pursuit. During the chase, Norman is killed, and Oktobriana contracts Dovlatov''s Syndrome, a mutated influenza virus that emerged in Irkutsk, Siberia in 1909, and led to the deaths of Queen Alexandra, US House Speaker William Dean Howells, Charlie Chaplin, Christy Mathewson, French Premier Clemenceau, Claude Debussy, Guillaume Apollinaire and Amedeo Modigliani, amongst others, during the ten year space of this epidemic. Ultimately, Luther and Wanda return to Dryco''s future, while Oktobriana and Jake are lost in the interdimensional void. As an aside, Luther notes that there are sects described as the Albigensian Church of Jesus the Light, Reformed and the Valentinian House of God in this world, which implies the survival of gnosticism has occurred in this timeline. Amongst the books cited in the Albigensian Bible are the Gospel of Matthew, Gospel of Mark, Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, but this gnostic bible also includes the Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Truth, and the Hymn of Light. The latter revelation will play an important role in Womack''s next novel, Elvissey.

Terraplane

A warrior who would rule a fifth of the world with strength and wisdom. A scholar who conquered an empire larger than those of Alexander or Caesar. A brother who betrayed his own to protect a nation. From a wise scholar to one of history''s most powerful warriors, Conqueror tells the story of Kublai Khan - an extraordinary man who should be remembered alongside Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great and Napoleon Bonaparte as one of the greatest leaders the world has ever known. It should have been a golden age, with an empire to dwarf the lands won by the mighty Genghis Khan. Instead, the vast Mongol nation is slowly losing ground, swallowed whole by their most ancient enemy. A new generation has arisen, yet the long shadow of the Great Khan still hangs over them all … Kublai dreams of an empire stretching from sea to sea. But to see it built, this scholar must first learn the art of war. He must take his nation’s warriors to the ends of the known world. And when he is weary, when he is wounded, he must face his own brothers in bloody civil war.

Conqueror

London was a very dangerous place to live during World War II and many children were evacuated to Ireland or the United States. Only child Elizabeth White is sent to live with her mother''s childhood friend and her large and bustling family, the O''Connors, in Ireland. Although the mothers were childhood friends, their relationship has become one-sided with Elizabeth''s mother, Violet, rarely corresponding and Aisling''s mother, Eileen, remembering their closeness with detailed letters. Violet believes even though Ireland is not as refined as her London, it is a safe place for her daughter. Elizabeth quickly becomes fast friends with Aisling, who is the same age. The story follows these two girls, along with the whole O''Connor family, as they grow into young ladies. Aisling is outgoing and bold, while Elizabeth is quiet with all the manners of a well-bred child. Elizabeth is shown a caring, loving family and begins to feel part of a real family, as opposed to a visitor in her own home. After the war ends, Elizabeth goes back home to London, leaving behind a loving family and returns to the quietness of her real family. The two girls have formed a bond that remains, however, for years after the war is over. They remain in close contact through letters, supporting each other through their marriages. Their lives remain intertwined, each facing her own relationships, successes, and failures.

