Meanwhile, in the non-Hemingway category, the venerable travel editor and writer Don George has collected tales of food and travel in his new anthology, “A Moveable Feast: Life-Changing Food Adventures Around the World.” The collection features everyone from celebrity chefs like Anthony Bourdain to World Hum coeditor Jim Benning and contributors Pico Iyer, Doug Mack, Larry Habegger and Elizabeth Eaves. In “Boozehound: On the Trail of the Rare, the Obscure, and the Overrated in Spirits,” Jason Wilson searches the world for the secrets behind old, regal liquors, lambasts the “vodkatini,” champions Chartreuse, and provides recipes for his favorite cocktails. Travel writers, like the rest of the world, are also becoming more aware of what they put in their mouth, and several of this year’s best offerings reflect that. (Related: World Hum interview with Hoffman and book excerpt.) Boozehound by Jason Wilson The Lunatic Express by Carl HoffmanĬarl Hoffman’s fate-tempting title, “The Lunatic Express: Discovering the World Via Its Most Dangerous Buses, Boats, Trains, and Planes,” is not the “Jackass” knockoff it sounds like, but rather a thoughtful look at the lengths average people go to simply to get around. (Related: World Hum interview with Hessler and book excerpt.) Travels in Siberia by Ian FrazierĪ bit to the north, humorist Ian Frazier takes us along on several forays into the Russian hinterlands in “Travels in Siberia,” a masterpiece of humor and exploration, with Frazier serving as the best possible companion.
Peter Hessler’s “Country Driving: A Journey Through China From Farm to Factory” is a brilliant evocation of modern China and its conundrum, as Hessler drives far into the now-emptied empire. Several in this year’s literary travel highlights were road books.
Here are some of the books from 2010 that do that best. Similarly, some writers still remind us there is magic in travel. But with airspace over parts of Europe shut down for nearly a month, we were reminded of just how much travel has become a part of modern life, how much we depend on planes, trains and automobiles to get us from one place to another. Until last spring, when the unpronounceable volcano (Eyjafjallajökull) exploded in Iceland, it seemed like we’d almost forgotten that we are a world on the move.
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