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Original Essays | September 23, 2009

Jonathan Lethem: IMG Stops: On Those Things My New Novel Forgot to Be About, Maybe



For me, there's a weird, unfathomable gulf — I almost wrote gulp — between the completion of a novel and its publication. Some days this duration feels interminable, as though the book has... Continue »
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The Best American Travel Writing (Best American Travel Writing)

by Anthony Bourdain

The Best American Travel Writing (Best American Travel Writing) Cover

ISBN13: 9780618858644
ISBN10: 0618858644
Condition: Standard
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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

In his introduction to The Best American Travel Writing 2008, editor Anthony Bourdain writes that the pieces that "spoke the loudest and most powerfully to me were usually evocative of the darker side, those moments fearful, sublime, and absurd; the small epiphanies familiar to the full-time traveler, interspersed by a sense of dislocation — and the strange, unholy need to record the experience." With this in mind, Bourdain and series editor Jason Wilson have assembled a wide-ranging and wonderfully eclectic collection that delves headlong into those darker moments and subtle realizations, looking to absorb, provoke, and offer a moving record of what it means to travel in the twenty-first century.

Here you will find Seth Stevenson's extraordinary experience of "Looking for Mammon in the Muslim World" as he makes his way through sweltering and paradoxical Dubai. Exotic tastes and larger-than-life personalities abound as Bill Buford accompanies the chocolate maker Frederick Schilling to the rain forests of Brazil. And on the other side of the world, Calvin Trillin trolls Singapore for the ultimate street food, while Kristin Ohlson delves into the harrowing challenges faced by proprietors of restaurants in Kabul, Afghanistan. The twenty-five pieces in this collection have their fair share of the absurd as well. David Sedaris explains the hilarious highs (sundaes) and woeful lows (sobbing with your seatmate) of flying Business Elite. Gary Shteyngart goes "To Russia for Love" during St. Petersburg's vodka-soaked wedding season. And Emily Maloney gets up close and personal with her fellow travelers — and their massage devices — in a South American hostel.

Culled from an amazing variety of publications, "the writing in this volume is so vibrantly good, you'll feel like you've armchair-traveled around the world" (Chicago Sun Times).

Synopsis:

Contributors include Bill Buford, David Sedaris, Gary Shteyngart, Paul Theroux, Calvin Trillin, Catherine Watson, and others.

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 2 comments:
Robert Schindler, January 23, 2009 (view all comments by Robert Schindler)
Like any anthology, some stories are better than others. Overall, the theme is kinda dark; lots of travel in oppressive regimes like the Congo and Turkmenistan. I guess that's because Bourdain's style is dark, too. The last essay by Catherine Watson is a keeper!
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(2 of 3 readers found this comment helpful)
thedudeabides, November 27, 2008 (view all comments by thedudeabides)
Delicious read.Sit back and savour the taste of adventure and travel the globe.This book cooks !
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780618858644
Author:
Bourdain, Anthony
Publisher:
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH)
Editor:
Bourdain, Anthony; Wilson, Jason
Editor:
Wilson, Jason
Subject:
Essays & Travelogues
Subject:
Travelers' writings, American
Edition Description:
2008 Paperback
Series:
Best American Travel Writing
Publication Date:
October 2008
Binding:
Paperback
Language:
English
Pages:
295
Dimensions:
814x552x80 71

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