One for the Road: Living in a Foreign Language

by Kelly Amabile on

L.A. Law fans may be interested to learn about an upcoming travel memoir by actor Michael Tucker. He and his wife, actress Jill Eikenberry, were vacationing in Italy when they fell head over heels for a rustic Umbrian cottage. They impulsively bought the place and Tucker has now chronicled their “under an Umbrian sun” experiences in a lighthearted travelogue.

Living in a Foreign Language: A Memoir of Food, Wine and Love in Italy tells the story of how the couple embraces the culture of their new home — including the gourmet delights of Italian cooking and the challenges of learning how to communicate with local neighbors and friends. “Our goal,” writes Tucker, “was to slow down our hearts and minds until they synched up with the circadian rhythm of the Italian countryside.”

The couple will begin a series of book tour appearances with an event in New York on July 10.

One for the Road: The Complete Walker

by Kelly Amabile on

Colin Fletcher, author of the “hiker’s bible” died this past Tuesday at the age of 85. His bestseller, The Complete Walker, first appeared in 1968 and has sold more than 500,000 copies. Known for popularizing hiking and backpacking in the US because of his books on the subject, Fletcher has been called ‘the father of modern backpacking”.

Born in Wales, Fletcher was educated in England and served in the Royal Marines. After spending time in Kenya, Zimbabwe and Canada, he moved to the US in 1956. Two years later he walked the length of the state of California, a journey that was chronicled in The Thousand Mile Summer. In 1963 he became the first man to walk the length of the Grand Canyon below the rim, which he wrote about in The Man Who Walked Through Time. Backpacker magazine printed a touching eulogy, and here’s a short interview done with Fletcher ten years ago.

One for the Road: Journey to the Land of Flies

by Kelly Amabile on

Apart from Playboy’s new travel-inspired book, One for the Road focused on international literary translations this week. And to wrap things up, here’s a final suggestion that I spied over at Critical Mass. The National Book Critics Circle blog is asking writers to recommend foreign translations in support of Reading the World, and yesterday’s interview unearthed another travel-related translation from an Italian writer:

Journey to the Land of Flies and Other Travels is a collection of stories by former architect and publisher Aldo Buzzi. These witty musings about food, philosophy and 19th Century Russian literature are not what some would consider traditional travel writing. But Buzzi’s journeys to places like Jakarta, Sicily and Moscow do evoke his experience of each particular place, as he ponders vodka, cabbage and cockroaches from these distinct corners of the globe. I really like the sound of this one. Thank goodness for translators–Ciao!

One for the Road: Japan – A Traveler’s Literary Companion

by Kelly Amabile on

Whereabouts Press publishes a small but well-done series of literary guides for only a dozen countries (like Mexico, Chile, Israel) and a few cities (Amsterdam and Prague). A few months ago I devoured their 2006-released Japan edition: Japan: A Traveler’s Literary Companion is a magical collection of original works by Japanese writers that have each been translated into English.

The stories are organized geographically, taking readers along on journeys to places like Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto, Kumano, Okinawa and Tokyo. Donald Richie’s foreword points to the concept of “furusato”, a term that carries more meaning than its translation “hometown”. This theme of revisiting or returning weaves through all the stories, as each one paints a picture for the reader of the deep relationship that exists between person and place.

There seems no better way to explore the culture of another country (besides actually being there) than by reading literature from a variety of voices native to the land. This is an excellent place to begin any journey through Japan.

One for the Road: Silverstein Around the World

by Kelly Amabile on

A travel book with a foreword by Hugh Hefner?! Whatever could it be? Get your minds out of the gutter and look here: Playboy’s Silverstein Around the World.

As the daughter of a children’s librarian, my interest was immediately piqued when I spied this new release, since I know of the late Shel Silverstein primarily for his famous children’s books. But it turns out the illustrator worked for Playboy for over 40 years, including a stint as a foreign correspondent.

In the ’50’s and ’60’s, the magazine sent Silverstein around the world to create a visual travelogue. His produced 23 dispatches from far-away places like Moscow, Japan and the Middle East, as well as sketches from US locales like Haight-Ashbury and White Sox training camp.

This new book celebrates the travel series and the special partnership between Hefner and Silverstein that made it happen. It’s a fitting tribute to the illustrator’s drawings, and his wry social commentary on the world at that time. A list of all his Playboy contributions can be found here.