Tag: Literature
Morning Links: The Zion Curtain, Pynchon and Baedeker, and more
by Michael Yessis | 03.12.09 | 10:00 AM ET
- Utah may tear down the “Zion Curtain” and make it easier to get into bars. Will that boost the state’s tourism?
- See Europe ... in New York City.
- Kurt Andersen in Nicaragua: “[T]he country has become one of those Places on the Verge, discovered by cognoscenti but not yet overrun.”
- Yes, Los Angeles has a bike culture. Matthew Segal immerses himself.
- MetaFilter celebrates Baedeker travel guides—“the de facto travel guide for international men of leisure”—and how they served as a research tool for Thomas Pynchon.
- Man sues US Airways for $1 million after it allegedly lost his Xbox and gave him “an unconscionable runaround.”
- Man jumps into Niagara Falls and survives, only the third person ever to do so.
- Welcome, Big World Magazine.
- Finally, another U.S. Senator, another embarrassing airport incident. If only someone had caught Sen. David Vitter’s alleged outburst on video like Cathay Pacific caught the Airport Auntie.
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Yahoo! BuzzFrom ‘CSI’ to ‘Castle’: Traveling the World, One Crime Show at a Time
by Eva Holland | 03.11.09 | 3:46 PM ET
We’ve written before about crime novels being a prime source for vivid place-based writing. But how about traveling vicariously through the now-ubiquitous crime show? I’d argue that television travel can be just as effective and enjoyable.
Of course, a forty-four minute episode doesn’t allow for the same richness and depth of detail as you’d find in a book, but you can pack a lot of local color—both sights and sounds—into even the briefest street scene. Think of the all-powerful CSI franchise: from the juicy opening shots of the Las Vegas strip or the Manhattan skyline—sorry Miami, I just can’t handle Horatio—to the plot lines often derived from existing local traditions, quirks or trends (think the original CSI’s frequent tributes to Vegas’ wild mob-ruled past), each of the shows is deeply rooted in its host city. And while the main story lines are certainly glitzed up and sensationalized (not to mention acted out by improbably attractive law enforcement officers), you can still pick up a lot of legit local detail from them: I first heard of narcocorridos in a CSI episode about the Mexican community in Las Vegas, and saw handball played for the first time in an episode of CSI: NY—now, walking around Queens during my stay here, I see the game being played daily.
Lost and Found: Jack Kerouac’s First Novel
by Eva Holland | 03.04.09 | 1:11 PM ET
It looks like another previously unpublished Kerouac novel has surfaced, and is set to land in bookstores in the near future. “The Sea is my Brother” was written while Kerouac worked in the merchant marine, and according to his notes it tells the story of “the vanishing American, the big free by, the American Indian, the last of the pioneers, the last of the hoboes.” (Via The Book Bench)
‘World’s Brainiest Tour Operator’ Now (Sort of) Affordable
by Eva Holland | 02.26.09 | 2:36 PM ET
For all the high culture addicts out there, good news from Arthur Frommer: British tour operator Martin Randall Travel has been spotted advertising in Harper’s, which means, as Frommer writes, “that tours with profound intellectual content will henceforth be marketed to the American public; the ‘dumbing down’ of travel may be significantly slowed through this effort.” The guidebook mogul figures the shifting exchange rate, which has made Britain much more affordable for Americans in recent months, is behind the unprecedented stateside marketing effort. The tours still aren’t for shoestringers—the all-inclusive packages hover around 300 pounds per person per day—but, as Frommer notes, they’re cheaper than comparable college alumni tours, and thanks to the sliding pound they’re within easier reach than ever.
Agatha Christie’s Holiday Home: Now Open for Business
by Eva Holland | 02.26.09 | 11:48 AM ET
Britain’s National Trust will open the novelist’s beloved Devonshire summer holiday home, Greenway, to the public for the first time this weekend. The property was donated to the trust in 2000 and has undergone a 5.4 million pound restoration, with the aim of re-creating the house as it was when Christie spent her summers there in the 1940s and 50s.
