The Peregrinations Continue
Wanted to start this newsletter with Pico Iyer's 'Falling Off the Map: Some Lonely Places of the World'. This book encompasses many off-the-beaten-path places - understand that a lot of these travels were in the early 1990s such as Australia (5000 miles from Nowhere), Paraguay, Iceland, Bhutan, and North Korea among others. If you don't know Pico Iyer you should as he has written numerous books (30 plus) that reach right into your soul or so it feels.
The ones that I have read in addition to the one above are 'A Beginner's Guide to Japan' and 'The Art of Stillness'. He has also contributed to other collections such as 'Wanderlust: Real-Life Tales of Adventure and Romance'.
TED Talks. Pico Iyer.
Iyer finishes the book (The Art of Stillness) by reflecting on how stillness brings meaning to motion. He notes how deeper reserves are accessed, deeper connections are fostered, and deeper memories are made when built on a foundation of stillness. For as much as we think of stillness as inaction, “Stillness has nothing to do with settledness or stasis.”
Apparently, Iyer had a cabin on a mountain in Nepal, and speaking of Nepal I just finished 'The Snow Leopard' by Peter Matthiessen (with an introduction by Pico Iyer) which was a thoroughly enjoyable book. I would like to refer you back to the first newsletter in this series and the book 'The Trail to Kanjiroba' by William deBuys which charts a similar expedition - both books outline the arduous nature of the treks through all of the trials and tribulations of the Himalayas with its extreme climatic conditions, varied wildlife and the hardiness of the local peoples.
Umberto Eco ('The Name of the Rose' among many other books) wrote "I sought peace in everything, but never was I happier than in a corner with a book".
Wanted to mention here 'The Stones of Florence' by Mary McCarthy (described by some as an iconoclastic novelist) in which she literally talks about the stones of Florence as well as the predilections of its citizens over the years, its myriad history stories, and especially the art history and the role played by the Church in its history. Mary McCarthy is the author of over 35 books from Florence, to Vietnam, to Missionaries and Cannibals. If you can find them the Library of America, a non-profit organization, publishes many collections of classic American literature at reasonable pricing with many available at local libraries as well.
While talking about Mary McCarthy I also wanted to mention the book 'BETWEEN FRIENDS The Correspondence of Hannah Arendt and MaryMcCarthy 1949-1975' which I haven't read yet but intend to shortly being a big fan of the writings of Hannah Arendt and also now of Mary McCarthy.
Just discovered Patrick Leigh Fermor who was an intrepid traveler in Europe and parts of Asia just before the Second World War and who went on to be, apparently, a very integral part of Britain's wartime efforts in the Mediterranean. The trilogy which wasn't actually finished until after his death in 2011 encompasses these books 'A Time of Gifts', 'Between the Woods and the Water' and 'The Broken Road'. As well Artemis Cooper has written a biography of sorts of Patrick Leigh Fermor not surprisingly entitled 'Patrick Leigh Fermor: An Adventure'. Just as an aside Artemis Cooper is the wife of the noted British historian Anthony Beevor who has written many books related to the Second World War and more. Finished 'The Adventure' and looking forward to reading his own books. From what Artemis Cooper has written Fermor didn't exactly wander (walk) through Europe but was referred from one society set to another in Eastern Europe and often traveled by train and motor car provided by one host or another. Regardless it appears he had many adventures and then WWII happened!
Have only scratched the surface of Salon.com's book 'Wanderlust' (as noted above) with 42 writers each of which has a real-life tale of adventure in a part of the world that they have explored. Pico Iyer (again!) is an integral part of this book and has written the Foreword and a story in Bali. I would also like to note that Simon Winchester (more about Simon in another edition of the newsletter) has a story about 'Romance in Romania' which is amusing. Simon Winchester is also the author of 'Outposts' in which he travels, sometimes with a companion, to all of the leftover British outposts around the world among them  Tristan da Cunha, Diego Gracia (part of the overseas British Indian Ocean Territory), The Falklands and more.
