Exploring Wine Regions: México by Michael Higgins -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Exploring Wine Regions: México by Michael Higgins

Thank you for joining me for Book Beginnings on Fridays. Please share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are reading this week. You can also share from a book that caught your fancy, even if you are not reading it right now.

MY BOOK BEGINNING

In my quest to find knowledgeable and interesting pioneers to enlighten us on the history of viticulture in México, to set-the-stage for the value of this book, and to open our eyes to the wonderful things going on with Mexican wines in the wine regions of México... I was introduced to Doctora Marisa Ramos by Guanajuato's wine pioneer Ricardo Vega (we will hear more from him later).

-- from Exploring Wine Regions: México: Exploring México's Quality Wines and Phenomenal Cuisine by Michael Higgins (ellipses in original).

This México book is the fourth and latest in Michael Higgins's wonderful Exploring Wine Regions series. Like the earlier books, this one is meticulously researched and offers an insider account of wineries and vineyards, as well as travel tips for the food, special lodging, sights, and history of the region.

See my review of the earlier guides to Bordeaux and Argentina here and my review of the California book here.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Please add the link to your Book Beginnings post in the box below. If you share on social media, please use the #bookbeginnings hashtag.

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THE FRIDAY 56

The Friday 56 is a natural tie-in with Book Beginnings. The idea is to share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of your featured book. If you are reading an ebook or audiobook, find your teaser from the 56% mark.

Freda at Freda's Voice started and hosted The Friday 56 for a long, long time. She is taking a break and Anne at My Head is Full of Books has taken on hosting duties in her absence. Please visit Anne's blog and link to your Friday 56 post.

MY FRIDAY 56

-- from Exploring Wine Regions: México:

The majority of wineries in Valle de Guadalupe are located on this north side of the valley. They are primarily up into the hills of the valley with a south-facing sun exposure for the vines.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

This is the fourth book in this award-winning series, now exploring the México Wine Regions. Does México make wine? Yes. Any good? Very good. While México is famous for producing Tequila, this book opens our eyes to high-quality Mexican wines. And the phenomenal cuisine and extraordinary tourism. This book takes you on a journey to discover these amazing wines; combining wine education, an insider travel guide and spectacular photography. Higgins again dazzles his audience with another informative and beautiful book.

Two New Adventure Books by Women -- The Last Layer of the Ocean and On the Run -- on BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Welcome back to Book Beginnings on Fridays! Please share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are featuring this week. Add the link to your blog or social media post in the box below. 

Thank you all for participating! It is always fun to see what everyone is reading. 

MY BOOK BEGINNINGS

I have a Book Beginnings two-fer today. These two books are both new from OSU Press and they go together well. 

The Last Layer of the Ocean: Kayaking Through Love and Loss on Alaska's Wild Coast by Mary Emerick:

I understood the kind of people that I came from but not why I felt so different from them.

The Last Layer of the Ocean is Emerick's compelling memoir about moving to the Alaskan coast when she was 38. She took a job as a kayak ranger, traveling along the rugged Alaskan coast in a small yellow kayak. She married a man who lived on a different island and learned that marriage could be just as difficult as ocean kayaking.

On the Run: Finding the Trail Home by Catherine Doucette:

I can no longer remember the first time I heard the ice booming on a frigid night.

On the Run is another book by an adventure-seeking woman. Doucette is a backcountry skier, horseback rider, and mountaineer. In this collection of essays, she looks at how her outdoor lifestyle brings excitement and joy but requires sacrifices.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Link to your Book Beginnings post below. If you share on social media, please use the hashtag #bookbeginnings. 

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THE FRIDAY 56

TIE IN: The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice is a natural tie in with this event and there is a lot of cross over, so many people combine the two. The idea is to post a teaser from page 56 of the book you are reading and share a link to your post. Find details and the Linky for your Friday 56 post on Freda’s Voice.

MY FRIDAY 56

From The Last Layer of the Ocean:

Because the Forest Service required me to carry it, I complied, although I was not sure I would be able to shoot a bear if things went wrong. Guns were so casual in town, a second thought; people carried them the way women carried purses in other states. 

I could have picked any two sentences from page 56, they were are so interesting! Emerick is talking about the very real threat of bears, stories of unfortunate people mauled by bears, but how she had a hard time with her regulation rifle because it was hard for her to shoot and too big to fit properly on her kayak. 

From On the Run:

The terrain ahead demands attention, the alpine blade dropping away thousands of feet on either side. The guided skiers are already picking their way across the ridge, one at a time, tied to the guide who shuttles them over the exposed slice of mountain. 

Doucettes adventures are the sorts I could never even imagine doing! It is interesting to read about her life because it is so completely different than mine. 

John Haines, Author of Never Leaving Laramie -- AUTHOR INTERVIEW

John Haines was an adventure seeker from a young age. He biked through Tibet, kayaked the Niger River, and rode the Trans-Siberian Express from Beijing to East Berlin. His new memoir, Never Leaving Laramie (2020, OSU Press) weaves his travel stories with his philosophy of travel.

