Part 2 of 3 of Mark Twain’s memoir of his 134-day European and Holy Land cruise in 1867, the biggest selling book in his lifetime .   So said Mark Twain in is classic, travelogue, The Innocents Abroad or, The New Pilgrims’ Progress. And while he and his companions indeed discover “half the world,” the reader learns more. Page after page of Mark Twain’s Innocents (like all of his books) illustrates his brilliant writing. Twain’s facility with language, his immense […]

Categories: Tucker Cox, ZiR • Tags: travel

This is the first of two reviews of Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods. This review is about Bryson’s use of humor, the second about his concern for the ecology surrounding the Appalachian Trail   “That’s the trouble with losing your mind; by the time it’s gone, it’s too late to get it back,” said Bill Bryson in A Walk in the Woods, Bryson’s narrative of his and pal Stephen Katz’s hike on the Appalachian Trail (AT). Bryson was in a “state of […]

Categories: Tucker Cox, ZiR • Tags: travel

This is the first of three reviews of John Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley: In Search of America. In Part II  (April 10) Steinbeck uses humor to look into the American character. Part III (April 17), “The Hunger to be Somewhere Else,” is about Steinbeck’s observations on the restlessness of the American character. So said John Steinbeck of himself. He was also talking about a defiant, independent streak in the American character. The Nobel Laureate (1962) was writing about the nature of travel in his […]

Categories: Tucker Cox, ZiR • Tags: travel