T H I S+W E E K

Forbidden island:
Travel to Cuba
By Don George, Editor

Cuba libre!
By Mark Schapiro
A hot art scene brings the world to Havana's door
-A gallery of images
>Books on Cuba

Irish idyll
By Patric Kuh
Savoring Ireland's greatest hotels

D E P A R T M E N T S

The Surreal Gourmet
By Bob Blumer
Your own sitcom, with curry

Postmark
San Francisco:
The borrowed city
By Gary Kamiya
-Books on San Francisco

Passages:
"Paris in Pink"
An affair in Paris
By Katya Macklovich

Readers' Tips and Tales
Philadelphia: Weirdness Capital of America?

A letter to the Editor
An Uzbek responds

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Your virtual travel agency

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L A S T + W E E K

Saturday, May 24

Praise the Titanic!
By Doug Cruickshank
Eighty-five years later, they're still going down with the ship

A full list of all
Wanderlust articles

               B O O K S   O N   C U B A

DREAMING IN CUBAN:  A NOVEL

BY CRISTINA GARCIA | this is a tale about longing for something -- whether it be a lover, a homeland or a deceased family member. It is about the tie that binds one family together and the Cuban revolution that sets them apart. With a fresh, melodic voice, Cuban-born novelist Garcia writes about the del Pino family as they dream, in their different homes, of the Cuba in their memories. "Dreaming in Cuban" centers around the death of Jorge del Pino, the patriarch of the family, and how his wife, children and grandchildren react to his passing -- well, semi-passing -- to the other side. One half of the family lives in New York and the other in Cuba. By saturating her prose with vivid descriptions of this tropical island, of "the palms tossing their headdresses in the sky," Garcia builds an intoxicating story of the pain one family feels when divided on different soil.

Select this link to order this book online.

CUBA AND THE NIGHT

BY PICO IYER | an American photojournalist captures the surface of Cuba with his camera: the misery, the carnivalesque atmosphere, the omnipresence of Fidel Castro in everyday life. But in the end, it is Cuba that captures him, first through his senses and then through his heart. Although initially leery of Lourdes, the dark-haired Cuban beauty he meets one afternoon, the two fall in love and then wander down a winding trail of pain, passion and sorrow. Written by a seasoned travel writer (and Wanderlust Contributing Editor), "Cuba and the Night" is like stepping onto the streets of Havana and smelling the air; it is an unforgettable journey into the pulse of Cuban life, one so real and seductive it is difficult to believe that this is a work of fiction.

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THE SECRET OF THE BULLS

BY JOSÉ RAÚL BERNARDO | "the Secret of the Bulls" takes place at the beginning of this century in rural Cuba, when family tradition reigned and individuals followed the footsteps of their fathers, and their fathers before them. Rarely did one control his or her own destiny. Eighteen-year-old Dolores goes against the tide. A sort of Cuban Juliet, she defies her classist family and marries her secret Romeo, the son of a butcher. But soon she finds herself and her four children bound by his tradition, the family business, a butcher shop. First-time novelist Raúl Bernardo masterfully paints this captivating tale of love and familial expectations, where the blood of the family business is sometimes thicker than a person's own desires.

Select this link to order this book online.