James's comments (member since Aug 24, 2008)

James's comments from the Travel Literature Makes My Heart Beat Faster.. group.

Our new book --Inside the Apple A Streetwise History of New York City-- is a narrative history of the city written for travelers. Not exactly a travelogue, but a great way to begin exploring the city's past. It just hit store shelves last week.

In Riding the Iron Rooster, Theroux seems to spend an inordinate amount of time at one point denigrating his companions on the train. So, I'd say a little misanthropic--but usually I'm nodding along and laughing, too.

I read Bryson's In a Sunburned Country and Tony Horwitz's Blue Latitudes Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before at the same time and it was illuminating to see the differences in style and approach between the two. (While Horwitz is covering more than just Australia, there are definite points of intersection.)

In the end, I thought Horwitz's views were more perceptive.

Horwitz's newest, A Voyage Long and Strange Rediscovering the New World, is a great combination of travel and history.

Similar to Benjamin's book, which I will add to my reading list, I'd recommend Rory Stewart's "The Places In Between." It's not a travel book as such, but it chronicles Stewart's walk across Afghanistan just after the overthrow of the Taliban. I know many have found it slow going, but I was engrossed by the narrative and found it a unique insight into today's Afghanistan, a place that most of us will never see.