Karen J. Coates

Karen Coates carries the skill of a trained journalist and the language of a poet when she travels. The people she sees are people whose stories she learns and tells with a precision and sensitivity that makes them fully fleshed individuals, illuminating their landscapes with their presence. From toon meer an American doctor working beyond his limits in East Timor, to a group of Burmese journalists in exile using their slender resources to make a newspaper, to an Australian woman baking cakes in a Thai jungle, the voices are clear and the stories unforgettable as men and women open their lives to a gifted stranger. Whether you've been to the places Karen Coates takes you to in This Way More Better, or whether you only dream of going there, you will see these countries in a way that few visitors do, through the lives and stories of those who live in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, and beyond. "Books often offer a vacation from life. I hope, instead, this book takes you traveling," Karen says in her introduction. Not only does this book take us traveling; it gives us stories told by people who become our friends, in countries that become our no longer distant neighbors. Illustrated by the photographs of Jerry Redfern, Karen's travel companion and husband, This Way More Better provides a unique view of "Asia's back roads." toon minder