Two For the Road

Lunatic Express                 The Routes of Man

by Carl Hoffman                by Ted Conover

I have been considering my favorite books of 2010 and in the travel literature category I have come up with two titles that stand far and away above them all.  The Routes of Man by Ted Conover and Lunatic Express by Carl Hoffman.  Interesting both have the same focus, down to earth travel--literally in the case of Conover and also spiritually by Hoffman. 

The Routes of Man discusses travel routes from roads and rivers in South America, deadly truck routes in Africa, and a frozen river in the Himalayas.  Each of these routes is shaped by the environment and it defines the connection to the rest of the world.  In the case of the frozen river it is the only route out of the village, an ancient route used for generations and a rite of passage.  Will that still be the case when the new road is completed?  Along these roads culture is spread, along with people, disease, goods and materials.  Power is gained or lost with control of the roads.  Conover keeps his view neutral even when there is much to condemn on these routes, allowing the reader to make his or her own decision.  It isn't a travel book, exactly, but it is a fascinating look at how the world is changing for better and worse through travel.

Lunatic Express takes a more personal journey as the author searches for a connection with the earth by traveling via some of the most dangerous types of transportation--over loaded ferries and trains, roads without rules, even an airline with a hideous safety record.  On the road he makes a connection with his fellow travelers that might not have been possible otherwise.  I found myself most taken with his ride on an Indonesian ferry where he was taken in by a family, guided through the chaos of the journey.  It was the best and worst of Indonesia all at once.  Less enchanting was his rude return to the US on a Greyhound bus where he met the worst this "great" society has to offer.  It might be clean and relatively safe, but it was the true lunatic express of the story.

The journeys in these books were long, arduous, and often genuinely unpleasant.  Nonetheless, they took me places I wanted to go.  I got to experience cultures, conflicts, environments all foreign to my own life experience.  In reading them, I gained a deeper understanding of the world I live in.  That is what travel literature should be all about and why they were my best of 2010.

What to Read Next

Book Lust to Go
by Nancy Pearl

I was number one on the waiting list for this book at the library.  Surely that comes as no surprise as I am a librarian who loves travel writing.  What did come as a surprise to me was the fact that I had read many of the recommended titles in here.  I would flip from section to section wondering if a certain book was in there and sure enough it was.  But that having been said, there is lots more for me to read.  Where to start, where to start?  Nancy Pearl is so thorough in her recommendations I am nearly completely overwhelmed.

The first places that come to mind, are ones that I haven't visited yet--Burma is one.  Finding George Orwell in Burma is one that has crossed my radar before, so it looks like a good place to start.  Siberia is another.  Though it isn't in this book yet, Travels in Siberia has turned up on many best of lists this year meaning it is now on my TBR.  Canada on the page remains mostly unexplored for me aside from several fiction series (Louise Penny, Giles Blunt, Inger Ash Wolfe),  but several of the books mentioned are travels through small towns in the Canadian mid-west.  That to me sounds completely enchanting and a trip I intend to take soon with Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw to start followed by Welcome Home: Travels in Small Town Canada.

Another area I need to flesh out in order to be truly well read/traveled would be classic travel literature.  A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush is on my list as is In Patagonia and the various works of Paul Theroux.  I had intended to read Theroux but so many criticized him as being grumpy and disenchanted with travel and the world.  For me travel literature is full of the joy of experience, discovery, exploration.  The idea of reading someone who just complains the entire time...well that sounds like travel companions I have had in the past and not an experience I wanted to repeat voluntarily so I have avoided him.  Several early works, however, are must reads and come highly recommended so onto the list they go.

The list is already a long one and I keep finding more and more to add to it as I continue to flip through this book.  Not all of them will capture my imagination.  I won't want to travel with all of the authors, but to find out I must set out on the journey and I absolutely cannot wait.

Yearning

Bury Your Dead
by Louise Penny

I read a book on Friday that had me pricing flights and hotels within 48 hours.  I simply could not get the setting out of my mind.  “I could go there.”  I kept thinking to myself.  The book wasn’t a happy one.  It was as covered in grief as the setting was covered with snow and ice, but oh how it made me want to go there right NOW.  The book was Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny.  The setting was Quebec City.

