Here are two books about travel that were very good company on our trip:
Do Travel Writers Go to Hell?, by Thomas Kohnstamm. For anyone who has ever planned a trip on the basis of a Lonely Planet guidebook (ahem, 🙋🏻‍♀️), this one makes for some uncomfortable -- and highly entertaining -- reading. In this memoir-cum-exposé published in the waning days of the guidebook boom, Kohnstamm explains what really goes into those massive tomes (or what really went into his massive tome -- the LP guide to Brazil). Spoiler: the author spends a lot of time getting drunk and high and having sex, and never actually makes it to a lot of the places that he "reviews" in the guidebook. Kohnstamm's "rollicking" tell-all was a hit with critics, while LP was forced to issue an official (and indignant) response.
My first gig in the travel writing world was actually updating the Bradt Guide to Sierra Leone, back in 2010/2011, and I could definitely relate to a lot of Kohnstamm's gripes: the miserable pay of guidebook work; the difficulty of actually getting to all of the places you're supposed to see without missing your deadline; the senselessness of trying to pin down "contact information" for a business that doesn't have a landline or a street address. I'm immensely glad that I came across this book; I'm equally glad that I didn't read it before I took on the Bradt gig. I'm not sure I would have had the courage to sign up.
A Cook's Tour, by Anthony Bourdain. Following the immense success of Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain was offered the chance to star in his own TV show that had him traveling around the world and eating all manner of exotic foods (a still-beating cobra heart, a crunchy duck embryo, the "slimy little bones" of an iguana wrapped inside a tamale). Lucky for us, Bourdain also wrote a book about the experience -- and his account is strikingly honest, transporting and empathic. Classic travel writing at its best; I would highly recommend.
That's all for now. Thanks so much for reading! Now please excuse me as I run away to Ireland and sign myself up for dance classes.
Take care,
Paige x |