"The best travel writing doesn't have real resolutions," notes Sloane Crosley in her introduction to this year's batch of eclectic, offbeat yarns from America's finest travel writers. Perhaps that's why each of these essays leaves the reader feeling slightly off balance--unsettled, confused or simply disoriented at having traveled so far, to such foreign (in every sense of the word) places, in the span of a few pages.
These tales go far beyond "normal" travel writing, showing us places we usually haven't been and sometimes would never choose to go. Tracing the origins of vampires in a Serbian forest; spending hours gridlocked in Moscow traffic; even bird-watching at a ranch in southern Wyoming--whatever their destination, these writers come back with stories rich and strange. Each writer presents his or her locale in startlingly vivid detail, from Maureen Dowd's cheekily titled "Girl's Guide to Saudi Arabia" to Mischa Berlinski's colorful, chaotic portrait of post-earthquake Haiti in "Venance Lafrance Is Not Dead."
There are no gentle stories here, no placid European adventures or classic American road trips. Instead, there is Ben Austen's commentary on the multimillion-dollar rowdiness of NASCAR (screeching tires in the background), Jessica McCaughey's musings on orienteering and finding your own way, and Ariel Levy's exploration of the complex issues surrounding Native American casinos. These essays may not inspire vacation plans, but they will challenge readers' perceptions about certain parts of the world--thus living up to Crosley's definition and to the series' name. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams