Literary Trips: Following in the Footsteps of Fame [Illustrated] [Paperback]

Victoria Brooks (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 2000

"The excitement of finding something strange consists precisely in noting its strangeness," says Paul Bowles in the foreword. In his final bit of writing before his death last year, Bowles hit on the driving force that impels the best travel writers: the urge to tell someone about their trips. In this book, they find the opportunity, bringing readers along on their journeys to places made unique and fascinating by the works of the best writers in literature. This book enables readers to turn a simple trip into a pilgrimage and an ordinary sightseeing tour into an adventure.

Combining evocative biographies and useful travel tips to point travelers to the haunts and homes of famous writers, Literary Trips is a first in the world of thematic travelers tales. Readers sip martinis with Noel Coward and Ian Fleming on a Jamaican beach; fish for marlin with Ernest Hemingway in Cuba; ride a streetcar through New Orleans's French Quarter with Tennessee Williams; surf Australia's king-size waves with Bruce Chatwin; hang on tight to a camel with Lawrence of Arabia in Jordan; lounge in Parisian cafes with Gertrude Stein and F. Scott Fitzgerald; and much more.

"The feet that are being followed belong to outstanding literary figures. The feet following them are exceptional travel writers."--the Toronto Star

"Along with the literary trivia and the so-and-so-slept-here tips, Brooks and her stable of insiders provide first-rate overviews of accommodations and transportation options for the varied literary pitstops."--the Vancouver Province

"Revealing and inspirational....While there have been other books about the (literal) literary landscape, few...have managed to fold in the how-and-where nuts and bolts...that this one has."--Mark Orwell, managing editor, Travel & Leisure

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

While many travel books follow in the footsteps of writers, this collection of 23 short essays is a bit different. Focusing on famous writers and the locales for which they were well knownDsuch as Ernest Hemingway in Cuba, Bruce Chatwin in Australia, and Margaret Mitchell in AtlantaDthe book provides in each case brief historical and biographical information, along with a description of what the place was like at the time. Some of the authors of the essays also included their own personal narratives and added practical and up-to-date information about the place. Brooks, a travel writer for magazines and editor-in-chief of the Internet travel webzine www.greatestescapes.com, has not only compiled and edited the collection but also contributed three chapters. While the book's interesting subject and fun-to-read format do provide a new perspective on the already familiar places, the striking briefness of the essays might disappoint some fans of the profiled writers. Recommended only for large travel collections.DKathleen Shanahan, Kensington, MD
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Combines essays and practical information to guide the reader along literary pathways" -- USA Today, October 6, 2000

"Literary Trips sheds new light on destinations that have charmed such diverse literary figures as A.A. Milne and Mary Shelley" -- Palo Alto Daily News, July 14, 2000

"Practical information that true devotees can devour… a fun read for the literary-minded" -- New York Times Syndicate, August 13, 2000

"The feet that are being followed belong to outstanding literary figures. The feet following them are exceptional travel writers” -- The Toronto Star, April 15, 2000

“This compendium – part travelogue, part homage – is a fascinating (and useful) read... Literary Trips is well written and exhaustively researched." -- Vancouver Province, April 30, 2000

Product Details

• Paperback: 362 pages
• Publisher: Greatest Escapes.Com Pub; 1st edition (2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0968613705
• ISBN-13: 978-0968613702
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,334,284 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Literary Trips: Following in the Footsteps of Fame, September 19, 2000

By 

E. Lisa Moses (Toronto, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Literary Trips: Following in the Footsteps of Fame (Paperback)

This is a book to savor in a cigar lounge...in the corner of a jazz club...in front of a softly crackling fire at home. Or in a hammock under a royal palm in the deep, deep south.

I started out by nestling with the book into our oversized, down-filled sofa - and ended up traveling through one of the best reads of my life. Several times, I startled my husband with cries of "No kidding...Wow...I didn't know that...Ohmigod..." as I discovered new places in the hearts of my favorite authors. And delved into the lives of others I knew little about.

Literary Trips probes into the past, yet is formatted for the present. We're all used to reading in chunks now - short, self-contained sections that are complete, independent modules. And this book is totally "today" in that respect. Each chapter, written by a different person, is a complete story - gift-wrapped with its own special signature. Each has its own flavor, its own style, its own finds. Every writer has unearthed amusing tidbits and lively tales that add richness and depth to well researched and beautifully written prose.

The book is also an excellent travel guide for following in those famous footsteps. Each module contains a practical reference section listing hotels and other stomping grounds of famous feet ("Literary Sites"; "Literary Sleeps"). Each section also describes how to get to those grounds and provides useful tips and background information.

My favorite parts are the little surprises throughout. For example, did you know that: § Hemingway dedicated his Nobel Prize for literature to the patron saint of the basilica in Santiago de Cuba? § Ian Fleming wrote the James Bond novels at Goldeneye, his home in Jamaica, and named 007 after the local author of a book on birds? § When Ayn Rand was writing Atlas Shrugged, which took 12 years, she didn't leave her apartment for an entire month?

Another of the book's delightful dimensions is a smattering of recipes that could form a menu for a literary memorial party. You could honor D.H. Lawrence with his dandelion wine; Hemingway with double daiquiris; Mistry with Dhansak; and Sinclair Lewis with his "Sinful Christmas Cookies".

I'm always looking for inspiration for my own writing, and Lit Trips provides it on many fronts. Much of it comes from seeing so many authors "under one cover" - an excellent way to compare styles, to link lives, to see how they made their magic. But I was no less inspired by the talent of the book's contributing writers.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A superbly presented compendium, February 10, 2001

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Literary Trips: Following in the Footsteps of Fame (Paperback)

Literary Trips: Following In The Footsteps Of Fame is a superbly presented compendium of observations, adventures, and travels of and by some of the best loved writers as they trekked around the world. A magnificent armchair travelogue, Literary Trips is divided as the world is: Africa to Australasia (Paul Bowles, T. E. Lawrence, Rohinton Mistry, Bruce Chatwin); North America: West (Malcolm Lowry, The Beats, D. H. Lawrence, Garrison Keillor and Sinclair Lewis); North America: East (Tennessee Williams, Margaret Mitchell and Tom Wolfe, Ayn Rand, Mark Twain, Elizabeth Smart); Caribbean and Latin America (Ernest Hemingway, Ian Fleming and Noel Coward, John Stephens and Frederick Catherwood); Great Britain and Ireland (W. B. Yeats, Jane Urquhart and the Bronte Sisters, A. A. Milne, Agatha Christie and Jane Austen); Continental Europe (Knut Hamsun, The Lost Generation, Mary Shelley). Highly recommended for both school and community library collections, Literary Trips is enhanced for the reader with a section on biographies and a "user friendly" index. A novel and original feature of this publication is that any of the chapters are available as separate, individual e-texts and downloadable from the GreatestEscapes.com website.