*****= An all-time favorite
**** = Outstanding
*** = Above
average
** = Enjoyable
*
= Good, with reservations
****A House Somewhere
Tales of Life Abroad
edited by Don George and Anthony Sattin
Reviewed June 30, 2003.
Lonely Planet Publications, Melbourne, 2002. 310 pages.
Available at Sembach Library (910.4 HOU). A Sonderbooks’ Stand-out of 2003:
#4, Cross-Cultural Nonfiction
I love stories about people living in a cross-cultural situation.
They remind me how lucky I am to get to live in Germany. Jan Morris
puts it well in the opening essay, “Home Thoughts from Abroad:”
“And I know well, too, the delectable thrill of moving into a new
house somewhere altogether else, in somebody else’s country, where the
climate is different, the food is different, the light is different, where
the mundane preoccupations of life at home don’t seem to apply and it
is even fun to go shopping.”
This book has selections from twenty-six different authors on this
theme. There’s a delightful variation, with stories from all over
the world, even America. (None from Germany, though.) Indeed,
the stories from the Middle East and the Far East made me feel lucky that
I live in a culture that is at least similar to my own.
What is so special about making a home somewhere far from the land
of your birth? Perhaps it adds a touch of wonder, making you notice
and appreciate everyday details that seemed inconsequential before.
Perhaps it’s the sense that every day is a vacation.
Ever since my six-week summer mission to Austria when I was in college,
I’ve felt that the nicest way to get to know a place is to live there
for awhile. I like having enough time to catch the rhythm of the
place, to prepare some meals and do some laundry, to get to know a place
with your heart, not just from facts spouted by a tour guide.
This book shows many people going through that process in places
all over the world. I’m happy I’m not the only one who enjoys the
delights of a house somewhere.
Book Reviews by Sondra Eklund