Said Christie’s grandson: “What I wish most is that the people who visit it feel some of the magic and sense of place that I felt when my family and I spent so much time there ... If they do then our gift of Greenway will be worthwhile.” (Via The Book Bench)
India: Three Great Books
by Eva Holland | 02.25.09 | 6:32 PM ET
The literature about India is as vast and diverse as the subcontinent that inspired it. In 60 years of independence, the country has produced a truly intimidating list of award-winning writers, from Salman Rushdie and Vikram Seth to Rohinton Mistry and Arundhati Roy, R.K. Narayan or Anita Desai. Faced with the impossibility of choosing just three novels from an endless list of great post-colonial reads, I’ve decided instead to go back further in time, to the days of the British Empire. The colonial period produced a few classics of its own, and since then, with the passing of time, new books have started to arrive that capture the colorful lifestyles, the dark patches of history, and the many oddities and implausibilities of the British Raj. Three great books:
‘Up in the Air’: The Movie
by Eva Holland | 02.25.09 | 10:23 AM ET
World Hum’s been keeping an eye on Walter Kirn’s travel-centric novel, Up in the Air, since the site was brand new. The book, which follows frequent flier Ryan Bingham as he embarks on a mileage-running binge, brought us both one of our favorite terms—Airworld—and one of our favorite fictional travelers. So naturally, the news about an upcoming film adaptation provokes both excitement and anxiety.
The good news? Early signs about the production are positive: Jason Reitman, who did great work (in my book) with both “Juno” and “Thank You For Smoking,” has signed on as writer-director, and no less a heavyweight star than George Clooney will be playing the mile-hungry protagonist. There’s no firm release date yet, but Jaunted notes that “Up in the Air” was spotted filming at Detroit’s DTW yesterday.
Ang Lee to Direct ‘Life of Pi’ Adaptation?
by Eva Holland | 02.23.09 | 11:25 AM ET
The movie version of the bestselling novel, which follows the story of a young boy adrift on a life raft with a Bengal tiger after a Pacific Ocean crossing gone wrong, has been in the works for years. Now, after a series of ups and downs, it looks as though the film may be moving forward: Ang Lee, the Oscar-winning director of “Brokeback Mountain,” is in “the final stages of talks” to sign on as director, the Globe and Mail reports. Said the book’s author, Yann Martel: “If Fox closes a deal with Ang Lee, I’ll be very happy. He’s a superb director with a varied and dazzling output ... He’d do a great job with ‘Life of Pi.’”
Your Friendly Neighborhood Airport Bookstore?
by Eva Holland | 02.18.09 | 2:41 PM ET
I spent a good portion of my Friday night at Newark International this weekend, waiting on a friend’s delayed flight from Canada. As a result, I had plenty of time to conduct an in-depth study of the titles on offer at the airport’s Relay store.
The project started out innocently enough. I’ve never paid much attention to airport bookstores—long layovers generally find me sound asleep on the floor at a quiet gate, or roaming the halls in search of an unsecured wireless signal. But this time I decided to browse the magazine selection, and then (while I struggled to reconcile my love for both “Cosmopolitan” and “The Atlantic”) a section heading in the books section caught my eye: Travel and Pictorial. The heading seemed odd, because—I could see from 10 feet away—half the books in the section had been written by Candace Bushnell. Had I somehow missed Bushnell’s transition to narrative travelogue author? Curious, I moved closer. And found that the Travel and Pictorial section was filled top to bottom with Manhattan-based chick lit. Multiple copies of “The Devil Wears Prada,” “Confessions of a Shopaholic” and “Shopaholic Takes Manhattan,” and no less than four Bushnell titles (“Sex and the City” chief among them, of course) covered the shelves in a blur of chirpy, bright, pink-heavy covers.
Going to SXSW? Put the Harry Ransom Center On Your Schedule.
by Sophia Dembling | 02.17.09 | 6:00 PM ET
Photo by Eric Beggs The South by Southwest (or SXSW) film, music and interactive festival is less than a month away. Got your plans and reservations yet? (And did you know that many Austinites flee the city as you arrive? Too much traffic and other mishigos.)
I realize that SXSW is all about the future of this, that and the other, but while you’re in town, I urge you to carve out some time to pay your respects to what many consider a dying art form, the written word, with a stop at the free galleries at the Harry Ransom Center.
Would You Rather Live in a Big City or a Small Town?
by Sophia Dembling | 02.13.09 | 2:06 PM ET
Photo by Sophia Dembling I keep a file titled “Good Reads,” into which I tuck stories and articles that I enjoyed reading and like to revisit from time to time. The other day, I pulled the file out and found a photocopied page from the book O Pioneers! by Willa Cather.
I copied the page for a particular speech, spoken by Carl, who has just left Chicago, to Alexandra, who is trying to keep things together on her family farm on the Nebraska prairie. Read the quote after the jump.
Happy 200th Birthday, Charles Darwin
by Eva Holland | 02.13.09 | 11:00 AM ET
From "HMS Beagle at Tierra del Fuego" by Conrad Martens (via Wikipedia) 
Charles Darwin, author of the classic travel memoir The Voyage of the Beagle (oh, and that other book, too), would have turned 200 years old yesterday. To celebrate, the BBC’s David Shukman visited the Galapagos Islands, armed with a small Darwin library, and filed a series of compelling dispatches on how Darwin’s observations are holding up today.