This book is the latest in the Chief Inspector Gamache series, all of which are set in the province of Quebec, usually in a picturesque little village.  None of the previous books, though very, very good indeed, made me yearn for travel as this one did.  This one was set almost exclusively in the walled city and the story intertwined several mysteries, one of which dealt with the location of the grave of the founder of Quebec, Samuel de Champlain.  That meant there was a great deal of history in the book.  Was that what got under my skin?

Also featuring in the story was a Literary and Historical society of the English speaking community in the francophone Quebec.  Were dusty old books and librarians what got me interested?  Given the fact that I am a librarian it seems reasonable, but I am not convinced.

No, I think what got me was the fact the book was excellent.  It was beautifully written, telling a complex series of tales in flashbacks and present day, each drawing forth emotions from the characters involved.  As two of them had recently survived a harrowing police mission, the emotions were strong ones.  The city and the winter weather combined to make the grief, regret, and guilt all that more profound.  Scenes set over warm baguettes and stew or simple cups of coffee became so vivid I could practically smell the food, sense the warmth coming back into bones.  The pride the characters felt for their city and their history was as vivid as their other emotions.  I cared deeply for those characters and wanted to be in a place that they loved.

Unfortunately, I cannot get on a plane until next fall, but in the meantime I will enjoy the anticipation and possibly visit again in the pages of another book.

Serendipity

Into Thick Air:  Biking to the Bellybutton of Six Continents

By Jim Malusa

I took a short trip recently and decided that travel literature was my airplane reading pleasure.  Into Thick Air had recently popped up on my TBR radar so into the bag it went.  As it turned out it suited my journey admirably, though I read most of it once I got home.

In this book, Malusa, has told the tales of bicycle trips to the lowest points of each continent except Antarctica, excluded for actual geological reasons—it doesn’t have any land below sea level.  The first four journeys are funded as travel writing expeditions, but he completes his final two journeys without sponsors, riding just for the pleasure of purpose and exploration in Djibouti and here in the USA.

The tales each follow the pattern that is expected in most travel writing.  Interesting locals are encountered, weather causes issues, there is discovery, unnecessary fears become vitally important, and, of course, the joy of travel is expressed.  What was different to me, however, was the willingness of Malusa to abandon his bicycling trip and hop onto the nearest transport when things got difficult.  So many of the quirky journey books out there feature a devotion to purity.  They can only wear the same socks, they can’t take a plane, they can’t do something or another or else it will ruin their quirky journey.  In an odd sort of way, I think Malusa had more purity of purpose.  He was devoted to the travel experience.  Bending to fit the environment, living in the moment, taking advantage of good fortune and kind people, going off plan to discover something even greater.  He still completes his journey, but has the richer experience.  That to me is what travel is about.

As for how it suited my journey?  The second trip taken was from Cairo into Jordan to visit the Dead Sea.  My friend had just taken much the same trip and we’d spent time talking about it.  As I awaited the boarding call for my departure, I opened up the book and read this very section.  It was a reminder to me of how small the world really is, and how important it is to listen and watch the world around you for cues to your direction, essentially reinforcing the message of the book for me.  It would seem I was meant to read this book, and I was glad it accompanied me on my weekend journey.

The Third Time is the Charm

I recently took down my second attempt at a blog and was searching around for another idea, wondering if the whole thing was a bad idea.  Pretty much everything I was putting out was bland and unoriginal.  I felt constricted by the limits of the professional framework I was attempting to put on it.  While that is certainly a part of me, it wasn’t the part of me I necessarily wanted to share.  Coming up with something to write about was like pulling teeth.  So this morning I began thinking on what I did like to share.  I came up with books.

Oh good.  Something even less original than a blog about librarianship.  A book review blog.

So, I had to think a little harder and as I was drying my hair (why, yes, I was thinking in the shower.  Don’t you?) it occurred to me that one of the things I love when I am reading is exploring an exotic setting.  It might be the setting of a fiction book, a non-fiction book, it really doesn’t matter. I want a book to take me places.  I am especially fond of armchair travel because I love to travel, but can’t afford to do it as much as I would like. 

So there it is, what you need to know about me.  I like to read.  I like to travel.  I like to read about travel.  That having been said, an armchair journey is called for.  Off I go to peruse the stacks to see where I will explore next.