Wanderlust: Real-Life Tales of Adventure and Romance

by Don George

Book Overview

Wanderlust: Real-Life Tales of Adventure and Romance includes these forty-one scintillating and sizzling tales of serendipity: "On the Amazon" by Isabel Allende "Once Upon a Time in Italy" by Bill... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679783636
• ISBN13: 9780679783633
• Release Date: November 2000
• Publisher: Villard Books
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.5" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

These People Really GET IT

"[I]f travel is like love, that is, in the end, mostly because it's a heightened state of awareness, in which we are mindful, receptive, undimmed by familiarity, and ready to be transformed."So observes Pico Iyer at the end of his foreword to this magical collection, adding that the above is also the reason that "the best trips, like the best love affairs, never really end. "Anyone who has traveled at least a bit, who has loved at least once, or who is ready to be transformed should read this book. High praise is due Don George and Salon.com for gathering such a stirring and tantalizing collection of writings together: in forty short pieces not one dull or sappy note is struck.For romance, the standouts of this collection are Maxine Rose Schur's "Passionate and Penniless in Paris," about the time she spent with her husband living in a van by the Quai de la Tournelle; Simon Winchester's "Romance in Romania" where the Rolls Royce he happens to be driving brings both him and a young Romanian girl into a beautiful moment that takes its romance from its very fleetingness; Iyer's own short, musical "Bewitched in Bali"; "Fade Into Blue," written in the third person by Amanda Jones; and most memorable of all, Laura Fraser's "Italian Affair," one of the most personal pieces in the book, but written completely in the second person (let's just say it begins with "Let's say your husband leaves you" and ends with her discovery of "la bella vita").Notable for their adventurous qualities are Bill Belleville's "Looking for Mr. Watson" in the heart of the Florida Everglades; Don Meredith's relaxed brush with death in "Sleeping With Elephants"; Jeffrey Tayler's not-so-relaxed brush with death in "Lost in the Sahara"; editor Don George's surprising fear of climbing Half-Dome in Yosemite while watching his 8- and 10-year-old children scamper up like squirrels--he not afraid for them, he's jealous of them; and Susan Hack's humorous "Tampax Nightmares."Of course romance and adventure are not mutually exclusive, and many of the stories here exhibit both. The writers of SALON.COM'S WANDERLUST convey the sights, sounds, smells, tastes and feel of the places they go--both externally and inside their own heads. The reader is transported to all seven continents and several states of being (drunk on absinthe, crashing a motorcycle while on heroin, eating the ambrosial sauces of the Memphis World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest). It will be hard to read just a quarter of these stories and not want to make your plane reservations, stuff a new notebook into your backpack and just go.

Each story is better than the previous

I've been a fan of Salon.com for about a year, particularly their dearly departed Travel section. One or two of the stories in this book, I remembered reading from the online column, but they were surprising and entertaining in a second read. A book of short stories by various authors should be diverse and each story should be somewhat different, but still cohesive enough to hold together under a single theme. This book manages to do that excellently through it's theme of wanderlust. The concept of wanderlust, of desiring to go on a journey that puts you outside your everday life and opens your horizons, is thoroughly elucidated in this work. Reading this book will make you want to travel to distant lands. I highly recommend it.

Armchair travel at its very best

Salon's "Wanderlust" section was always my favorite part of Salon -- even more so than "Sex":). This book is a marvelous collection of authentic writing, and answers the kinds of questions good travel writing asks -- what is it like to be drinking absinthe in Spain? to be penniless and in love in Paris? to be a cynic at Club Med? to try to stay sober in Thailand?This is armchair travel at its very best.

Salon.Com's Wanderlust

This is is a must-have for anyone who likes traveling and the halarity that usually goes with it. Each of the stories takes a different direction so it never becomes tedious. The writing is diverse but usually very good.The item about African writing is an excellent source for other books, new and old, of memoirs of traveling in Africa, not travel guides.

I laughed.... and laughed some more!

As the Business Travel host at BellaOnline.com, I ~highly~ recommend this book!It's rare that I read a travel book. It's like taking a "busman's holiday" since I'm on the road 95% of the year but this book looked too funny not to buy!What impressed me most with this book is that each author was able to put such simple truth into each story while injecting humor. I found that after reading the book... I learned a little more about the regions the authors traveled to and have realized how jaded we are in the US. There's not a simple drug store on every corner. Nor is there a need for the bright lights on every trip. Each experience is unique and described as such.A very easy read that will have you laughing and learning!