Travel Blog: Literary Travel
The Comforts of “Honky Tonk Woman”
by Michael Yessis | 09.07.04 | 11:42 PM ET
John Flinn never feels homesick when he travels, but he does appreciate being reminded of the better parts of his home culture. In his latest column for the San Francisco Chronicle, Flinn reveals what brings him a smile on the road, including food, toilets and western pop music. “If there is anything more cringe-worthy than hearing French hip-hop, it’s watching French rappers throw down gangsta moves while wearing fashionably baggy ‘street’ clothes in French hip-hop videos,” he writes. “The Germans slick their hair back and try to play ‘50s-style American rock ‘n’ roll, but it still comes out sounding like beer-hall polka on speed.”
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Yahoo! BuzzOn the Road to See the Kerouac House
by Jim Benning | 02.23.04 | 9:10 PM ET
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel’s Thomas Swick visits the Orlando, Florida house where Jack Kerouac stayed just before the New York Times proclaimed him the voice of his generation. Kerouac may not often be associated with Florida, but a local author told Swick he thought it was important people knew Kerouac spent time in suburban Florida. “I want people, especially young people, to embrace the idea of history in the suburbs,” Bob Kealing said. “I call it suburban archaeology. This idea of him [Kerouac] as the precursor of the hippies. He was Catholic, he was conservative, and he lived with his mother in the suburbs.”
Talking Ethics in the Ethosphere
by Jim Benning | 06.03.03 | 3:04 PM ET
Should Americans abroad always come clean about their nationality, or, fearing ill will, is it okay for them to lie and claim to be Canadian? Are some cruise ships more environmentally friendly than others? Those and other issues are now being debated on the newly created Ethical Traveler message board, Ethosphere. It promises to be a thought-provoking forum. “We hope that our many members—from 17 countries—will use this discussion board to share tales about travel
in these skittish times, and to focus attention on situations that might impact our decisions about where to travel,” founder Jeff Greenwald wrote in a recent e-mail. The message board is but one component of Ethical Traveler’s mission. As the veteran travel writer told World Hum in a recent interview, “I’d like [Ethical Traveler] to be a community of like-minded travelers that uses its collective power to address and improve environmental and human rights issues around the world.”
Talking About ‘Baghdad Without a Map’
by Jim Benning | 04.09.03 | 3:49 PM ET
Tony Horowitz, the journalist and travel writer who wrote ‘Baghdad Without a Map’, fielded questions from a Los Angeles radio show host Tuesday about his experiences in the city now under seige. Host Kitty Felde had an old map of Baghdad and was hoping Horowitz could describe the city’s layout and landmarks. But as Horowitz explained by phone, he never had a map of Baghdad. They’d been outlawed during his visit. (Hence, of course, the title of his book.) So he could only recall what he had seen. To hear their conversation, click here and scroll down to “Iraq 101: An Audio Tour of Baghdad.”
With the War Underway, Do People Want to Hear About Travel Writing?
by Jim Benning | 03.27.03 | 9:02 PM ET
Paul Theroux, one of travel writing’s greats, read from his new travel memoir, Dark Star Safari, on the first stop of his book tour Wednesday evening in Southern California. Given all the war hoopla, I wondered on the way there how many people would turn out for a book about travel in Africa. Maybe everyone would stay home, glued to the news. Or, more hopefully, perhaps the city’s travelers, waiting out the war before heading abroad again, would be itching for a little escapism.
Happily, 20 minutes before Theroux was to appear, the bookstore’s reading room was so packed that employees hurried to bring out more chairs. By the time Theroux walked in, smiling, at least 75 people were on hand. Not bad at all. Theroux quickly launched into an explanation of why he traveled to Africa. He wanted to see the place where, four decades earlier, he’d worked in the Peace Corps. He wanted to get away from it all. “I’m sick of people calling me up, saying, ‘Can you do this for me tomorrow?’” he said. Between e-mail, fax machines and cell phones, “Anyone can find you,” he said. “We’re so connected. It’s a kind of craziness. One of the great thrills of traveling in the world is losing yourself. I wanted people to call up my wife and say, ‘Where’s Paul?’ ‘Oh I don’t know. He just went and disappeared.’” The audience erupted in laughter.
Theroux spoke of getting robbed in South Africa and, on another occasion, ducking behind cows to avoid getting shot. He suffered five months of parasites but barely mentioned it in the book. “Who wants to read about that?” he said. He read a paragraph, took a few questions, signed copies of the book. He made only one brief mention of the war. By the time I left, with visions of Africa in my head, I felt as though I had disconnected, if only briefly. It was a fine evening.
