One for the Road: An Anatomy of Roads

by Kelly Amabile on

My June travels through the Hudson Valley have uncovered some interesting titles about and from the region. Today’s reading suggestion is one I found on the shelves at Oblong Books. It’s a rather unique essay collection from Bard College called An Anatomy of Roads: The Quest Issue, the 44th edition of the college’s literary journal, Conjunctions.

The issue explores “the fascinating, complex process of defamiliarization as the ultimate path to knowing oneself” as revealed in a series of poems and fiction pieces. Bristish author Jon McGregor offers a story of a distraught man who travels to an unnamed island in search of his lost father. David Schuman’s story “Miss” is an eerie modern desert journey in which a man and his daughter, who is convinced that she is a cat, encounters the mother who abandoned him working in a Twilight Zone-like diner in the middle of nowhere. “Kronia,” by celebrated fantasy writer Elizabeth Hand, details a love story that may or may not have actually happened over the course of decades around the world.

These stories and over twenty more have been gathered together in this collective journey of the mind. A few are available online at the archives of the journal’s website.

One for the Road: Route 22

by Kelly Amabile on

Here’s a new book that just screams road trip. Well, maybe it’s more of a gentle awe-inspiring hush, but there’s an obvious undercurrent of energy here that may soon motivate you to hit the highway. New York-based photographer Benjamin Swett has created a photo essay of Route 22, the 350-mile highway that connects Manhattan and Montreal. More about this unique travelogue and “Autobiography of a Road” from the Quantuck Lane Press:

While driving along this road one day, Swett was struck by the contrast between the landscape he could see through his car window and the more romantic one he remembered from his childhood. Without any particular plan, he set out to discover how the upstate New York of James Fenimore Cooper and Thomas Cole became this other place-a seemingly lost, untended region of Off-Track Betting Parlors and Tattoo Emporiums, abandoned diners, and ancient buildings crumbling into forgotten canals. The result of his exploration is this book-an insightful and deeply personal meditation on this complicated and beautiful landscape, accompanied by ninety evocative photographs.

Swett is the former director of the Parks in Print program at the New York City Parks Department, and has also produced Great Trees of New York City: A Guide in addition to several other books. Photos from Route 22 can be seen here.

One for the Road: Wish You Weren’t Here

by Kelly Amabile on

As summer travel heats up, the horror stories we hear from vacationers will surely rise — missed connections, flat tires, broken air conditioners in hotel rooms. But it could always be worse somewhere else, right? A forthcoming anthology from Grove Press has collected some of the worst of the worst when it comes to nightmare travel experiences: Wish You Were’t Here: The Black Cat Anthology of Travel Humor, may help put your own travel mishaps in perspective.

This collection of funny tales about the very worst of travel is sure to provide some comic relief whether or not your own summer plans go sour. The anthology includes funny stories like Ludwig Bemelmans’ tale about hiding a toy poodle from an overeager butcher on a luxury ocean liner. Christopher Buckley learns the drawbacks of traveling with a group in the jungles of Belize and Jerome K. Jerome experiences the downside of traveling with cheese. Stinky stuff, maybe?

This July 2007 release was edited by Cecil Kuhne, editor of two other travel anthologies: On the Edge: Adventurous Escapades from Around the World and The Armchair Paddler: An Anthology of Canoeing, Kayaking, and Rafting Adventures.

One for the Road: Worst-Case Scenario – The Great Outdoors

by Kelly Amabile on

New this month from the Worst Case Scenario crew is their guide to The Great Outdoors. This comprehensive survival guide will surely come in handy on your next camping or outdoor adventure trip. It covers all the usual threats: bears, grill fires and tent pitching in the pouring rain. So fun, right? I just hope you’re lucky enough that all three of those things don’t happen to you on the same trip!

This essential carry-along covers anything and everything that could happen out there in the wild. The latest guide in this clever series includes profiles of worst-case locations and intrepid explorers, as well as charts and graphs of perilous situations. With detailed instructions on how to get out of every kind of trouble, this almanac provides maximum protection — and something spooky to read around the campfire. Basically, it will save your life and scare you silly all at the same time.

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.