An impressive guide that will persuade readers to pack their bags.
This comprehensive work is both a trove of practical advice and a paean to the idea of travel.
To say that Axelrod is a world traveler (he is also a photographer) is a rank understatement. He has set foot on all seven continents, most much more than once. In fact, such is his passion that an alternate subtitle for the book could be “Live To Travel, Travel To Live.” Chapter headings include “No More Excuses,” wherein he knocks down all the standard reasons for not going on a trip and addresses Covid-19; “Flight School,” in which he guides readers through the Byzantine world of air travel (reservations, frequent flyer miles, bargain hunting, the impact of Covid-19, even seating); and “Food, Fun, and Freedom,” adventures at the destination itself. He is a font of pithy pronouncements: “Build your dream trip as if you were building your dream home”; “A well planned trip…integrates into, rather than interrupts, your life”; and—on souvenirs—“Please do not be that nincompoop who comes back from Puerto Vallarta with a giant sombrero.” And who else might seize on a Tourbillon watch as a metaphor for building an itinerary—or even know that there is such a thing. Naturally, there are anecdotes from some of his trips (Bosnia, Tahiti, Greece). And even though the sojourn in Tahiti was more disaster than delight, he manages to wring some pleasant recollections out of it. Positive thinking is an ineradicable part of Axelrod’s makeup, and readers will admit that it is infectious. In a “don’t take my word for it” gambit, he deftly backs his arguments with experts in the field of travel research, a real growth industry. The copious backmatter includes pages upon pages of reference notes—the man is a bear for research. Certain chapters, like the one on air travel, can be overwhelming if readers are not familiar with app culture, arcane websites, and the credit card shuffle. On the other hand, he often summarizes dense discussions with bulleted lists, a convenience for overloaded readers, and likes to set up and then torch straw men, a sprightly way of presenting arguments.
An impressive guide that will persuade readers to pack their bags. (Acknowledgements, references, index)Pub Date: Jan. 11, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5445-2549-5
Page Count: 286
Publisher: Lioncrest Publishing
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.
A coffee-table book celebrates Michelle Obama’s sense of fashion.
Illustrated with hundreds of full-color photographs, Obama’s chatty latest book begins with some school portraits from the author’s childhood in Chicago and fond memories of back-to-school shopping at Sears, then jumps into the intricacies of clothing oneself as the spouse of a presidential candidate and as the first lady. “People looked forward to the outfits, and once I got their attention, they listened to what I had to say. This is the soft power of fashion,” she says. Obama is grateful and frank about all the help she got along the way, and the volume includes a long section written by her primary wardrobe stylist, Koop—28 years old when she first took the job—and shorter sections by makeup artists and several hair stylists, who worked with wigs and hair extensions as Obama transitioned back to her natural hair, and grew out her bangs, at the end of her husband’s second term. Many of the designers of the author’s gowns, notably Jason Wu, who designed several of her more striking outfits, also contribute appreciative memories. Besides candid and more formal photographs, the volume features many sketches of her gowns by their designers, closeups on details of those gowns, and magazine covers from Better Homes & Gardens to Vogue. The author writes that as a Black woman, “I was under a particularly white-hot glare, constantly appraised for whether my outfits were ‘acceptable’ and ‘appropriate,’ the color of my skin somehow inviting even more judgment than the color of my dresses.” Overall, though, this is generally a canny, upbeat volume, with little in the way of surprising revelations.
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780593800706
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
SEEN & HEARD
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
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