Light a Penny Candle

The story takes place in a (then-future) fictional 1998, and centers around Anarch Peak, a black religious leader who had died in 1971 and is expected to rise soon. Sebastian Hermes, an owner of a small Vitarium (a business that digs up the dead and gives them the treatment they need before returning them to society), discovers Peak''s resurrection is imminent. After accidentally discovering the burial place of Peak, he decides, against the law, to dig up the body before the Anarch awakes. (As with contemporary controversies about brain death, it seems not to be judged morally significant if a heartbeat can be heard, but it is illegal to dig anyone up before they start talking, which suggests resumed brain function is a marker of "old-birth.") Various groups are interested in controlling the affairs of the ''old-born'', such as the Vitaria (technically, a person resurrected is in the legal custody of their Vitarium until claimed by family members) and the Library, an organization dedicated to erasing books which have passed beyond the initial date at which they were written. Religious institutions are also interested in ''old-birth'', particularly in the resurrection of Anarch Peak in the case of the Udites (an African-American religion) and The Rome Syndicate (the highest authority in Caucasian matters, as well as the owner of numerous religious artifacts and other items, like a syringe that can stop the Hobart Phase for short periods of time). These factions then argue over the ownership of Anarch Peak after his resurrection. When the Library kidnaps Anarch Peak, both factions send Sebastian Hermes to recover him. In the end Peak is killed and there may be an interracial war as a consequence of Peak''s permanent death. The Hobart Phase is the new order of life where people rise from the dead and are rejuvenated. Time reversal apparently began in 1986. Other than aging, Hobart Phase resurrection has changed nutritional and excretion processes and associated social taboos. People do not eat, but instead consume "Sogum" (hinted to be reverse Defecation) and later "plop" out food, which is done in private, due to its ''shameful'' nature. As for smoking, cigarettes are no longer smoked, but the smoke instead blown back into them, making them grow back to normal size (this also clears and freshens the air). "Goodbye" and "hello" have reversed their order within standard greetings. It is stated that Mars colonists do not have the Hobart Phase on their world, and it is limited to Earth, and presumably its lunar colonies as well. As hinted in the book, the United States of America has been partitioned into eastern and western segments. Hawaii and Alaska have also seceded from the WUS and FNM, but this is only mentioned in passing. In the WUS (Western United States), California is predominantly white, while the eastern "Free Negro Municipality" (FNM) is inhabited by African Americans. The fictitious religion of Uditi is the national religion of the East. Uditi is an offshoot of Christianity with apparent influences from Roman Catholicism and the Rastafari movement, and is centered around "the udi", an experience of a group mind. Inhabitants of the WUS view the religion with suspicion, and it is hinted that their media demonizes its adherents. Library-sanctioned murders and civil unrest are claimed to be the works of religious fanatics. FNM currency is claimed to be worthless, as is WUS currency (stated earlier in the book), but its citizens ignore this due to patriotism.

Counter-Clock World

In 1509, Alan Drayton, a young Yorkshireman, has to leave his college in Cambridge after a tavern brawl. His tutor Erasmus sends him to the continent to try to retrieve a manuscript of The Gadfly, a lost play by the ancient Greek writer Alexis from the time of Socrates. He believes that it is in the monastery of Varna in the Balkans. Alan intends to deliver the play to the printer Aldus Manutius in Venice, refusing to take employment with the ruthless Duke of Molfetta, who wants the play for his private collection. He is joined on the arduous journey to the monastery by a young Italian woman, Angela d''Asola, who disguises herself as a boy. They encounter Adriatic pirates, shipwreck, Turkish janissaries and sinister monks, all the while being doggedly pursued by the agents of the Duke. They find the manuscript but lose it again. In the end, their love of learning saves the day. The author avoids the obvious ending of having the two leading characters marry each other, instead following the custom of the time Angela marries an older wealthy man whom she has had in mind for some time. Alan returns to England, on the verge of its own Renaissance, to continue his education.

The Hills of Varna

In the summer of 1915, Beata Wittgenstein falls in love with a young Catholic French officer and follows her heart to be with him against the wishes of her Jewish Orthodox family and decides to live with him in Switzerland till World War 1 ends. After the war gets over, she goes back to Germany with her husband Antoine and her 2 year old daughter Amadea. They begin a peaceful life and after 8 years, she has her second daughter, Daphne. Antoine dies soon after his father''s death and his fortune as a Count is passed on to Beata, allowing her to take care of her family for years. However, after the death of her husband, she drifts away from her daughters and it is only when Amadea decides to become a nun, that she realizes her duty. As the war threatens her daughters, Beata''s views of the future change. She is not discovered as a Jewish-born, but when a woman from her past recognizes her, Beata and Daphne are arrested and die in a concentration camp. Amadea, a Carmelite nun is saved as she had stayed in the convent but is still forced into hiding as her friends disappear without a trace. She is sent to a concentration camp and escapes with the help of a German soldier. But, when he tries to rape her, she kills him and flees the country with the help of Partisans. As she flees and crosses the country ravaged by war, she decides to become an agent and falls for a British secret agent Rupert Montgomery. In love, Amadea begins to understand the ways of life and how love can echo through the generations.

