One for the Road (04/25/07)

by Kelly Amabile on

Since I don’t have cable, I remain largely disconnected from much of the fantastic programming on stations like The Discovery, History and Travel Channels. I learned more about one of these shows I’ve been missing while reading Sunday’s New York Times profile of Josh Bernstein, adventure anthropologist and host of the History Channel’s soon to be retired Digging for the Truth.

Bernstein, a native New Yorker and Cornell grad, seems to live up to the Indiana Jones labeling he receives. And on top of all the daring explorations, he runs an outdoor survival school and is a professional photographer. Despite its’ populatiry, The History Channel series is ending after a three season run. But of course, another cable channel has already snatched Bernstein up. Discovery just started shooting episodes for a new and yet-to-be-named series, that will feature more of the same travel adventure, with a stronger emphasis on Bernstein’s passion for the environment.

So while you’re waiting for episodes of the new show to air, why not check out the companion book to the Digging for the Truthl series? It’s an autobiographical look at Bernstein’s path to what has to be one of the greatest travel gigs out there, as well as a behind-the-scenes look at his fantastic fact-finding global expeditions.

Tour the House of Iceland’s Lone Nobel Laureate

by Neil Woodburn on

I’ll bet that you can’t name Iceland’s only Nobel Prize winner for literature.

Go ahead. Give it a long think.

Stumped? Does the name Halldór Laxness ring a bell?

I had never heard of Iceland’s most famous scribe until I was preparing for a visit and decided to bone up on the local literature. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that someone from this tiny nation of less than 300,000 had been bestowed with such an honor. And so, I picked up his most famous book, Independent People, and gave it a try. To tell you the truth, I found it very difficult to get through and still have a bookmark where I stopped, some hundred pages from the end.

That’s not to say I hated it. In this particular book, Laxness displays a gift for describing the hard, difficult, and lonely life faced by the country’s sheep farmers at the turn of the century and, more specifically, the strong resolve of protagonist Bjartur of Summerhouses. I feel so very bad, having left him stranded in the snow where I stopped reading. One day I will continue and extricate him from the situation.

Anyway, I digress. The reason I bring up Laxness is because of an outstanding house museum dedicated to his life and works. I unfortunately did not visit it while in Iceland, but after reading a nice write-up in Iceland Review, I most certainly wish I had; there is something so magical about visiting house museums where great authors lived and wrote and this one seems particularly magical. I will be sure to finish reading one of his works, however, before paying it a visit.

One for the Road (04/24/07)

by Kelly Amabile on

Ad man Chris Epting has written a series of location themed books that highlight pop culture landmarks across the US. His latest, Led Zeppelin Crashed Here, takes readers on a musical journey that visits almost 600 hotel rooms, concert venues, birthplaces and graves linked to rock ‘n’ roll history. Music junkies in need of a reason to plan a road trip will find plenty of material to choose from in this comprehensive guide to the musical landmarks of North America.

Do you know where Buddy Holly’s plane crashed? Or the club where the Sex Pistols played their first and last US concerts? Or the hotel where Keith Richards threw a TV out the window? This book tells all, and might be the perfect inspiration for planning some music-inspired vacations. The book comes out in May, but Epting has created a few crafty trailers to get all you music fans excited. You can learn more about Epting’s other pop culture books and advertising endeavors at his website.

Soap Opera in the Air

by Iva Skoch on

We’ve heard from pilots about life in the sky (Ask the Pilot), but here’s a book from the perspective of ground-staff personnel: Imogen Edwards-Jones’ Air Babylon.

The first thing to know is that this is fictionalized. She writes with the help of several anonymous sources, then piles all their different, but true, stories together in a fanciful “expose” of the airport business.

It’s pretty entertaining, and pretty scary, since it describes a fictional 24-hours-in-the-life of a ground crew at a London airport, working for a make-believe, mid-sized international carrier.

Essentially, she’s packed all these bad events together into a single day of hell. You’ve got passengers dying of heart attacks during long trips (and what do they do with the bodies??), you’ve got snakes on the plane, you’ve got contraband in luggage, drunk flight attendants, unruly passengers, asylum-seekers, boy bands, and, of course, sex.

True or not, exaggerated or not, it’s entertaining.

One for the Road (04/23/07)

by Kelly Amabile on

Brooklyn-based Mary Morris has written before about the Midwest where she was raised. But in her latest book, she confronts her middle America roots head on. In The River Queen, Morris sets out to travel by houseboat down the Mississippi, a journey inspired in part by the stories her father used to tell her about his life growing up along the river’s banks.

Two months before embarking on this Twain-like trip, Morris’ father passed away and her daughter left for college. And then, two weeks before departure, Katrina hit. As she explains, the book she set out to write took on a life of it’s own long before departure. Her narrative is a mix of personal story, US history and insight on shared universal truths.

It sounds like this fourth travel memoir from Morris won’t disappoint. Her previous travel titles include: Nothing to Declare: Memoirs of a Woman Traveling Alone, Wall to Wall: from Beijing to Berlin by Rail , and Angels & Aliens: A Journey West. Listen to an interview with the author here.