For the Love of Italy: Rural Pleasures and Hotel Estates Review

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(More customer reviews)Was delighted to find on Amazon this beautiful book on upscale boutique hotels and B&Bs with some description of the area as well as price ranges and beautiful pictures of these estates. The places are in the four star and up range so a bit pricey for me but loved the descriptions and pictures.

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From grand views and romantic hillside villas to sprawling gardens and alfresco dinners, Italy offers its most authentic self through its landscape and its food. For the Love of Italy celebrates Italy\'s countryside and the farm-to-table movement with vivid profiles and luscious photography of twenty-two spectacular agriturismi, or hospitable farming estates. Each is inextricably connected to the Italian agricultural tradition and to the most simple of daily routines and pleasures. All will delight visitors with lovely accommodations and unforgettable graciousness. Marella Caracciolo, who has written extensively about travel in Italy from both sides of the Atlantic, and renowned photographer Oberto Gili present a sensual journey in this evocative collection of diverse landscapes, unmatched architecture, and local gastronomic traditions. One can stay at a Renaissance villa estate with breathtaking views, where biodynamic wine is produced, or at a unique luxury hotel in the prehistoric dwellings of Basilicata, where visitors sleep, bathe, and eat by candlelight. Families visiting Villa la Foce and the nearby thirteenth-century farmhouse in southern Tuscany, will discover exquisite gardens, a swimming pool, a tree house—and meals inspired by the bounty of the enormous vegetable garden and orchards. Caracciolo describes in transporting prose the colorful history and seasonal rhythms of these and nineteen other estates. And in Gili\'s photography the interiors, architecture, and gardens unfold with charm and grace. Whether one wants to learn traditional pasta making, sip Brunello right where it\'s made, or wander an ancient orangerie and then take a nap, these delightful farms promise unique and spectacular trips—or the fantasy of one. With a resource section that will be indispensable for anyone planning a trip to an agriturismo, For the Love of Italy is a portrait of an irresistible country and an enviable way of life.

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Tulagi Hotel Review

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(More customer reviews)Tulagi hotel is an excellent read. Heikki Hietala has definitely put a lot of work into the book. The level of details and historic accuracy is amazing. But beyond the technical details lies a wonderful story with beautifully written characters full of personality and charm. Reading Tulagi hotel, I found myself constantly smiling. Not many a book has had the same effect. Wonderful work indeed, Heikki!

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World War II has given Jack McGuire the chance to escape the confines of the Midwest and the family farm. An ace U.S. Navy fighter pilot, he risks his life each day with his squadron in the South Pacific theatre. For him, there's calm and camaraderie up there in the cockpit. But when the war ends, Jack struggles to find his place in civilian society. Turning his back on his home, family and inheritance, he returns to the Solomon Islands. Here he builds a hotel on the same island paradise he flew over in his years of combat. But when Kay Wheeler, the widow of his wartime best friend and wingman, comes to visit the island, Jack's orderly world is disrupted. He is forced to consider whether there's room enough for two in his reinvented life.

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The Enders Hotel: A Memoir (River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Prize) Review

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(More customer reviews)Growing up in a hotel sounds like a cool and exotic experience, doesn't it? At the very least, it must have offered the chance to meet all kinds of people. And eating all of your meals at a café counter, sitting on an upholstered and spinnable stool, would have been fun, too. Well: maybe. These are the kinds of scenes Brandon Schrand recalls when he thinks back to his childhood. He lets us in on his unique past within the pages of this intriguing memoir.
Schrand's family owned the Enders Hotel in Soda Springs, Idaho, from 1975 to 1992. A three-story brick building with more than 100 rooms, the hotel dates to 1919 and was named for William and Theodore Enders, the German immigrant brothers who built it. Coincidentally, the establishment was also an attraction for "enders" of other sorts: transients, recovering alcoholics, and individuals just plain down on their luck. Schrand's relatives -- a complex combination of personalities as a result of multi-generational divorces -- accommodated pretty much all of them, when they weren't on the move or in recovery themselves. "It seems fitting, inevitable perhaps," he writes, "that we eventually bought a hotel, a place outfitted with so many exits and entrances, and a place that seemed itself a beacon to the far-farers, to people, ultimately, like us." (p. 203) At the same time, Brandon was growing up. An only child with a vivid imagination and a clubhouse that he eventually shared with friends and classmates, Brandon spent his so-called "formative years" doing odd jobs around the building, alternatively interacting or deliberately ignoring the guests (as per his parents' orders), and exploring the natural areas around the hotel. Complete with a geyser that erupted every hour on the hour, Soda Springs was a company town, a tourist destination, and a temporary way station for many a passer-by. For Brandon, it was Home.
The novelties are what make for interesting reading here. Soda Springs. An unusual family situation. Living in and operating a hotel with a bar and a restaurant. Most of us don't come from similar situations. And yet: growing up is in itself a common experience and one that we can all relate to, no matter the location. And though we may be singularly place-oriented when we are children, it is only when we become adults and look back over the years that we realize that the individuals who surrounded us at the time made the difference, all along. As much as we loved special buildings or certain towns, it was the people who made those places remarkable for us. That can be a hard lesson to learn; harder still, to accept.
Writing such a book is a risky business, since it reveals so much of oneself and one's family. (How did Brandon remember all of these boyhood incidents???) This is the kind of memoir that prompts you to write your own. It's easy to see why it's an award winner.

