Books on More Than One Place
The Best American Travel Writing 2005 edited by Jamaica Kincaid
It took me more than a year to finish this book. Due in part to my extremely hectic schedule and the book itself, I just couldn’t finish it before I set out on this trip. Packing it with me, I finally finished it in Korea…forcing myself to read all of the stories, even the ones I’d skipped while trying to read it in the States.
If you’ve never read a book from the Best American Series, they’re basically books that have series editors who collect 100 or so essays/articles that he/she deems the best each year. A guest editor, someone well-respected from that particular field of writing, narrows down that list to somewhere around 20. In this 2005 collection of The Best American Travel Writing guest editor Jamaica Kincaid chose the travel writing that she simply liked.
Some of her choices, I too, liked. Some I didn’t, and at times I felt like I was drinking a really expensive wine that I just didn’t enjoy and was wondering, “This is supposed to be the best?”
Alas, though, there were definitely those that made the purchase worthwhile. Stories like Tom Bissell’s “War Wounds,” Peter Hessler’s “Kindergarten,” and William Least Heat-Moon’s “By the Big Sea Water” I happily read and reread. And stories like William E. Blundell’s “My Florida” and Tom Ireland’s “My Thai Girlfriends” made me laugh many times (which always causes stares on a train or airplane, I’ve found). And some even would’ve inspired me to pick up and travel if I weren’t already on the road.
Rating: 3 out of 5
