The Best American Travel Writing 2018 by Cheryl Strayed

The Best American Travel Writing 2018 Reviews

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  Jan

  Another excellent collection, although I could have done with fewer pieces that were not really 'travel' writing per se but profiles of troubled places, such as an article about Flint's drinking water crisis.
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  Dipra Lahiri

  The editor takes a broad definition of 'travel', which includes history, politics and personal remembrances. If you're okay with that, then it's a really good collection of essays by very talented writers.
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  Vicky

  Wow 😮 Tonight I finally finished this book that I had started 1 year, 3 weeks, and 1 day ago, while on my way to visit my ex-long-distance-gf for her birthday week and I needed to bring "the perfect book", since I usually find it hard to focus on fiction while traveling and poetry books are too short, so an anthology like this one, esp. edited by Cheryl Strayed, was very appropriate. It adds to the spirit of being "on the go" and while it will probably take me 1 year, 3 weeks, and 1 day just to write a DRAFT of my own travel essay, these pieces at least inspire or remind me to write in my journal more often.
  
  I am sort of new to the Best American series, so it seems how they are put together is that all the essays in this collection were written in 2017, published here in 2018, and the table of contents are completely ordered in alphabetical order by last name, which explains why the first essay by Elliot Ackerman was so difficult, like it should not have been the opener, and I actually had to abandon it, but the last piece, "Vacances" by John von Sothen was lighter, funnier, about the social claustrophobia among the French when they take their summer vacations in groups.
  
  Of the 24 stories in here, 2 were skippable (not well-written 👀), 9 were "ok" (not relateable to me? white "great outdoorsman" from Seattle who won a lottery to visit Alaska in this rare protected space to exist among brown bears), 1 was sad ("Traveling While Black"), 12 were ones I put a ✅ next to the title, like a mix of reflections on place, or very interesting and informative to me like a very expensive Japanese muskmelon, or Pam Houston buying a ranch, or a couple distant from each other traveling to Bulgaria, or whatever happened to the Russian Revolution, or the terribleness of how Mount Rushmore took place. . .it has been a year so I am almost forgetting but this was good to read. . .
  
  Traveling 😭
• 
  Maddie

  A few “meh” stories but some really good stuff in here. Particularly:
  -whatever happened to the Russian revolution?
  -let the devil sing (Allegra Hyde)
  -out of sight (Ryan knighton)
  -over the river (Richard Manning)
  -outside the Manson pink berry (Rachel Monroe)
  -righteous febrile (Eileen pollack)
  -looking for right and wrong in the Philippines (Albert samaha)
  -vacances
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  Hallie

  Oof, this one was brutal at times. Absolutely worth the read solely for “We Go It Alone” by Rahawa Haile though. Some of the stories were similar to reading a history textbook, and some were totally unrelated to traveling. I also liked “The Digital Republic” by Nathan Heller a lot, but Cheryl, girl, that did not belong in a travel collection.
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  Jacqueline Knirnschild

  I thought the best piece was Barrett Swanson’s “Notes from a Last Man” and Ryan Knighton’s “Out of Sight” was also stellar.
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  Ashley

  Not one of the best collections, if I'm honest, with nothing particularly stand-out memorable of the bunch. Usually there's a couple that jump out at me that I go back and think about later, either as an "I want to go here some day" or "Whoa scary war story" or "Hahaha that was hilarious, what else has this author written?" But... none of that, here. Probably the most memorable was "In the Home of the Bear" as well as a story about a blind man going on safari, by Ryan Knighton, who I recognize from earlier Best American collections, and maybe also a piece about Mount Rushmore. But... yeah. Great travel writing! (Mostly.) Just nothing stand-out "wish I'd written this" memorable.
• 
  Donna Luu

  Not as good as past issues, the articles weren't even organized, except alphabetically by author. Still, there were a few good ones: Why should a melon cost as much as a car?, Foxes of PEI, and the Digital Republic.
• 
  Krista

  I really enjoyed this collection of essays. I definitely felt inspired to do a better job of documenting my own travels! Of course, I fear I will fall far short of the excellent writing found in this volume.
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  Selena