John talked with Rose City Reader about his travels, his work, and Never Leaving Laramie:

What lead you to write your memoir, Never Leaving Laramie?

I had time and a box of writing from over the years, usually for magazines, and detailed journals. Writing became another form of adventure, stringing stories into a thread for a book. I refer to the book as an "essayistic memoir" blending travel, culture, history and landscapes, mostly in places in transition, as I was.

Of all the trips you describe in your book, what was your favorite?

My favorite trip is always the next one. Beyond iconic places – The Potala Palace in Lhasa or the Great Mosque in Timbuktu – I value simple but durable moments: waking to dawn light in the Himalayas; sea kayaking on calm water off the coast of Hvar in Croatia after working in a war zone in Bosnia; walking alone on snow in a medieval Czech village remarkably undamaged by wars; and eating fish with water lily bulbs shared by the Bozo, a semi-nomadic fishing people in the Inland Delta of the Niger River in Mali.

You write about how growing up in the rural community of Laramie, Wyoming shaped your worldview. Can you explain a little about that?

Laramie is home to the only university in Wyoming, which gives it a continual cycle of student energy. It is surrounded by open space that begins on the edge of town and extends forever into the prairie, creeks and rivers, and mountains on the far edge of the high plains. The landscape serves as an escape for kids and eventually, inevitably, as a launchpad for wanderers into a wider world.

You had some amazing travel adventures and patched together a career around your travels before you went to work at Mercy Corps. Can you tell us about that transition?

I first heard about Mercy Corps when I was working in Central Europe and in Bosnia, and admired their predisposition for action and innovation. After helping to start an environmental bank in Portland, I joined Mercy Corps in 2002 to direct their domestic work. While there I worked on this idea to allow low-income people to invest in commercial real estate in their neighborhoods. In 2014 we formed the Community Investment Trust, a national project for Mercy Corps that puts real estate ownership into the hands of the BIPOC community, renters and first-time investors.

Who is the audience for your book?

People who are curious and have a taste for adventure, however large or small. I hope any reader will find something fresh in the stories of places in transition – from East Berlin to Bosnia, Tibet to Guinea – where the book moves. Themes of risk with beauty, pain, persistence and possibility flow through the book much as various rivers around the globe carry the stories.

In general, what do you hope readers will take away from your book?

I hope people have fun and relate to the elasticity of time and place that blends home with travel in the world.

What did you learn from writing your book – either about the subject of the book or the writing process – that most surprised you?

I can write watching sports while drinking a beer, but I edit in quiet with coffee.

What kind of books do you like to read? What are you reading now?

I read a range between creative fiction (anything by David Markson, for instance) and history (Michael Oren’s Power, Power, Faith, and Fantasy is amazing). I am currently reading Caste by Isabelle Wilkerson and Analogia by George Dyson, both of which take some time to absorb between chapters. I slip into reading the essays in Horizon, the final book of a favorite of mine, Barry Lopez.

What's next for you? What are you working on now?

I am committed to growing the Community Investment Trust into a national force, building replication from our successful East Portland pilot, to close the racial wealth gap throughout the US. I continue to write essays and am editing short stories I had mothballed.

THANK YOU, JOHN!

NEVER LEAVING LARAMIE IS AVAILABLE ONLINE IN PAPERBACK AND EBOOK.

Exploring Wine Regions – Bordeaux France and Argentina on MAILBOX MONDAY

 

This week for Mailbox Monday, I have a couple of armchair travel books, courtesy of Exploring Wine Regions.

I was more than happy to look over these review copies of Exploring Wine Regions – Bordeaux France, which comes out on October 1, and the earlier book on Argentina. Both promise insider accounts of wineries and vineyards in the regions they cover as well as travel guides to the food, special lodging, sights, and history.

The Argentina and Bordeaux books are the first two in what promises to be a long series. A California book will come next. 

The photographs are gorgeous and both books are chock-o-block with information. I look forward to spending time with them before I post a review. I can already see they are beautiful coffee table books and would be perfect for planning a wine tasting vacation. 

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION:

Our series of coffee table quality books are filled with spectacular photography, wine knowledge and travel tips. It’s all about wine. Everything wine. And what that lifestyle is about. The foods. The travels. The people. The experiences.

As we travel to the different wine regions, we immerse ourselves, deeply educate ourselves to better able to share our knowledge and personal experiences with you in the most concise way. Where to go…the wineries, restaurants, accommodations, events, and experiences. And a little history of each region to better understand the wines. Through us, meet the winemakers, chefs, sommeliers, hoteliers, restauranteurs, even the proprietors… the people who are at the forefront of the winemaking and the wine tourism industry.

MAILBOX MONDAY 

Join other book lovers on Mailbox Monday to share the books that came into your house last week. Visit the Mailbox Monday website to find links to all the participants' posts and read more about Books that Caught our Eye.

Mailbox Monday is hosted by Leslie of Under My Apple Tree, Serena of Savvy Verse & Wit, and Martha of Reviews by Martha's Bookshelf.