Day 3 - Vicarious ‘ armchair’ traveling with writers in the past.

 

There’s nothing like learning about the past while being an armchair traveler. By reading about early explorers, we avoid all the dirt, smell, and exhaustion. Better yet, we get to read what places, buildings, and countries looked like in bygone days.

When we read Homer’s Odyssey, we travel through the Mediterranean Sea, visiting places that no longer exist. We follow the Greeks, particularly Odysseus, as he and his intrepid men meet gods, goddesses and mythological creatures. More than that, Homer describes the shores, buildings, and peoples Odysseus encounters, their customs, clothing, and food. This timeless tale takes readers from the beaches of Troy to the shores of Ithaca where his faithful wife Penelope weaves and unweaves, waiting for Odysseus to return.

When we read the Odyssey in Greek, we hear the music through the meter of each verse. When I was studying Classics, we read Robert Fitzgerald’s translation of this long, narrative poem. There are modern day translators whose rendition of Homer is printed in prose or in verse, Robert Fagles being the latest to render Homer in verse. Why not try an audio book of this tale. Naxos’ Odyssey uses the William Cowper’s 1791 verse translation. Here is a link to audio clips https://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=NA303112  

Or you could follow the Trojan Aeneas as he, his son and father journey to Italy and ultimately found Rome. Virgil tells the tale of the Aeneid in verse, splendidly translated into verse by C.Day Lewis. Here too, readers travel with Aeneas across the Mediterranean Sea, stopping here and there and most especially in Carthage where our hero meets Dido. We are most fortunate if we can listen to an excellent audio performance. Naxos’ Aeneid uses Lewis’ translation. Listen to clips here https://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=NA0196

One more ancient traveler to read as he journeys from here to there is

Herodotus. His Histories  include founding story myths, battles, countries, customs, and descriptions of the countryside. Herodotus is “the Father of History,” the first to compile and recount the histories of many places and peoples. His narrative history describes the pyramids and the Hellespont, and the hanging gardens of Babylon. Once again, I’d listen to the book recorded by Naxos https://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=NA0225

There’s a contemporary book that follows Herodotus journey called Travels with Herodotus by Ryszard Kapuściński. As he travels to the east, Kapuściński takes Herodotus with him and compares the sights and sounds and geography in a captivating travelogue  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59664.Travels_with_Herodotus

 

Through the words of the Greeks and Romans, the ancient world comes alive. What better way to learn about the past than to travel through these timeless tales.

 

Stay tuned. Tomorrow, day 4 we'll do some armchair traveling using guidebooks.

Day 2 Armchair Traveling with Explorers

 

Today, let’s look at books where authors are often explorers who are expanding upon field-notes from their explorations.

When considering travel tales, I am most often drawn to first person accounts. They tend to be closer to the experience and the traveler’s responses to their adventures. This type of first-person account can be a journal or diary, truly first-hand accounts, or memoirs which look back at an adventure or experience. Many of these memoirs tend to look back from some distance upon returning from a trip. Some are drawn from long ago memories.

Explorers like Lewis and Clark kept detailed records of their journey and discovery the people they encountered and the sights they’ve seen, and even locations where flora and fauna were collected. They include descriptions of the environment, climate, geography, and the conditions under which the specimens were obtained, collected, or discovered. When they returned, Lewis and Clark submitted their records to Congress which had funded the expedition.

The History of the Lewis and Clark Expedition by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark and edited by Elliott Coues (3 volumes) is just one compilation of the amazing adventures of these intrepid explorers. From May 1804 to September 1806, they and their men explored the Louisiana Purchase following first the Missouri River and others as they determined the extent of the purchase, met members of the indigenous peoples who lived on the lands, and even sought a route to the Pacific Ocean. You can read more about the three volume set, now out of print, here https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1042356.The_History_of_the_Lewis_and_Clark_Expedition_Vol_1

The Lewis and Clark expedition has been fictionalized, dramatized, and

recounted by many authors and in many abridgements. While an historical fiction account may be what most people want to read, Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West by Stephen Ambrose is one of the most exciting and illuminating historical studies of the journey and discoveries. Learn about their mission, their fellow explorers, and what they saw along the way https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/580616.Undaunted_Courage

We, the reader, get to experience travel without the grit, dirt, or even sweat. We put up our feet and are transported to another place or culture, see another people in their own environment. In some cases, we travel back in time and learn about the past, a culture or place that’s no longer there.

Stay tuned. Tomorrow, day three, we’ll look follow travelers of long ago and far away.

Day 1 Armchair Traveling, an Introduction

 

We’ve all been wanting to travel for the past 2 years. Who hasn’t?

As I thought about Bout-Of-Books for this summer, for travel season, I decided to focus on books about journeys.

I have always been a serious reader of all types of books about travel from historical accounts and journals to historical fiction. These travel books describe a journey from here to there. Some are spare, some are densely described. Some are tales of adventures or peoples, customs and traditions, others are stories that fill the reader with delight, interest, and in many cases, adventure fraught with danger, thrills, and chills. Some are books that take you along a road, others a footpath, and still others a river. Best of all, they teach you about what’s along the route and, in many cases, what’s changed over time.

As I embrace armchair travel, who hasn’t over the past year or two, I began asking questions about this broad and rather fluid genre. In the blog entries that follow, I will write about books that take me places while I read in place in my armchair.

Here are two books that take you places; both released this year. The Ride of Her Life by Elizabeth Letts and West with Giraffes by Linda Rutledge.

The Ride of Her Life: The True Story of a Woman, Her Horse, and Their Last-Chance Journey Across America by Elizabeth Letts is a lovingly crafted work of historical fiction based on the diaries and letters of Annie Wilkins, a 63-year-old farmer from Maine in 1954 who rides her horse across the United States accompanied by her intrepid dog. Following her story, readers learn about the hardships of riding day after day in all types of weather. It’s a pretty amazing trip for a 60+ woman. The author describes what the rider saw, how the roads changed from two lanes to interstate, and how rural lands and the presence of horses disappeared by the 1950s. What a tale.

West with Giraffes by Linda Rutledge is a fictionalized account of Woodrow Wilson Nickel. Rutledge sets up the story as a memoir told by Nickel, now 105, of his adventure at 17. It was the adventure of a lifetime for a young man who survived the dustbowl of the Texas Panhandle. He escapes to New York City only to drive across country to San Diego in 1938 with two giraffes on the back of his pickup truck.

 

 

I reviewed The Ride of Her Life here https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55333765-the-ride-of-her-life

West with Giraffes here https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53453400-west-with-giraffes

Stay tuned for more Armchair Travels while Reading in Place tomorrow.

Bout of Books August 2021 - Reading - in - place with me

Yeah! More books to read :)

I'm participating in "Bout of Books" (August 2021). The theme is once again "Reading in Place."  This time we're going to be Armchair Travelers and travel through books, or at least talk about the types of books that assist with traveling. 

Here's the official Bout of Books blurb:

The Bout of Books readathon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly Rubidoux Apple. It’s a weeklong readathon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 16th and runs through Sunday, August 22nd in YOUR time zone. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are reading sprints, Twitter chats, and exclusive Instagram challenges, but they’re all completely optional. For all Bout of Books 32 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

So follow me through Facebook or Blogger 

Sign up for Bout of Books here: https://boutofbooks.blogspot.com/