2024 the best travel companies review
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Adventurous essays by Meghan Daum, Paul Theroux, Sarah Moss, and many more, selected by New York Times–bestselling author Padma Lakshmi.
“The beauty of good writing is that it transports the reader inside another person’s experience in some other physical place and culture,” writes Padma Lakshmi in her introduction, “and, at its best, evokes a palpable feeling of being in a specific moment in time and space.” The essays in this edition of TheBest American Travel Writing are an antidote to the isolation of the year 2020, giving us views into experiences unlike our own and taking us on journeys we could not take ourselves. From the lively music of West Africa, to the rich culinary traditions of Muslims in Northwest China, to the thrill of a hunt in Alaska, this collection is a treasure trove of diverse places and cultures, providing the comfort, excitement, and joy of feeling elsewhere.
The Best American Travel Writing 2021 features:
KIESE MAKEBA LAYMON • LESLIE JAMISON • BILL BUFORD • JON LEE ANDERSON • MEGHAN DAUM • DOUG BOCK CLARK • LIGAYA MISHAN • SARAH MOSS • PAUL THEROUX and many others
“The Best American Travel Writing has been the gold standard for short-form travel writing from newspapers, magazines and the Internet since its inception.” —The New York Times Book Review
“[A] superb travel annual . . . distinguished by its stellar guest editors.” —Booklist (starred review)
“[A] venerable series.” —Kirkus Reviews
ASIN : B08NWSH8RN
Publisher : Mariner Books (October 12, 2021)
Publication date : October 12, 2021
Language : English
File size : 6381 KB
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
Screen Reader : Supported
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Print length : 306 pages
Reviewer: Shelly Marks
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Great read!
Review: Traveling may be limited during Covid but reading about it reminds me of all the great places Iâm going to one day! A great compilation of essays
Reviewer: L. M Young
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Pandemic and Other Tales
Review: I don't know what possessed me to buy this book after what happened in 2020...but I was pleasantly surprised! Many of the essays had to do with staying home during the pandemic and missing travel or discovering new things about staying at home, or what happened to travelers during the pandemic, like the terrifying first narrative about quarantine on a cruise ship. "Mississippi: A Poem, in Days" and "Out There, Nobody Can Hear You Scream" are the two best, and most sobering, essays about Black travelers and the challenges they still face in America's tourist places. Deep sea diving, the residents of Las Vegas, bathhouses, traveling and suicideâI don't think I caught a bad essay here.
Reviewer: Lana W. Riker
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: My favorite of the last few years
Review: Every year I try to pick up and read the Best American Travel Writing and the Best American Food Writing. The articles are reliably researched and well written in these compilations. Somehow I connected more with 2021 Best Travel Writing this past couple of years. I thought the selection of essays was engaging, fascinating and I really felt an emotional the impact. Maybe it was exploring the impact of Covid, but really exceptional selections.
Reviewer: Book Bag Lady
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A Mixed Travel Bag
Review: COVID-19 claimed another victim as this year's crop of Best American Travel stories is disappointing. The writing is heavy on the pandemic with a touch of politics thrown in. Two stories, one about a person who decides to stay in New York during the lockdown and the other choosing to leave, were simply boring. "The Warmth of a Lost World" about Turkish baths in the East Village and elsewhere was tepid at best. Why do so many New Yorkers think they live in the center of the universe? "Mississippi: A Poem in Days" is a profanity laced screed against white people, Donald Trump, the Old South and conservative values. In another piece, the Black author, sees racism behind every tree and campfire as she travels through the Great Smoky Mountains. There are bright spots, however. "Good Bread", set in France, was my favorite followed closely by "Five Oceans, Five Deeps." It's an exciting tale of a man determined to reach the bottom of the deepest trench in all five oceans. (There are hints of what a James Bond-like villain could do by cutting undersea cables and manipulating the gold market.) "Wanderlust" is the final selection and an equally fascinating journey of travel in the Alaskan wilderness. ( For members of conservation groups and others who care about the environment, there are unsettling passages of birds being shot. ) The remaining articles are so-so, and thankfully, some mercifully short. I've been a fan of this series for years but I would advise future editors to keep politics at bay. We need escapism, not indoctrination.
Reviewer: Kindle Customer
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Travels Near and Far
Review: The reader is taken to places around the world, near and far- East China Sea, Hong Kong, the Mississippi, the Borneo Rainforest, New York, Las Vegas, the City of Saints, Burundi among others. Customs, traditions and food are discussed.
Reviewer: Fletch
Rating: 2.0 out of 5 stars
Title: COVID-19 COVID-19 please stop
Review: I read travel literature to learn about other cultures and locations. These articles are all about COVID-19 which is what I was trying to get away from. I glanced at 3 or 4 articles and will have to give it away before I try to wade thru more COVID-19 bad news.
Reviewer: alocksley
Rating: 1.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Not about travel
Review: The selections chosen for this book have very little to do with travel. They are about covid, about death, about Trump, about racism. Ms. Lakshmi is a food writer (I guess) but certainly not a travel writer, and evidently can't tell the difference. Most of these articles are depressing, which is the last thing we want to read when we look for travel literature, especially emerging from the last 2 years. Don't bother with this book.
Reviewer: Weston Guili
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Terrific Travel: The Touchstone of âThe Best American Travel Essays 2021â
Review: When most people think of travel writing, they likely envision âThe Top Ten Places to Visit in your Lifetimeâ, but that hardly captures the true scope of travel writing. Padma Lakshmiâs collection of travel essays brilliantly diversifies what the âbestâ travel writing means by using travel as a medium through which unique cultures, current events, and foreign places are explored.The unique cultures of these travel destinations can be experienced through a variety of ways, but many essays find similar means through they are prospected. âSenegalâs Beating Heartâ by Jim Benning highlights the power of music within a population, able to bind a city together through its culture and essence. The power of music transcends language and opens âa secret passage to the heart of a countryâ. Complimenting this notion, Sarah Khanâs âIn the City of Saintsâ also explores the culture of a city through music, but as well as through its fantastic historical and religious sites. The intense connection experienced through these sites paired with the delicious street food and bumbling music animates Harar into a real depiction.Other essays decide to focus on current events, specifically recent pandemics. âI Decided to Leaveâ by Meghan Daum examines the despair of the Coronavirus pandemic, forcing a woman to leave New York City and move to the Virginian countryside while in quarantine where she would stagnate within monotonous tasks of someone in isolation. Essays like Paul Therouxâs âA Fear-Filled Lockdownâ also comments on the harm caused by pandemics, mirroring COVID to the plague and Great Depression.Other essays approaches travel writing from a different angle. Intan Paramadithaâs âOn the Complicated Questions Around Writing About Travelâ investigates the true meaning of travel writing and the openness, globalization, and socioeconomic impacts that are associated. Meanwhile, âA Change in Perspectiveâ by Sarah Moss questions the reasoning behind travel and why people leave. Moss also interrogates the crises faced when travelling to new places: How should I explore? And what should I look for? These questions are at the heart of travel writing and highlight the diversity and application of the genre, certainly earning the title of âThe Best American Travel Writing 2021â.