Narrow Dog to Carcassonne

A retired Englishman and his wife take their canal boat on the trip of a lifetime. Canal boats apparently are NOT robust enough for a sea journey, but Terry and Monica's dream is to chug along the English canals, out the Thames, across the Channel, pop into Calais, down the French canals, through Paris, down to Carcassonne. (Why Carcassonne? It sounds nice.) Accompanied by their narrow dog, Jim the whippet, they accomplish just what they set out to do, sharing the peculiarities of modern canal travel as they go. We meet unsavory characters, hard-working but sparse lock captains, town fair patrons, bartenders, mayors, other narrow and wide dogs, and everyday people rather surprised to see an English canal boat out of its usual environs. The eighteen French phrases at the back of the book to keep on hand when traveling are not to be missed. This book is a charming keeper, especially if you have experience traveling to any of the locales it describes, or have a dream to do so.

The Pirate Queen

Made it through nine chapters of this book on Queen Elizabeth I and her pirate adventurers in the early years of her reign. It's historical non-fiction; I knew that going into it. But very HEAVY on facts, very LIGHT on story. More like a history final than a "Pirate Queen". I'm going back to Alison Weir for my English history fix.