Travel and Map Center to Close

by Neil Woodburn on

It always saddens me when independent bookstores get chewed up and spit out by the likes of Barnes & Noble and Borders.  It’s even worse when it is a travel bookstore.

Yesterday at lunch I headed over to my favorite such establishment only to find a “Going Out of Business” banner hanging from the front of it.  California Map & Travel Center in Santa Monica has been my source for obscure travel books for many years now.  I visited yesterday to pick up an Albanian travel book that no other bookstore in Los Angeles seemed to carry.  

But its not just books that made this store so great.  It also carried a large selection of globes and a truly outstanding selection of maps.  I don’t know of anywhere else I could pick up a topo map of the Sierra Nevadas, a street map of Gdansk, and an upside-down map of the Australian continent all under one roof.

This store will sorely be missed and we travelers will be all the poorer as a result.  In the meantime, EVERTHING is 20% off until May 31 when they officially close.  Swing by if you’re in the LA area and help pick clean the carcass. 

Men’s Journal: 25 Best Adventure Authors

by Neil Woodburn on

As discussed in yesterday’s post, the annual Adventure Issue of Men’s Journal is currently available at newsstands, but not online. 

One of the more intriguing articles contained within the issue is a ranking of the 20 best adventure writers.  I always love such lists because they inevitably introduce me to authors I’ve never heard of before.  This was how I discovered a few years ago that Antoine de Saint-Exupéry wrote much more than just The Little Prince.  His books on flying (e.g., Wind, Sand and Stars) have become some of my very favorite novels.  He comes in at Number Eight this year on the Men’s Journal list.

Numbers One and Three are new discoveries for me as well this year.  Theodore Roosevelt landed the top spot.  I wasn’t even aware he wrote adventure books (such as Through the Brazilian Wilderness), but I’ll certainly check him out now. 

Although Number Two on the list is the well-known Ernest Hemingway, Number Three was completely unknown to me.  Apparently author Redmond O’Hanlon writes with a “Monty Python-esque” style and excels in the genre of miserable-but-humorous travelogues (e.g., Into the Heart of Borneo).  Anything “Monty Python-esque” is certainly worth trying in my book.

There are a few other pleasant discoveries on the list as well.  In addition, one can also expect traditional mainstays such as Jack London, Jon Krakauer, and Heinrich Harrer.  Pick up Men’s Journal today for the full list.

Authors Make Talk in Portland

by Neil Woodburn on

Okay, it’s a surprisingly cheesy pun for such a highbrow event, but nonetheless, Wordstock has managed to pull down some very serious and respected authors to headline the Portland, Oregon book festival this upcoming weekend of April 21.

Among the 250 authors participating in readings, book signings, and workshops will be Dave Eggers, Gore Vidal, David James Duncan, Joyce Carol Oates, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Ira Glass. 

With that line-up, I’m willing to forgive the bad pun and book it (no pun intended) up to Portland for a little literary expedition myself. 

Red Corner: Peter Hopkirk’s Central Asia comes Alive

by Neil Woodburn on

Until just recently, Central Asia had all but disappeared from the world’s consciousness. Swallowed up by the Soviet Union in the early part of the 20th century, places like Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan simply vanished anonymously from the world stage.

After gaining their independence towards the end of the century and struggling through a period of economic hardship, however, the ‘Stans of the former USSR are back in the spotlight thanks to oil deposits and large Muslim populations.

Back in the spotlight, you ask? When was a place like Kazakhstan ever in the spotlight?

Central Asia was actually a major center of conflict and interest in the 19th century as Russia and Britain fought over the region in a long running series of affairs known as the Great Game. While this conflict has mostly been forgotten by the modern world, one amazing author has struggled to keep it alive through a series of commanding books that are some of the finest historical reads you’ll ever come across. Author Peter Hopkirk has written a handful of novels dealing with the Great Game which are now, according to The Telegraph (UK), being re-released due to increased interest in the region.

Hopkirk’s finest work, appropriately titled The Great Game, is such an amazing read involving spies, espionage, and double-agents that it is almost impossible to accept the fact that everything mentioned is true. If you’re planning on traveling through the region, be sure to read it; Hopkirk referenced nearly ever place I visited in Uzbekistan. If you become a fan, and you will, you can move on to Foreign Devils on the Silk Road and Trespassers on the Roof of the World-two books whose alluring titles should whet your appetite for more.

The Dog-Eat-Dog World of (Illegal) Pakistani Kite Flying

by Neil Woodburn on

The Kite Flying Festival in Lahore, Pakistan has gained much international attention lately due to Khalid Hosseini’s bestselling novel The Kite Runner.  Unfortunately, it has also received too much attention in Pakistan as well, according to Sam Knight of The Times (UK). 

In his wonderfully penned essay, Knight tells us that the annual festival (known as Basant) isn’t a bunch of kids merrily lofting kites into the air, but rather a cutthroat competition in which kite flyers use their kite strings to sever the strings of other kites and send them tumbling back down to earth.  Over the years, however, competitors have engaged in an increasingly dangerous arms race in which kite strings are now coated in crushed glass, acid, or slivers of sharp metal.  As kites are downed, these treacherous strings dangle from trees and electrical lines, often snagging passersby and motorcyclists.  Last year 24 people died from injuries sustained from these so-called death strings.

As if this wasn’t bad enough, corporate sponsors have stepped in to hijack the event, contributing to a growing atmosphere of drinking, partying, and profiteering that has raised the ire of local devout Muslims. 

Faced with such growing concerns, Pakistan actually banned kite flying last December.  This naturally resulted in protests and a rash of illegal kites taking to the air.  A ban was also put in place for the Lahore festival which was to take place earlier this month at the beginning of Spring.  As Knight reports, however, the ban was openly defied throughout Lahore despite legions of police confiscating kites and arresting many of those who dared send their creations aloft.