Echoes

The book opens with a scene from Spiegelman''s Rego Park childhood in 1958. He runs to his father after being left behind by his friends, but his father responds in broken English, "Friends? Your friends? If you lock them together in a room with no food for a week, then you could see what it is, friends!" As an adult, Spiegelman visits his father, Vladek, from whom he has become estranged. Vladek has remarried to a woman called Mala since the suicide of Art''s mother, Anja, in 1968. Art wants to get Vladek to recount his Holocaust experience. Vladek tells of his time in Częstochowa, describing how he came to marry into Anja''s wealthy family in 1937 and move to Sosnowiec to become a manufacturer. Vladek begs Art not to include this part of the story in the book and Art reluctantly agrees. Anja suffers a mental breakdown after giving birth to their first son, Richieu, towards the end of the year. The couple go to a sanitarium in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia for her to recover. After they return, political and antisemitic tensions build until Vladek is drafted just in time for the Nazi invasion. Vladek is captured at the front and put to labor as a prisoner of war. After being released, he finds Sosnowiec has been annexed by Germany, and he is released on the other side of the border in the Polish protectorate. He sneaks across the border and is reunited with his family. During one of Art''s visits, he finds that a friend of Mala''s has sent them one of the underground comix magazines he had contributed to. Mala had tries to hide it, but Vladek finds and reads it. The four-page "Prisoner on the Hell Planet", reprinted in full, is a striking visual and thematic contrast with the rest of the book. Art is traumatized by his mother''s suicide three months after he was released from the state mental hospital, and in the end depicts himself behind bars, saying "You murdered me, Mommy, and left me here to take the rap!" In 1943, all Jews were ordered to move from Sosnowiec to Srodula, from where they would be marched to Sosnowiec to work. The family is split up—Richieu is sent to Zawiercie to be with his aunt, where they believed he would be safe. As the round-ups increase, and more Jews are sent from the ghettos to Auschwitz, the aunt poisons herself, her children and Richieu to escape the Gestapo. In Srodula, many Jews, including Vladek, build bunkers to hide from the German roundups. Vladek''s bunker is discovered and he is placed into a "ghetto inside the ghetto", surrounded by barbed wire. Later the remnants of Vladek and Anja''s family are taken away. Srodula is cleared completely of its Jews, except for a group Vladek hides with in another bunker. When the Germans finally depart, the group splits up and leaves the ghetto. In Sosnowiec, Vladek and Anja move from one hiding place to the next, making occasional contact with other Jews in hiding. Vladek hunts for provisions disguised as a Pole. They arrange with smugglers to escape to Hungary, but it is a trick—they are arrested by the Gestapo on the train and are taken to Auschwitz, where they are separated until after the war. Art asks after Anja''s diaries, which Vladek tells him were her later account of her Holocaust experiences. They are the only way to find out what happened to her after she was separated from Vladek at Auschwitz. Vladek tells Art she had said, "I wish my son, when he grows up, he will be interested in this". Vladek comes to admit that he burned them after she killed herself. Art is enraged, and calls Vladek a "murderer". The story jumps to 1986, after the first six chapters of Maus were collected into a single volume. Art is overcome with the unexpected attention the book receives, finding himself "totally blocked". Art talks with his psychiatrist, Paul Pavel, a Czech Holocaust survivor, about the book, who suggests that, as those who perished in the camps can never tell their stories, "maybe it''s better not to have any more stories". Art replies with a quote from Samuel Beckett: "Every word is like an unnecessary stain on silence and nothingness", but then realizes, "on the other hand, he said it". Vladek tells of his hardships in the camps, of starvation and abuse, of avoiding the selektionen and of his resourcefulness. Though it is dangerous, Anja and Vladek occasionally are able to exchange messages. As the war progresses, and the German front is pushed back, the prisoners are marched from Auschwitz, in Poland, to Gross-Rosen within the Reich, and then to Dachau, where the hardships only increase and Vladek catches typhus. The war ends, the camp survivors are freed, and Vladek and Anja are reunited. The book closes with Vladek turning over in his bed and telling Art, "I''m tired from talking, Richieu, and it''s enough stories for now." The final image is of Vladek and Anja''s tombstone—Vladek died in 1982, long before the book was completed.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

One for the Road

No Author Listed

How to Be Popular

By Meg Cabot

The Borrowers Afield

By Mary Norton

The Stolen Lake

By Joan Aiken

The Song of Kahunsha

By Anosh Irani

Terraplane

By Jack Womack

Conqueror

By Conn Iggulden

Light a Penny Candle

By Maeve Binchy

Counter-Clock World

By Philip K. Dick

The Hills of Varna

By Geoffrey Trease

Echoes

By Danielle Steel

Maus

By Art Spiegelman