“Walking Israel: A Personal Search for the Soul of a Nation” ($25.99, Thomas Dunne Books)
Weary of the bad rap Israel has gotten, veteran foreign correspondent Martin Fletcher set out in 2008 to walk the country’s coast to find proof that there are happy, quirky tales to tell of characters and terrain that could change the world’s opinion. What’s interesting about this book is that Fletcher is a true journalisthe offers up just as much proof of both sides to flesh out a journey that winds up revealing just as much negative as positive. Unfortunately, the “personal” of the search winds up being not so much — we don’t learn a lot about Fletcher, to the detriment of the tale, which leaves it feeling flat and detached. His years in Tel Aviv inform the narrative, though, which is also strongly interwoven with history, and that helps make this a good piece to add to Israel’s story puzzle. Kyle Wagner