Apparently, Simon Winchester is the only person to be permanently banned from entering Tristan da Cunha again as he broke their unwritten rule about publicizing individuals who live there. This story is from a NY Times reporter who visited Tristan da Cunha in May 2020.
A plug here for a great outdoor adventure magazine - Adventure Journal - which is published four times a year and has a wide range of adventures from rafting, to fishing, surfing, hiking, biking, caving, and so on. Only available as a printed edition on heavyweight 70 lb paper and 130 lb soft-touch cover stock.
Recap of Books Mentioned in this Newsletter
- 'Falling Off the Map: Some Lonely Places of the World' by Pico Iyer
- 'A Beginner's Guide to Japan' by Pico Iyer
- 'The Art of Stillness' by Pico Iyer
- 'Wanderlust: Real-Life Tales of Adventure and Romance'
- 'The Snow Leopard' by Peter Matthiessen
- 'The Trail to Kanjiroba' by William deBuys
- 'The Name of the Rose' by Umberto Eco
- 'The Stones of Florence' by Mary McCarthy
- 'BETWEEN FRIENDS The Correspondence of Hannah Arendt and MaryMcCarthy 1949-1975'
- 'A Time of Gifts' by Patrick Leigh Fermor
- 'Between the Woods and the Water' by Patrick Leigh Fermor
- 'The Broken Road' by Patrick Leigh Fermor
- 'Patrick Leigh Fermor: An Adventure' by Artemis Cooper
- 'Outposts' by Simon Winchester
Mind you a reader doesn't live by adventure alone - one needs some good fiction from time to time!
- 'Exiles' by Jane Harper (great Australian novelist!)
- 'The Papers of Tony Veitch' by William Mclvanney
- 'The Quaker' by William Mclvanney
- 'Missing, Presumed' by Susie Steiner
- 'The Replacement Wife' by Darby Kane
- 'At Night All Blood is Black' by David Diop
The Discard Pile?
- 'The Passenger' by Cormac McCarthy. Just couldn't get into this book beyond the first fifteen pages or so. Gave up on it which is very unusual for me!
- 'Five Noir Novels of the 1940s and 50s' by David Goodis. Gave up on this one as well.
- 'The Poisonwood Bible' by Barbara Kingsolver. Gave up on this one as well even though I thoroughly enjoyed her novel 'Demon Copperfield'.
My Local Bookstore
I was in for a surprise when I last visited my local bookstore (small, independent) and saw a couple of used books that I thought no one else would have read on the shelves! These were 'The Turkish Embassy Letters' by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu and 'West with The Light' by Beryl Markham. Ms. Marham was an early female pilot first in British East Africa and then the first female pilot to fly the Atlantic from England with a planned destination of New York but ended up crash landing in Nova Scotia and survived!
Ernest Hemingway was deeply impressed with Markham's writing, saying
"she has written so well, and marvelously well, that I was completely ashamed of myself as a writer. I felt that I was simply a carpenter with words, picking up whatever was furnished on the job and nailing them together and sometimes making an okay pig pen. But [she] can write rings around all of us who consider ourselves as writers ... it really is a bloody wonderful book."
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu was much more involved in Turkish culture and was apparently a much better Ambassador than her husband who actually was the English Ambassador to Turkey (now TĂĽrkiye Cumhuriyeti) 1716 - 1718. This book is a collection of letters to her friends on her travels through the Ottoman Empire. Lady Montagu Mary was also known for introducing and advocating for smallpox inoculation in Britain after her return from Turkey.
Also related to smallpox was the book 'The Empress and the English Doctor: How Catherine the Great Defied a deadly virus' by Lucy Ward.
Hard to Find Books? Amazon says currently unavailable and not found in Thrift Books or on Abe Books!
'The Dark Heart of Australia' by J.W. Gregory