Travel Blog: Literary Travel
Telegraph Names the 50 Greatest Villains in Literature
by Eva Holland | 09.24.08 | 11:10 AM ET
Traveling bad guys Mr. Kurtz and Long John Silver make the grade, but the whole list is worth remembering next time you figure you’ve been stuck with the worst possible seatmate of all time.
Related on World Hum:
* 10 Greatest Fictional Travelers
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Yahoo! BuzzThe Anti-Bucket List: 10 Books NOT To Read Before You Die
by Eva Holland | 09.24.08 | 10:30 AM ET
What’s the only thing worse than a list of places to go before you die? For author Richard Wilson, it’s a list of books to read before you die. “Lists of physical achievements or magical holiday destinations or wonderful restaurants or fabulous hotels make you feel like your life has been wasted,” he writes in this caustic piece in the Times of London; a list of must-read books, on the other hand, “makes you feel like your brain has been wasted.”
Q&A With Stephanie Elizondo Griest: ‘Mexican Enough’
by Jim Benning | 09.22.08 | 1:13 PM ET
Travel writer Stephanie Elizondo Griest is the author of Around the Bloc and 100 Places Every Woman Should Go. Her new book, Mexican Enough: My Life Between the Borderlines, takes her deep into Mexico, as well as inside questions about her own identity. Sandra Cisneros called the book “a travel journal for the new millennium.” I caught up with Griest via email in Corpus Christi, where her family lives. They were spared the wrath of Hurricane Ike, she said, adding, “My friends in Houston and Galveston, however, suffered tremendous losses. I’m hoping to go there soon to volunteer.”
World Hum: Why did you decide to write a book about Mexico?
Public Radio Remembers David Foster Wallace
by Jim Benning | 09.16.08 | 7:06 PM ET
Los Angeles public radio station KCRW aired a special edition of its fine “Politics of Culture” show today about David Foster Wallace. Hosted by Michael Silverblatt, who was a friend of Wallace, the show was a touching and thoughtful look back at the writer’s work and unique perspective on literature, focusing mainly on Wallace’s fiction. It’s available in myriad forms here.
Related on World Hum:
* Harper’s Makes David Foster Wallace Stories Available Online
* R.I.P. David Foster Wallace*
Next up for Author of ‘Banned’ Harry Potter Lexicon: A Harry Potter ‘Travel Memoir’?
by Michael Yessis | 09.16.08 | 3:49 PM ET
It, too, has drawn scrutiny from “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling. The author’s “agents have asked to see a copy of In Search of Harry Potter before it is published next month to ensure it does not breach copyright,” according to the Times of London.
Harper’s Makes David Foster Wallace Stories Available Online
by Jim Benning | 09.15.08 | 2:15 PM ET
Classy move, Harper’s. Here’s the list. Our favorite, “Shipping Out,” is here. It’s about Wallace’s experience on a Celebrity Cruises voyage in the Caribbean. Among the writer’s post-cruise observations, sure to put a knowing smile on the face of anyone who’s ever taken such a cruise: “I now know the precise mixological difference between a Slippery Nipple and a Fuzzy Navel”; “I have met Cruise Staff with the monikers ‘Mojo Mike,’ ‘Cocopuff,’ and ‘Dave the Bingo Boy”; “I have dickered over trinkets with malnourished children”; and “I have learned what it is to become afraid of one’s own cabin toilet.”
John le Carré and the Book That Might Have Been
by Eva Holland | 09.15.08 | 2:00 PM ET
R.I.P. David Foster Wallace*
by Jim Benning | 09.13.08 | 9:05 PM ET
Horrible news is emerging that the widely acclaimed writer committed suicide in his Claremont, California, home Friday night. Wallace is perhaps best known for the novel “Infinite Jest,” but travel lit fans also know him for his typically footnote-laden 1996 Harper’s article, “Shipping Out: On the (Nearly Lethal) Comforts of a Luxury Cruise”—one of modern travel writing’s sharpest and funniest stories. (We were just singing the story’s praises a few months ago, in fact.) His 1997 appearance on “Charlie Rose” is well worth a look. Wallace was 46.
Track Your Favorite Disappearing Bookstores
by Eva Holland | 09.10.08 | 3:03 PM ET
The good folks at the Book Bench have come up with a novel, if depressing, way to use the Publishers Marketplace Bookstore Maps: to track the closures of your favorite independents.
Travel Book Wins Dubious Honor: Oddest Book Title of the Past 30 Years
by Eva Holland | 09.10.08 | 11:00 AM ET
For the past three decades, the Bookseller/Diagram Prize has celebrated the oddest book titles of the year. This year, to celebrate its 30th anniversary, Bookseller decided to pick the best of the best—or the weirdest of the weird—crowning one lucky entry the Oddest Book Title of the Past 30 Years. The winner? “Greek Rural Postmen and Their Cancellation Numbers.”
‘State by State’: Five Excerpts
by Michael Yessis | 09.09.08 | 8:21 AM ET
This week Slate’s Well-Traveled rolls out five stories from the upcoming book State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America, which features 50 writers writing about the 50 states. The editors sent some stellar writers into the field. Those featured at Slate: Heidi Julavits, Mohammed Naseehu Ali, Dagoberto Gilb, David Rakoff and Charles Bock.
Related on World Hum:
* Revisiting the American Guide Series (Again): Around the U.S. With Saul Bellow and John Steinbeck
Sex, Money and a Little ‘Blind Faith’: Travelodge Racks ‘Em Up
by Eva Holland | 09.08.08 | 3:02 PM ET
Photo by ElektraCute via Flickr (Creative Commons)
In its annual survey of books most commonly abandoned in its hotel rooms, Travelodge reports the most popular throwaways include the Kama Sutra, John Prescott’s latest memoir and a whole lot of “lighter reading.” The Guardian has the cocktail-party-worthy survey highlights.
Blog To Watch: Orwell Diaries
by Eva Holland | 09.04.08 | 11:50 AM ET
In August 1938, George Orwell started keeping a diary—and now, 60 years later, those entries are appearing day by day in a new blog, complete with a Google map to track his movements around England and the world.
New Travel Book: ‘I Wouldn’t Start From Here’
by Eva Holland | 08.29.08 | 12:11 PM ET
Full title: “I Wouldn’t Start From Here: The 21st Century and Where It All Went Wrong”
Author: Andrew Mueller
Released: August 1, 2008
Territory covered: London, New York, the Middle East, Afghanistan, Cameroon, Taiwan, Georgia and more.
Who’s Directing the First ‘Tintin’ Movie: Spielberg or Jackson?
by Michael Yessis | 08.27.08 | 11:03 AM ET
We noted a year ago that Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson would be directing three films about the beloved rosy-cheeked adventurer, Tintin. The Hollywood Reporter noted this week that Herge Studios, which owns the rights to Tintin, said Jackson would direct the first film. However, representatives for the two directors say Spielberg will direct the first installment, Jackson the second. Hmm.