Interview with Alain de Botton
by Michael Yessis | 02.13.03 | 4:22 PM ET
Alain de Botton, author of last year’s highly-praised book “The Art of Travel,” spoke with Terry Gross on the public radio program Fresh Air on Tuesday. The refreshing twenty-minute long conversation—perhaps the longest radio or television interview with a travel book author I’ve heard or seen since we launched this travel media weblog almost two years ago—covered a wide range of travel topics, including de Botton’s book, the lure of travel brochures and how travel expectations are often far different from the reality of experiences.
In Praise of Travel Poet Billy Collins
by Jim Benning | 01.24.03 | 11:00 AM ET
Reviewing Travel Books for the Gift-Giving Set
by Michael Yessis | 12.09.02 | 3:32 PM ET
Usually we go weeks without unearthing reviews of travel books of the non-guide variety. This weekend, though, an onslaught of reviews—many tailored to gift givers—appeared in publications throughout North America. Among them: The New York Times recommended nine books, and the San Francisco Chronicle picked six.
Also: The Los Angeles
Times, Splendid, and the Toronto Globe and Mail published reviews. It’d be nice to see consistent reviews of travel books throughout the year, but I guess saving them up and reviewing them all at once is better than not reviewing them at all.
More from ‘A House Abroad,’ Jan Morris
by Michael Yessis | 12.05.02 | 4:02 PM ET
We found another story online from Lonely Planet’s new book “A House Abroad,” this one by Jan Morris. It turns out she finds the rewards of the expatriate life quite temporary.
“I know well ... the exquisite thrill of moving into a new house somewhere altogether else, in somebody else’s country, where the climate is different, the food is different, the light is different, where the mundane preoccupations of life at home don’t seem to apply and it is even fun to go shopping ... It is seldom a permanent pleasure.”
The piece appears in the November issue of The Atlantic.
Outside’s Top 25 Adventure Books
by Jim Benning | 12.02.02 | 3:09 PM ET
We know what you’re thinking. There aren’t enough lists. We need more lists! Worry not. The January issue of Outside magazine, which just landed in my mailbox, features the editors’ top 25 non-fiction adventure books from the last 100 years—books that, the editors maintain, “seize imagination and rattle sedentary lives.”
What made the cut?
Predictably, Bill Bryson’s “A Walk in the Woods,” Jon Krakauer’s “Into the Wild” and Edward Abbey’s “Desert Solitaire” are there, as they should be.
Not-so-predictably, so are Jonathan Raban’s “Old Glory” about the author’s journey down the Mississippi River in a 16-foot aluminum boat; Thor Heyerdahl’s “Kon-Tiki”; and Norman Maclean’s “Young Men and Fire,” which the magazine describes as “the original smoke-jumper story.” All in all, it’s a thoughtful, provocative list.
One More Visit With “Old Man” Gregorio Fuentes
by Michael Yessis | 02.06.02 | 2:08 AM ET
Steve Kettmann made the pilgrimage to Havana to visit Gregorio Fuentes, Ernest Hemingway’s inspiration for “The Old Man and the Sea,” three years ago. “It’s a mixed bag,” Kettmann writes in the San Francisco Chronicle, “this business of stalking a long-departed writer’s former associates and former haunts for glimpses of something real, something that helps you understand the inspiration behind the books.”
“As He Traveled, the Years Sloughed Off Him”
by Jim Benning | 01.25.02 | 1:39 AM ET
The Atlantic Monthly online recently posted a number of original reviews of now classic books, including several essential travel titles. The critics’ takes on Mark Twain’s The Innocents Abroad and A Tramp Abroad are there, as are reviews of Jack Kerouac’s novel On the Road and John Steinbeck’s memoir Travels with Charley. Back in 1962, Steinbeck’s recollection drew high praise: “As he traveled, the years sloughed off him, and the eager, sensuous pages in which he writes about what he found and whom he encountered frame a picture of our human nature in the twentieth century which will not soon be surpassed.”
R.I.P. “Old Man” Gregorio Fuentes
by Jim Benning | 01.16.02 | 1:23 AM ET
Travelers to Cuba have long made pilgrimages to the home of Gregorio Fuentes, Ernest Hemingway’s boat captain and the inspiration for “The Old Man and the Sea.”
For a small fee, Fuentes welcomed any and all into his living room in Cojimar, a salty fishing village near Havana, and regaled them with tales of his time with the writer. But the visits have come to an end. On Sunday, the 104-year-old Fuentes died in his home. The Los Angeles Times reports.
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