What We Loved This Week: Echo Mountain, Book Passage and ‘Big Red Son’

Eva Holland
I picked up Consider the Lobster, a collection of David Foster Wallace essays, over the weekend, and each one has been better than the last. I think my favorite so far is “Big Red Son,” a 50-page look back at DFW’s time in Las Vegas at the Annual Adult Video News Awards. It’s probably the oddest combination of intelligence, insight, humor and crude double-entendres I’ve ever encountered.

Michael Yessis
“Champaign, Illinois” by Old 97’s. I’ve had the band’s new album on repeat this week. This is one of my faves. Song sound familiar? Here’s why: The songwriting credit goes to Rhett Miller and Bob Dylan.

Jim Benning
The travel community around Book Passage bookstore in Corte Madera, California. I was there to read a story of mine from the new Lonely Planet anthology, A Moveable Feast. I was reminded yet again that the San Francisco Bay area is home to many great travelers and travel writers, and so often, be it at the annual travel writing conference or at readings, they come together at Book Passage.

Lola Akinmade
Loved breezing through Dulles Airport this week. I’d flown in from Copenhagen and it took no more than 45 minutes in all to deplane, stamp my passport, grab luggage, and pick up the rental car. The military style background music being played in the immigration hall was a little nerve-wracking though.

Kellie Schmitt
My husband Gregg and I hiked to the top of Echo Mountain in the Los Angeles National Forest to celebrate his birthday. At the top, you can find ruins of what was once a grandiose mountain resort, observatory and zoo. Even better: seeing the skyline of downtown L.A. emerge from a sea of haze, as if it were a mountain peak itself.

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