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Hotel Liaison Review

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(More customer reviews)I was really looking forward to this book after having read the reviews about it. And I have to say that there is an intriguing plot to it but, there is a but... well, to be honest two buts.
My first but: I love character development and I love to get to know my heroines in the course of a tale. And that is where the story lacks. Bitterly. The author just put too many interesting stories, too many fates, to many different personalities with background stories about whom I would have wanted to know more into 231 pages. And I found that absolutely irritating.
Let's see: There is a woman who is abused from her girlfriend and tries to get out of this relationship. She falls in love with a woman who owns a hotel and who is not sure if it is the right time for a relationship for her. There is yet another woman, an old lady, that lives in the hotel and you just know that there is a secret around her. There is another woman who feels that she can't do relationships because of something that has happened in her past. There is another woman, the best friend of the hotel owner and the one feeling unable to do relationships that runs around in this story as well. And there is a teenager, run away from home, which meets the old lady mentioned before. And these were just the main characters and the main minor parts.
I am sorry, but this is just way too much for me. I have to admit that I begun to loose interest rather soon and was only skimming through the book from page 100 on.
This is a bit of a shame because, like I stated earlier, the plot is intriguing. And I like the way JLee Meyer worked the abuse girlfriend thing... in the beginning. And this is my second but: Because, honestly, how realistic is it that a woman coming right out of an abusive relationship is turning into some kind of sex maniac with another woman she just met recently. Does that sound healthy to you? Sorry, I really had a problem with that one.
All in all I give three stars to this book because of the interesting idea.


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Two women searching through a secret past discover that their brief hotel liaison is only the beginning. Laurel Hoffman, an associate professor of women's studies in Berkeley, struggles to stay on track for tenure while caught up in the last throes of a crumbling relationship with a senior colleague. When she hears of a hotel being renovated and a secret room full of papers about women who once stayed there, she knows she has a potential career-saving article. Stefanie Beresford, the hotel owner, is not exactly receptive when Laurel approaches her about researching the hotel's history, but that doesn't stop her from flirting with the alluring academic. She doesn't need the distraction, but for the first time in her life she wants to take a chance on more than a fleeting encounter. While Laurel can't deny her powerful feelings for Stefanie, she fears she's risking her heart as well as her future if she acts on her desires. But can a simple encounter between two rational adults really be all that dangerous?

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Understanding Hospitality Law Review

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(More customer reviews)We needed this book for an audit that happens yearly here at the beach. I wasn't really sure I would even open it, but once I did it was full of interesting laws I wasn't aware of. These can help us figure out our boundaries with guests and the public, which will make a much happier resort experience for all included. :)

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Understanding Hospitality Law alerts hotel and restaurant operators to a number of potential legal problems and pitfalls. Readers of Understanding Hospitality Law should be better able to recognize, early on, a legal problem or potential legal problem, so they can consult with a local attorney in time to head off the problem before it mushrooms into a damaging lawsuit. At the end of each chapter, the reader will find "Important Points for Management," a section that summarizes the basic legal principles discussed in the chapter.

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Inside: The Chelsea Hotel Review

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(More customer reviews)I recently visited the Chelsea Hotel and was interested in photographs that captured the hotel.
From my perspective, this book is very arty and really didn't deliver the experience.
I am still looking for a book that catalogues the artwork at the Chelsea and photographs of the hotel and some of its famous inhabitants.


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The Chelsea Hotel is a place where excess is welcome, where the psyche can be annihilated or resurrected. It has a magical potential for transformation, whether it is rebirth or destruction. Artists such as Jasper Johns, Jack Kerouac, and Ethan Hawke (in addition to those listed above) have been drawn Inside by a seemingly irresistible magnetic force.Julia Calfee has lived and photographed in the Chelsea Hotel for four years. As she points out, "When I photographed at the Chelsea Hotel, I would stay in a space or situation for hours. Time would pass and my presence would become less and less visible. Sometimes I would even disappear. People are always asking me what it's like to live in the Chelsea Hotel. Not always easy. There are times I felt like a fly caught in a spider's web, at risk of being eaten alive if I made the wrong move. This goes with living and working in the same place with a large extended, temperamental family full of artistic sensitivities and colossal egos, with long, exposed nerve ends—but there were also many moments of friendship, generosity, and complicity." In an intimate style, Inside: The Chelsea Hotel documents not only the archetypes and atmosphere in, but also echoes from the spirits and ghosts of, the Chelsea Hotel.

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Cool Hotels Cool Prices Review

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(More customer reviews)I've been buying my coffee table books at teNeues for quite a long time now, and it's just perfect for such usage! It brings a definite aesthetic upgrade to the lounge and the photos are printed clearly with short description of each hotels. Good book for leisure activity.

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We all know how fun and exciting travel can be.But as with all good things in life, it's too easy to deny yourself.This accessible Styleguide edition profiles the coolest hotels for more modest budgets.Each featured hostelry offers comfort, style and sophistication.It just goes to show that high-end design can equal affordability.

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