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The Best American Travel Writing 2006
Product Description
Tim Cahill writes in his introduction to The Best American Travel Writing 2006, “‘Story’ is the essence of the travel essay. Stories are the way we organize the chaos in our lives, orchestrate voluminous factual material, and — if we are very good — shed some light on the human condition.” Here are twenty-six pieces that showcase the best travel writing from 2005, filled with “keen observations that transform ordinary journeys into extraordinary ones” (Library Jou… More >>
Oct 31st, 2010 at 2:27 am
It is a little bit hard to review this book because I have read most of the series and like them all. This is no exception and I thought that there are a few things that I can add.
As always a good/great selection of material and most/all are great reads. As has been stated elsewhere if you do not like one, you can skip it. However, I never skip a story. I sort of think that I might not finish one, but then I do and am glad that I did.
Not only do I like the stories, but I think of the book as a study guide for an aspiring travel writer. Thus far I have limited my travel writing by sneaking it into other nonfiction wrting that I do (I recommend this technique). I may never seriously go down the travel writting road, but the idea helps me notice things that I might not otherwise.
Here is a specific tip. Be sure to read the forematter of the book–the foreword and introduction. They are good reading too.
One small point. Compared to the others in the series that I have read, this edition would have to qualify for an R rating because of the story about prostitution in Costa Rica. I liked the story–and you can, of course, skip it if you do not like it–but I fell obligated to mention it. There was one other place (that I forget right now) that made me think the same thing about R rating.
As soon as I finished this book, I went out and bought one from the sports series!
Rating: 5 / 5
Oct 31st, 2010 at 2:34 am
Travel writing, in this annual “Best of” series, has nothing to do with vacationing. Well, almost nothing.
GQ sends the very witty George Saunders to wallow in some of the most excessive luxury resorts in the most decadent and opulent city in the Middle East (the world?), Dubai. And the equally entertaining Calvin Trillin goes to Ecuador for Easter to eat the traditional Holy Week soup, fanesca, and practice his Spanish idioms.
But most of these lively, first person stories express only the most glancing acquaintance with “vacation” as we know it.
Some are profiles, like Kevin Fedarko’s ride down the rapids of the Grand Canyon with writer, conservationist and outdoorsman Martin Litton, still an opinionated, controversial adventurer at 87.
Several deal with the specifics of air travel, including a typically hilarious, squirmy ordeal from David Sedaris, Sally Shivnan’s lyrical view of flying cross country in a window seat and P. J. O’Rourke’s humorous and informative portrait of France’s Airbus A380.
Some are reflective, like Alain De Botton’s appreciation of his native Zurich’s essential, orderly bourgeoisie and Ian Frazier’s journey from his small Ohio hometown to a hitchhiking epiphany when “I quit living in Hudson and began to live in the world.”
Many take us to places we’re unlikely to go. Qaddafi’s Libya, for instance, where venturesome Kira Salak follows loosely, and sometimes nervously, in the footsteps of Scotsman Hugh Clapperton who explored Libya and crossed the Sahara in 1824, when it was rather a different place. Or Papua, New Guinea, where Michael Behar goes on a strange, uncomfortable tour to make “first contact” with undiscovered indigenous people.
Whether witty, clever, musing, or adventurous, what all these pieces have in common is an acute and reflective sense of observation and really good writing.
Like all the volumes in this series, the pieces are culled from a vast array of periodicals, including the Internet, but the final selection tends to be from major publications, like “The New Yorker,” and “Outside.” Series editor Wilson chooses his top 100 and the guest editor (Cahill) winnows it down to the last 25 or so. Cahill, a founding editor of “Outside” magazine, emphasizes “literate writing” and storytelling in his approach and the result is a provocative and fascinating portrait of some of the more interesting corners of the world.
– Portsmouth Herald
Rating: 5 / 5
Oct 31st, 2010 at 4:36 am
I bought this book to supplement a travel writing course. I read many of the travel articles and found them interesting and well-written. It was especially helpful to read these articles without the pictures that must have accompanied many of them — the writing for the most part was superb.
Rating: 5 / 5
Oct 31st, 2010 at 5:36 am
I picked this book for a recent trip as a change of pace from what I normally read — non-fiction, science/tech/business/chess. I have read several other book in the “Best American” series – but this is my first in the “travel” category. I like these books because the articles are generally short — and if you don’t like on article, you just move on to the next.
So I was pleasantly surprised by the choice of articles made by the editor Tim Cahill (a best selling author and (LA Times) book reviewer himself). There is nothing worse than picking up one of these books and finding the editor is using it as a political soap-box or finding that it is terribly repetitive, etc… Not the case with this compilation! Cahill’s choice of articles were varied and generally very well written. At least it is much better than the travel writing in airline magazines!
Rating: 4 / 5
Oct 31st, 2010 at 7:09 am
I wasn’t able to travel this summer, so I was more or less stuck in my small town in the middle of Oklahoma. Luckily, a handful of well-chosen books escorted me to exotic–and some very familiar–ports of call, this book, 2006′s Best American Travel Writing being one of the most memorable. This is a wonderfully diverse collection of writings, featuring what many of us think of as “exotic” travel narratives, as well as my favorite kind of travel writing, essays that question the nature of travel and what we learn in the process of leaving the familiar behind.
One of the gems of this collection is Alain de Botton’s piece, “The Discreet Charm of the Zurich Bourgeoise.” I, too, am fascinated by the comfortable, efficient towns and cities in the world, ones that are rarely tourist destinations, but are fascinating in their own, discreet way. This piece is very similar to his book, The Art of Travel, as he juxtaposes Pieter de Hooch’s paintings and their seemingly unremarkable domestic world with his love for the sedate charms of Zurich. It won’t appeal to the National Geographic type of tourist, but this is what makes travel writing such a vital genre to me–and why I buy books like this.
Other high points include Sean Flynn’s portrayal of American sex tourists in Puerto Rico, Ian Frazier’s beautiful memoir of small town Ohio, Michael Paterniti’s remarkable piece about befriending a Ukranian giant, Kira Salak’s tour of modern-day Libya, George Saunder’s enthusiastic (and humorous) account of Dubai, and by far the most laugh-out loud selection of all, Christopher Solomon’s “Let’s Ski Korea,” which is everything you expect and more.
I always delight in these Best American… volumes, and the Travel Writing remains my favorite to read and re-read. Tim Cahill did an amazing job in selecting these works, and I look forward to “traveling” in them whenever the simple pleasures of Ada, Oklahoma become rather less poetic.
Rating: 5 / 5