  And on that day, I realized my purpose in life: I love fighting more than anything else. - Goodbye, My Brother by Elliot Ackerman

  
  
  

  While pawns are the most vulnerable piece on the chessboard, they are also the only piece capable of transforming into something entirely new, provided they make the perilous journey across the board. - The Ghost of Capablanca by Brin-Jonathan Butler

  
  
  

  While none openly regret their decision, they lead lives much like double-exposed photographs, always wondering how they would have fared if they had left. - The Ghost of Capablanca by Brin-Jonathan Butler

  
  
  

  North Dakota in pheasant season is ashy silver, yellow, rusty orange and white, cinnamon brown and gray, green and gold, with masses of crows - the word for a religous gathering of crows is not a mass but a murder crows lifting off from, or settling into, the corn stubble. - Signs and Wonders by J.D. Daniels

  
  
  

  For long stretches, nothing is visible but the earth and the sky, and their unadorned hugeness is on a mythological scale: the sexual congress of Gaea and Uranus, the primal scene of creation.
  
  In this simplicity, a man is revealed as what he is. - Signs and Wonders by J.D. Daniels

  
  
  

  One rainy morning in Nebraska, you wake up and look out the hotel-room window at the red thread-leaf maple and you say: Remind me what we're doing here. - Signs and Wonders by J.D. Daniels

  
  
  

  "You were stranded in Zion?" he said. "That's funny."
  "It wasn't funny at the time."
  "That's not what I mean. It's like saying you were held prisoner in heaven. You know what I mean? The castle of Zion is the city of David. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath sined. You know? Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion.
  "Got it."
  "Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. The LORD loveth the gates of Zion. The Redeemer shall come to Zion."
  "Right on."
  "Thus saith the LORD, I am returned unto Zion."
  "Yes, man," I said. "I understand you." - Signs and Wonders by J.D. Daniels

  
  
  

  Instead, I knelt to pray. But what to pray.
  Despeneme en la sima y saque a luz lo escondido de su abismo, says the Knight of the Wood to Don Quixote: I threw myself into the chasm and brough tto light what lay hidden there in darkness.
  I said: Our father, who art in heaven. - Signs and Wonders by J.D. Daniels

  
  
  

  All I saw was sky, and the storm filled the sky. It began to hail whomping big rocks. I saw a double rainbow touching on both ends while lightning struck unceasingly all round it. - Signs and Wonders by J.D. Daniels

  
  
  

  I didn't realize that I was living in the temporary stillness between "you're fine" and "you're not." - The Foxes of Prince Edward Island by Matthew Ferrence

  
  
  

  I used to tell people that I loved Russia, because I do. I think everybody has a country not their own that they're powerfully drawn to; Russia is mine. I can't explain the attraction, only observe its symptoms going back to childhood, such as listening over and over to Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, narrated by Peter Ustinov, when I was six, or standing in the front yard at night as my father pointed out Sputnik crossing the sky. Now I've traveled enough in Russia that my affections are more complicated. I know that almost no conclusion I ever draw about it is likely to be right. The way to think about Russia is without thinking about it. I just try to love it and yield to it and go with it, while also paying vigilant attention - if that makes sense. - What Ever Happened to the Russian Revolution? by Ian Frazier

  
  
  

  She smiled at us, her blueish-gray eyes vivid, but neither warm nor cold In them I got a glimpse of the character one needs in order to live through such a time, and for one hundred years. - What Ever Happened to the Russian Revolution? by Ian Frazier

  
  
  

  When I asked what the Russian for "speed bump" is, I was told it's lezhashchii politseiskii, which means "lying-down policeman." When a noise thumped in an apartment we were visitingm, our hosts explained to me that it was the domovoi, the resident spirit of the apartment. Every house of apartment has a domovoi. - What Ever Happened to the Russian Revolution? by Ian Frazier

  
  
  

  I'm lonely enough as it is, without feeling additional isolation. I keep it from myself, and I follow the blazes north. I tell the trees the truth of it: some days I feel like breathing. - We Go It Alone by Rahawa Haile

  
  
  