A quick sample: “A giant frigate bird circles in the dusk sky. A lurid depiction of Charles Darwin adorns an arch outside our hotel. Once again, there’s a sea lion snoozing beside our table. It’s no longer a surprise. I must be evolving too.”
R.I.P. Oscar Wilde Bookshop
by Eva Holland | 02.09.09 | 9:48 AM ET
The Greenwich Village landmark will close on March 29, after 42 years in business. The Oscar Wilde Bookshop is widely believed to be America’s oldest gay and lesbian bookstore; its first owner, Craig Rodwell, was also one of the founders of New York City’s Pride Parade. A thoughtful 2005 New York Times essay about the bookshop and its history remains available online.
Reading America: ‘New in Town’? I’d Rather Read ‘Main Street’
by Sophia Dembling | 01.30.09 | 1:11 PM ET
The new fish-out-of-water romantic comedy, New in Town stars Ren?e Zellweger as a sharp-edged Miami business woman and Harry Connick Jr. as the flannel shirted Minnesotan for whom she falls when she comes to his frozen town to downsize his factory.
Critics are unimpressed. “Listless,” says the Los Angeles Times. The Chicago Tribune calls it, “‘The Pajama Game’ without the songs, the laughs or the bare-knuckled realism.” (It is among my dubious achievements to have played Babe Williams in my high school production of that show.) “Pleasant but predictable rehash,” sighs Newsday.
Movies are too darn expensive these days for ho-hum, so I’m skipping this and instead will pull out my dog-eared copy of Sinclair Lewis’ 1920 novel, “Main Street,” my all-time favorite book.
Margaret Atwood: Author, Birder, Cruiser
by Eva Holland | 01.29.09 | 12:17 PM ET
Turns out that Margaret Atwood—the acclaimed author of “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Alias Grace” and “The Blind Assassin,” among others—is also a serious nature-lover. Atwood will be cruising the Scottish isles this spring as a guest lecturer on board the M/V Andrea; this press release notes that she is a “keen birder” and the current co-president of the Rare Bird Club. Who knew?
Morning Links: America’s Dirtiest Hotels, London From Above and More
by Michael Yessis | 01.29.09 | 8:59 AM ET
- Paul Theroux remembers John Updike.
- American Airlines has been flying some planes without enough life rafts. Its short-term solution: Cap the number of passengers on the problem aircraft.
- The Big Picture shows off more of Jason Hawkes’ lovely aerial photos of London.
- Here’s a Q&A with Renia Ehrenfeucht on “the higher meaning of the humble sidewalk.”
- How are Spirit Airlines flight attendants like players for Manchester United? They both wear ads on their uniforms. (via Jaunted)
- Inside the “war on Roquefort cheese.”
- TripAdvisor’s list of America’s dirtiest hotels is out.
- Are these the top 50 adventure books of all time?
- Jason Barger pays tribute to “one of the daily unsung heroes of the air travel experience: the de-icers.”
- The “bizarre crime spree” that got this drunken Irish traveler deported from Australia included demanding money to feed his goldfish.
- World Hum gets a shout out in a Guardian piece about Twitter and travel—yes, World Hum has a Twitter feed. We’re happy to have you follow us.
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Remembering John Updike and His Sense of Place
by Tom Swick | 01.27.09 | 4:57 PM ET
Contemplating and celebrating the world of travel
R.I.P. John Updike
by Eva Holland | 01.27.09 | 2:55 PM ET
The prolific, Pulitzer Prize-winning author has died at age 76. Though probably best-known for his novels—and particularly for his “Rabbit” series—Updike also produced numerous collections of short stories, poetry, essays and literary criticism. Whether he was chronicling one man’s desperate attempts to escape his pedestrian life in Brewer, Pennsylvania (in Rabbit, Run), or the simple joys of a small-town, Friday night football game (“In Football Season”; find it in The Early Stories), John Updike never failed to make the places, and times, that his characters moved through come vividly, memorably alive. The Los Angeles Times has a thoughtful obit.
Reading America: The Scavenger’s Guide to Haute Cuisine
by Jenna Schnuer | 01.26.09 | 3:14 PM ET
Chinua Achebe (Briefly) Returns to Nigeria
by Eva Holland | 01.21.09 | 12:33 PM ET
The renowned author of Things Fall Apart returned to his home country recently to deliver a lecture, after almost two decades spent overseas. As This Day Online notes, “all previous efforts to bring Achebe home, who was highly critical of the Olusegun Obasanjo government, had failed until now.” (Via The Book Bench)