The Best American travel writing

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Publication Information:

[Boston, Mass.] : Houghton Mifflin Audio, p2000-

ISBN:

9780618197200

Physical Description:

4 sound discs (ca. 5 hr.) : digital ; 4 3/4 in.

Series:

Best American series

Language:

English

Contents:

Introduction / by Frances Mayes -- Roman hours / by Andre Aciman -- Throw Junior from the car / by William Booth -- Forty years in Acapulco / by Devin Friedman -- The city and the pillars / by Adam Gopnik -- Slow flying stones / by Kate Hennessy -- In the land of the white rajahs / by Lawrence Millman -- Home for dinner / by Molly O'Neill -- The man upstairs / by David Sedaris -- Spetses, Greece / by Isabella Tree -- The fist of God / by Kate Wheeler.

Subject Term:

Audiobooks.

Travel -- Periodicals.

Travel writing, American.

Compact discs.

Added Author:

Mayes, Frances.

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Shelf Number	Copies	Item Notes	Status
Searching... Cottonwood Public Library	Audiovisual	914.4 BES 2003	1	.CIRCNOTE. 4 compact discs	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Cottonwood Public Library	Audiovisual	914.4 BES 2002	1	.CIRCNOTE. 4 compact discs	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Prescott Public Library	CD Book	914.4 BES 2002	1	.CIRCNOTE. ***4 CD'S***	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

Giving new life to armchair travel for 2002 are David Sedaris on God and airports, Kate Wheeler on a most dangerous Bolivian festival, Andre Aciman on the eternal pleasures of Rome, and many more.

Reviews (4)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Writer Mayes (Under the Tuscan Sun) is the guest editor of this third annual collection, in which "writers cover many latitudes and longitudes, physically and metaphorically." Several pieces are topical and look at how political realities have reshaped travel destinations, as in Scott Anderson's "Below Canal Street" and Adam Gopnik's "The City and the Pillars," both about New York City on and after September 11; or Edward Hoagland's thought-provoking "Visiting Norah," about a trip to Uganda to visit a family of orphans to whom he'd been sending money. Some are lighthearted, such as David Sedaris's boisterous account of a Logan Airport layover, "The Man Upstairs" ("The cancellation was a reminder that I do not govern the activities of major airports, which seems obvious enough but always comes as a terrible shock when stated out loud"). More traditional essays include "Spain in a Minor Key" by Tony Perrottet, a leisurely look at Menorca, and Lawrence Millman's evocative and informative "In the Land of the White Rajahs," about his travels through Malaysian islands. P.J. O'Rourke, Andre Aciman, Molly O'Neill and many other authors are featured here, while destinations range from Bolivia to the Sahara. It's a captivating literary anthology that can be enjoyed on location or in the oft-mentioned armchair. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Kirkus Review

Stellar work with a 360-degree gaze, reporting on places both exotic and familiar. Mayes (Bella Tuscany, 1999, etc.), assuming the annual's editing tasks for the first time, selects glimpses of places that run the gamut from the middle of nowhere, as in Michael Finkel's piece on "The Void" (a.k.a. the center of the Sahara desert), to the middle of everything, as in Adam Gopnik's report from NYC immediately following the September 11 terrorist attack, "The City and the Pillars." Not surprisingly, 9/11 is acknowledged in a number of essays, most specifically in Thomas Swick's thoughts on languishing air travel at the end of 2001 and in Scott Anderson's "Below Canal Street." The anticipated exotic spots, however, are also solidly represented: Laurence Gonzales sets out to visit the least inhabited area of the US in "Beyond the End of the Road," Tony Perottet rambles through Menorca in "Spain in a Minor Key," and Kevin Canty tours the folksy American landscape in the evocative "Postcards from the Fair." Particularly hypnotic is Isabella Tree's portrait of languid living on the Aegean island of Spetses. At one point, honeybees set up shop in the bathroom, whereupon the house's human tenants set out bowls to catch the honey to sweeten their bread and yogurt-a demonstration of sangfroid difficult to imagine occurring in the prosaic continental US. The collection is larded with impressive pieces from ringers: P.J. O'Rourke offers a remarkably upbeat travelogue of a recent driving tour of Israel; Molly O'Neill pays a visit to former Le Cirque chef Sottha Khunn at his childhood home in Cambodia; and David Sedaris turns a cancelled flight into an absurdist meditation. Dazzles with its fantastic variety.