  Little has changed since. Now the rocks gnaw at my shins. I thud against the ground, my tongue coated in dirty. I pick myself back up and start again. - We Go It Alone by Rahawa Haile

  
  
  

  How do we become who we are in the world? We ask the world to teach us. But we have to ask with an open heart, with no idea of what the answer will be. - Some Kind of Calling by Pam Houston

  
  
  

  "She died too soon," Orpheus sang to Hades, strumming his lyre all those miles underground, his words echoing through the fleshless spirit world, the legions of the dead. "We had so little time together." - Let the Devil Sing by Allegra Hyde

  
  
  
• 
  Cole

  my favorites:
  - Notes from a Last Man by Barrett Swanson. An interesting look at contemporary culture through the lens of Nietzsche's idea of the last man. This is a bit academic, but if you can make it through the first half the second half is very rewarding. If a guy that got a Ph.D. in English is considered a last man, who knows what the rest of us are.
  - The Ghost of Capablanca by Brin Jonathan Butler. Easily the best story about someone visiting a culture to understand how and why it works. Butler goes to Cuba to understand their fascination with chess.
  - Out of Sight by Ryan Knighton. A blind man goes on a safari. really interesting.
  - Hope and Home by Rabih Alameddine. A Lebanese man with a comfortable life in San Francisco visits refugee camps in his home and discusses how they become homes.
• 
  Lindsey Gjoraas

  This book was such an unexpected and truly interesting collection. If you are looking to be delighted by whimsical travel adventures then this might not be for you. This book brings so many thought-provoking stories into one collection. Even the stories I started out dreading (a Russian historical experience!?), ended up being so interesting that I found myself having to provide a summary to my husband after reading them. I learned so much about people’s expectations versus the realities that ensue, their differing perspectives, history, and how people live such a different and interesting experience than me. The only reason I am giving it 4 stars is because I wasn’t engrossed enough to not be able to put it down, but it was still a very worthwhile read.
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  Pearse Anderson

  A wonderful anthology as always, though after I bought this used I heard some awful things about series editor Jason Wilson that will alter how I view this series for a long time. Great stories here from shitting yourself in Poland to discussing historic racism in Flint to watching your childhood friend pass down coconuts from Filipino trees. I read this in under a week, mostly on the train from Syracuse to Chicago that was frustratingly delayed. Glad I could experience travel through this book!
  
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  Tri Le

  Mostly enjoyable collection of travel-related short pieces. However, there was a bit more politics than I would have preferred in the travel writing I read. The book contained a wide-range of material, from the uncomfortable-ness of an American on a French vacation, the black experience on the Appalachian trail, to the exploration of AI and technology in Korea, and the food scene in Moscow. I enjoyed the diverse selection and learned quite a bit more about the world.
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  Cathy Cole

  Bummed I spent $1.99 on this collection. It really should have made my DNF shelf but there were a few really good pieces too bad they were mixed in with some really poor "travel" pieces. I was hoping to be inspired, intrigued and whisked away to far off adventures but sadly many of the articles were the complete opposite. Oh well, you win some you lose some.
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  Alex

  A Little Free Library read. I enjoyed having this - it's nice to read magazine articles in book form. Not every one was a hit, for sure, and the definition of travel writing was massively broad, but overall, it was great before-bed reading, and I would pick up others in the series if I saw them hanging around, but probably wouldn't seek them out (at least, not very often).
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  Patricia Murphy

  I use this collection each year for teaching travel writing. This one is going to be tough. A lot of the essays are more centered on people or history than on place. Lots of have a meditation on personal thoughts and less observation of surroundings.
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  Stacey

  Many interesting travel stories. My favorite one is called Vacances about an American man, John Von Sothen, with his French wife, their kid and their French friends going on a vacation together. He is a funny writer too.
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  Susan

  
  Usually I love these collections. Way too many inner landscapes and not enough actual 'travel' writing.
  Nathan Heller's piece on Estonia was super interesting & Rabih Allmendine just knows how to write!
  
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  Jarrett

  4/5
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  Sandi

  This a series of essays about travels the authors have done it was great reading