{"id":3924,"date":"2023-09-01T14:43:34","date_gmt":"2023-09-01T14:43:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/?p=3924"},"modified":"2023-09-23T00:43:12","modified_gmt":"2023-09-23T00:43:12","slug":"meredith-cummings-travel-the-world-through-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/meredithcummings\/2023\/09\/01\/meredith-cummings-travel-the-world-through-books\/","title":{"rendered":"Meredith Cummings : Travel the world \u2014 through books"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This review was first published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Aug. 27, 2023<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Summer is waning but adventure doesn\u2019t have to. Check out these travel books before closing out summer with one last escapade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBest American Travel Writing 2021<\/strong>,\u201d edited by Padma Lakshmi and Jason Wilson (Mariner Books, $16.99)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anthologies aren\u2019t always the best way to a great read but this 22nd book in the series is packed with stories from around the globe that only each writer can tell. Many of the essays included are pandemic-related but, for those weary of pandemic tales, they remind us to relish the moment, and these stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cClanlands: Whisky, Warfare, and a Scottish Adventure Like No Other\u201d <\/strong>by Sam Heughan, Graham McTavish, and Charlotte Reather with a foreword by Diana Gabaldon (Hodder & Stoughton Ltd, $26.99)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The intergenerational stars of the TV show \u201cOutlander\u201d romp, drink and eat their way through their homeland of Scotland. They explore history and feuding, as well as music, poetry and art, on an assortment of vehicles, from a camper van to boats, kayaks, bicycles and motorbikes. Readers meet a bevy of Highland characters who are hard to forget, and will feel as exhilarated and exhausted as if they had taken this journey, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWalking with Sam: A Father, a Son, and Five Hundred Miles Across Spain\u201d<\/strong> by Andrew McCarthy (Grand Central Publishing, $28)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any of Andrew McCarthy\u2019s travel writings are worth the investment, yet his latest memoir marks the passing of time and has a tenderness to it that feels new, probably because his son is with him. As they traverse Spain\u2019s Camino De Santiago, they communicate more than they have in a cellphone-driven world, and he watches his son become freer on expansive land. For many parents, the car is sacred space to hear about kids\u2019 lives, but this is a next-level way to hem in offspring. Bonus: on the audiobook, the author\u2019s son Sam reads with him so readers can experience the teen eye rolls along with Mr. McCarthy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStalking Shakespeare: A Memoir of Madness, Murder, and My Search for the Poet Beneath the Paint\u201d<\/strong> by Lee Durkee (Scribner, $28)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This book travels and time travels in this too-unconventional-to-be-real tale of Lee Durkee, from Mississippi, who sets out to find a true portrait of Shakespeare when he realizes that no one really knows what he looked like. After a divorce (and much drinking, which continues throughout), he shelters in Vermont where he doggedly pursues the bard\u2019s likeness. Why has Shakespeare gotten so much more attractive in paintings over time?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science\u201d<\/strong> by Richard Holmes (Pantheon, $22)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While not purely a travel book, this prize-winning 2009 book will take readers around the world on adventures that, often, humans would now be unable to have due to the changing landscape and times. Sitting at the intersection of science and art, every chapter is a travel crusade that will delight. This is a modern-day masterpiece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWorld Travel: An irreverent guide<\/strong>\u201d by Anthony Bourdain and Laurie Woolever (Ecco, $40)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He never set out to write a travel guide, but the late Anthony Bourdain accomplished enough to write one through his various culinary escapades. \u201cI tell you how the places make me feel,\u201d wrote Mr. Bourdain in this 2021 book about the world as he saw it on his travels. Published posthumously and just as the world began to emerge from a pandemic, assorted essays by his friends and family are additional reasons to read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhere the Waves Turn Back\u201d<\/strong> by Tyson Motsenbocker (Worthy Books, $27)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the death of his mother, Tyson Motsenbocker was intrigued by some ideas of St. Junipero Serra, the 18th-century Franciscan monk who believed that suffering and pain were the keys to enlightenment. Mr. Motsenbocker sets out to walk from San Diego to San Francisco, along the El Camino Real. Funny and sad, he followed his mother\u2019s wish: \u201cWhen I\u2019m gone, I want you to do something irresponsible.\u201d As she lay dying, when he told her his plan, her response was, \u201cJust remember, you could walk all that way without doing anything at all.\u201d This book pleasingly proves her wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meredith Cummings is a freelance journalist and teaching assistant professor of journalism at Lehigh University.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This review was first published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Aug. 27, 2023 Summer is waning but adventure doesn\u2019t have to. Check out these travel books before closing out summer with one last escapade. \u201cBest American Travel Writing 2021,\u201d edited by Padma Lakshmi and Jason Wilson (Mariner Books, $16.99) Anthologies aren\u2019t always the best way to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3925,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[293],"tags":[296,290,295],"class_list":["post-3924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews","tag-non-fiction","tag-pittsburgh-post-gazette","tag-travel"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMeredith Cummings : Travel the world \u2014 through books » Meredith Cummings: Journalist, Educator, Nonprofit Director<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Meredith Cummings : Travel the world \u2014 through books » Meredith Cummings: Journalist, Educator, Nonprofit Director\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This review was first published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Aug. 27, 2023 Summer is waning but adventure doesn\u2019t have to. 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