Travel In Your Head...

Some of us like to travel, some of us like to stay home, and some of us like to travel vicariously through reading about other people's adventures. Lots of books about the warm climes: Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before, by Tony Horwitz, in which he follows in the footsteps of the English explorer; In a Sunburned Country, by Bill Bryson, in which the great comic writer skips around Australia--for a guy who is a big gee-whizzer, Australia provides a lot of fodder. Carnivorous Nights--On the Trail of the Tasmanian Tiger, by Margaret Mittlebach, is interesting because how much do we really know about Tasmania? It's written in the plural, by a married couple of writers, which I found rather off-putting--what are they, the Borg? Also, they drive around Tasmania, searching for the tiger, which has not been seen in decades and is presumed extinct, and they actually seem to think they're going to see one. D-oh.

Meanwhile, Jane and Michael Stern have perfected the co-authoring trick by driving around the U.S. and eating a few gazillion meals for the past thirty years. They've written a passel of books on food, kitsch, and roadside attractions, and their latest is Two for the Road: Our Love Affair with American Food, in which they discuss their research methods (drive, eat, repeat til bedtime), and describe various encounters with regional restaurants through the years. Included are lots of recipes--be forewarned, they are not low-fat. Also, the ham recipe which includes the directions "scrub mold off of ham"--well, let's just leave it at that. (For those of you who like diner food, my favorite is the Townshend Dam Diner in Townshend, Vermont. Also, if you need to stop on the way there, there's a new diner in Bennington, the Top Notch Diner on Route 9, heading towards Brattleboro.)

Farther afield, Lawrence Osborne manages to get to some of the most strange and bizarre and remote places on earth, in The Naked Tourist: In Search of Adventure and Beauty in the Age of the Airport Mall. He goes from Dubai, where it sounds like Michael Jackson isn't the weirdest person there, to Thailand, Irian Java, and more, all the while thinking about the whole travel mindset. Maybe he spends too much time on his own. He joins a group led by a guide who specializes in taking people deep into the jungle, where they'll encounter villages with little or no contact to the rest of the world. Yikes.

Now traveling is one thing--what if you moved to the other end of the world for two years? J. Maarten Troost does just that in The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific. He follows his girlfriend to Kiribati (it's really far away, and really small), and takes up life on Island Time. His second book has just come out, Getting Stoned with Savages: A Trip through the Islands of Fiji and Vanuatu, which is also good, but not as good as the first book. It's not as good because 1) in the second book they live on bigger islands with expatriate communities, whereas on Kiribati they get to know the locals; and 2) he tries harder to be funny--in the first book you don't feel the strain of that.

Now, one thing I noticed about this traveling bug is that it hits men more than women. For a woman's perspective, check out these two: Tales of a Female Nomad: Living at Large in the World, by Rita Golden Gelman. Ms. Gelman strikes out after her unhappy divorce and learns to be braver than she could imagine before. She travels through Mexico, Central and South America and on through the Eastern Hemisphere, developing a way of life centered around traveling. Wow. No Touch Monkey!: and Other Travel Lessons Learned Too Late, by Ayun Halliday is more of a twenty-something account, a little cynical, a little ironic, a little naive at times, and really, really funny. At one point while reading this book I thought to myself, hey, this reads like Hunter Thompson reborn, and not a jerk anymore! Thanks, Ayun. I look forward to reading more.

My Favorite Books, as of 7/11/06

In no particular order, these are the books I love, as of this minute:

Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year , Anne Lamott
Anne Lamott also wrote many of the columns appearing in Salon's Mothers Who Think department. Her account of her first year as a single mom is witty, heartfelt, and wise. It makes a great gift for a first time mom or dad.
Candyfreak, Steve Almond
What could be more fun than visiting small candy factories around the country? Tasting the candies fresh off the line? His descriptions will turn you into a candyfreak, too.
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, Alexander McCall Smith
I'm not a big mystery fan, but I love this series starring the "traditionally-built" Precious Ramotswe of Rwanda. This is the first one, and my favorite.
The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde
Another non-traditional mystery series, starring literary detective Tuesday Next, who can travel between our world and the one inside of books. It's difficult to describe. It's got elements of science-fiction, abundant literary puns and inside jokes, British humor...have I lost you yet? I particularly love the third book, The Well of Lost Plots, because it takes place almost entirely in the Book World, which is where I want to live.
E.F. Benson , Mapp and Lucia books
If you like Jeeves and Wooster, try these mis-adventures, starring Lucia and Miss Mapp, who each rule their own little circle in small picturesque Edwardian English villages.
Stephanie Plum series, Janet Evanovich
My guilty little pleasures. Stephanie is ill-suited to her job of bounty-hunting in Newark. Featuring her interesting ethnically blended family, two beaus, and inability to prevent someone from blowing up her car in each book. I think the series slumps a little in the middle, then picks up in the later books.
Harry Potter..., by J.K. Rowling
Do I have to explain this?
Terry Pratchett
Pick up any of his books, see if you like it, and rest assured that you have scads more to read. Most take place on the Discworld. More dry British humor. Tons of clever little details. They don't have to be read in order, but you can, if you want. I especially liked The Truth. He also writes children's novels, of which I loved the trilogy of Truckers, Diggers, and Wings. If you or someone you know liked The Borrowers, try it.
Calvin Trillin
He writes humorous, leftist verse, but I love his thoughtful, funny essays on traveling, fatherhood and food.