Winter Newsletter 2023 Travel, Adventure, & Sports

Ode to Travel is Santa Cruz filmmaker-photographer Patrick Trefz’s look back through his favorite work and accompanying adventures around the globe, highlighting his passions as a surfer, foodie, and world traveler. Exploring nearly 40 places from Argentina to Tunisia, this engaging collection immerses you in his experience, down to a shared recipe from each area. With forewords by Jim Deneven, Chris Beamish, and David Kinch, Ode to Travel is clearly recognized for what it is—one cool book. 

—Melinda

As a huge baseball fan, I’m not sure I could narrow down why I love the game to just 50 reasons, but bestselling author Joe Posnanski (The Baseball 100) has done so in his terrific new book. (Technically, there are lists in categories that take it to 108—who can blame him?) Told from unique perspectives (including those of fans, umpires, and opposing players) Posnanski recounts 50 baseball moments that are either epic and seared in fans’ memories (Willie Mays’s catch) or small moments that exemplify the beauty of the game (future Giants announcer Duane Kuiper’s one and only home run). This magical book is the perfect gift for any baseball fan. 

—S.B.

Nikki Vargas’s memoir would be a compelling enough, candid story of love(ers) and career, but Call Me When You Land is also vibrant travel writing. From Rouen to Bogotá, Vietnam to Argentina, Vargas brings places to life, not only with the sights, sounds, and food, but with the feeling of being there, a traveler’s wonder and joy. Whether your own passport is ready to go or you’re an armchair explorer, this will take you around the world, looking for your next adventure. 

—Jocelyn

Margaret and Corey Bienert of the TikTok-famous travel series A Pretty Cool Hotel Tour have gathered all of their favorite themed locations into one place! Come for the colorful photography of heart-shaped tubs and seashell beds and stay for the fascinating history of honeymoon hotels in post-war America. The book is dripping with meticulous detail and even includes a map of every hotel discussed, so you can plan your own kitschy road trip! 

—Mo

Though it's hard to imagine now, there was a time when the NBA was a backwater league with few fans, when the average professional football or hockey player needed a side job in the off-season to make ends meet. Michael MacCambridge’s thoroughly researched and well-written book takes us back to the 1970s and shows how big-money television deals, better individual contracts, increased acceptance of integration, and the emergence of female athletes combined to bring sports from the margins to the mainstream and indelibly change the country. 

—Rico

Since her time growing up on the Welsh coast, Hannah Stowe (daughter of author-artist Jackie Morris!) has felt the pull of the ocean—its vastness, animals, and promise of adventure. Move Like Water is the story of her journey to, and on, the seas. Her memoir celebrates life as an artist, marine ecologist, and sailor with evocative imagery, interconnected nature writing, and a thirst for unfurled sails and open water, always through a lens of conservation and environmental responsibility. It is wonderful.

—Melinda

Caster Semenya was always rather tomboyish and through years of hunting and playing soccer with the boys, she had a physique to match. When she began to race, she dominated, until she discovered she is intersex. Suddenly, she was barred from competing at all and had to fight tooth and nail to prove she wasn’t cheating. Timely and humorous, Semenya lays it all on the page. Compelling from the start to the finish line. 

—Ivy

Mother, Nature is both a joyous travel adventure and an intimate journey of the heart. Jedidiah Jenkins takes a lively road trip with his mom on the same path she famously trekked from New Orleans to the Oregon Coast in the ‘70s, to more fully understand her and enjoy the time they have left. But it is also the honest journey of a family relationship challenged by her beliefs and his sexuality. With humor and care, Jenkins takes us across the States and through a lifetime, looking for answers in the messy middle, and we are all the better for it. 

—Melinda