Booklist Review

The third Best American Travel Writing volume is a clear indication that the series is off to an excellent start. This year's guest editor, Frances Mayes, author of the best-selling Under the Tuscan Sun (1996), has selected 26 essays, all of them published within the past year. All the authors have impressive credentials, with nary a brand-new writer among them. These big names include New Yorker contributor Adam Gopnick, novelist Jim Harrison, and humorist David Sedaris. As series editor Jason Wells says in his foreword, these essays are "fiercely personal," and their wide range is staked out on one side by AndreAciman's "The Pleasure Principle" (from CondeNast Traveler), about his tender memories of Rome, and on the other side by Scott Anderson's "Below Canal Street" (from Esquire), a frightening remembrance of New York City on September 11. For all travel literature collections. --Brad Hooper

Library Journal Review

Mayes, author of the best-selling Under the Tuscan Sun, is the guest editor of the third annual volume in this series, with the previous volumes edited by Bryce and Theroux. The 26 articles in the collection appeared in three newspapers and 15 periodicals, some well known (e.g., The New Yorker and Esquire) and some less known (e.g., Islands and Hemispheres). The writers also vary in fame and their essays in experience: Some are grim and serious, such as Scott Anderson's "Below Canal Street" and Adam Gopnik's "The City and the Pillars," both depicting New York on and after 9/11. Others are quite humorous, such as David Sedaris's "The Man Upstairs," which describes an annoying airport layover. Then there are more traditional travelogs, such as Edward Hoagland's "Visiting Norah," which recounts his trip to Uganda, and Lawrence Millman's "In the Land of the White Rajahs," recounting his travels through Malaysian islands. With the continents of Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and South America well represented, the quality of the writing is very good, and the subject matter will generally hold the reader's interest. As with any compilation, some essays, depending on one's taste, will be more appealing than others. Recommended for large public libraries and those with extensive travel collections. An optional purchase for all others. John McCormick, New Hampshire State Lib., Concord (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Excerpts

ForewordI traveled to Helsinki for the first time several Novembers ago. It probably wont surprise anyone when I report that Helsinki in November was brutally cold with a wind that whipped across the half-frozen harbor, that the sun didnt rise until midmorning and quickly set by early afternoon, or that it snowed part of every day. I wandered around the citys snowy, quiet streets without purpose, following signs I could not read. I haggled with a Russian fur vendor over a muskrat hat in the market square. I drank coffee while sitting on boxes inside a tent near the fish vendors. I whiled away a dark afternoon at a tiny table in Caf Engel, looking out across the stark Senate Square, warmed by sun lamps that the barista told me had been set up to counteract "the winter blahs." I ate reindeer served with cloudberries and lingonberries, dropped markkas into the cup of a blind accordion player, and listened to people ice- skating in the park across the street as I lay in my hotel bed. The trip seems rather uneventful in the retelling, I know. And it surprises me a little to say that this trip has become a meaningful part of my personal history - more than I ever could have imagined when I bought my plane ticket. The reason has as much, or more, to do with context as with the destination. If you remember back to the mid- to late 1990s, you may recall those years as the zenith of Americas sudden, red-hot love affair with gourmet coffee and its accouterments. It also happened to be the zenith for a certain genre of niche, connoisseur magazine. During those years, I wrote for - and later improbably became the editor of - an attractively designed magazine called Coffee Journal, which covered what it termed the "coffee and tea lifestyle." The magazine dutifully tasted and compared coffee roasts, reviewed the newest espresso machines and grinders, provided biscotti recipes, and profiled cafs all over the world. Travel was a major part of this so-called coffee and tea lifestyle, and I wrote stories about visiting coffee farms in Nicaragua and Haiti, as well as an article entitled "The Best Coffeehouses Coast to Coast." By the time I took the reins, the magazines demise was imminent. Americas love affair with gourmet coffee had cooled considerably. Following an argument with the publisher over whether our next issues cover would be a photo of a coffee mug with doughnuts or simply a photo of a solitary coffee mug, I decided to assign myself a travel story on the coffeehouse culture of Helsinki. The clever Coffee Journal angle for this travel article, I am embarrassed to admit, would go as follows: A widely circulated statistic asserted that nine cups of coffee was what the average Finn drank each day, the highest per capita consumption in the world. Taking that bit of information as my cue, I would sit in Helsinkis finest cafs, drink nine cups of coffee each day just like the Finns, make notes on the interiors of cafs and those sitting in Excerpted from The Best American Travel Writing 2002 All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.