Authors share their destinations for literary journeys – Boston Herald

Even when I was very young, reading was always a way to transport myself to a faraway place real or imaginary. The Little House series was transformational for its excellent writing as well as Laura Ingalls Wilders amazing gift for putting readers in the very place she is at the moment. She attributed this to having to describe settings to her blind sister. Tucked into those books, I saw the prairie grass sweeping ahead of me.

Books still do that for me. Of course, a good travel guide or cook book does the trick, but truly, all kinds of writing novels, nonfiction, poetry can send a person on an adventure. As we continue to hunker down and wait out the coronavirus restrictions, Ive been turning back to books, reading favorites and finding new ones to take my imagination on a getaway. I reached out to a few authors and asked them to share: What book of theirs transports them most, and what book by another do they love for a true literary journey?

Mary Karr (marykarr.com) published The Liars Club in 1995 and it went on to not only be a best seller for years, but to stand as one of the true standards of the memoir category. The story of her childhood, set in poor and industrialized southwest Texas is gritty. Now, she considers her latest book of poetry, Tropic of Squalor, her best choice for an escape. Her poetry conjures the New York City that is both inferno and paradiso.

Author Mary Karr. Photo Joe McNally, courtesy author

Book jacket of Mary Karr's "Tropic of Squalor" Photo courtesy author

Travel in your mind through the power of books.

When she wants to take a literary journey herself, her go-to choice: Anna Karenina takes me behind the velvet rope of imperial Russia, as does Nabokovs memoir of that time and place, she said. A newer pick: Wayetu Moores new memoir, The Dragons, the Giant, the Women, takes me into flight through war-torn Liberia.

Kim Savage (us.macmillan.com/author/kimsavage/) of Winchester is one of Americas newest acclaimed young adult authors. Her three novels have been published in Spain, Brazil and Turkey, and have been optioned for television and streaming series. Her favorite of her books for a journey? In Her Skin.

APRIL 09, 2020 - Author Kim Savage. Photo courtesy author

APRIL 09, 2020 - Book jacket of Kim Savage's "In Her Skin" Photo courtesy author

Boston is the setting of 'In Her Skin.'

For me, reading to escape means slipping inside another persons skin and living there for a while, she said. My con artist, Jolene Chastain, does this when she impersonates Vivienne Weir, who went missing seven years before from her Back Bay brownstone. Jo moves in with Viviennes wards, the wealthy Lovecrafts, and life seems perfect until it isnt. It gives you a look at parts of Boston and the region you may not have examined closely before.

As for other books for her reading journey? Escape into Madeline Millers entrancing modernizations of Greek myths. I would start with Circe, her novel centered on the powerful sorceress whom Odysseus meets briefly in The Odyssey. Miller places Circe at the center of her novel, and you follow her from her high-born birth to her golden years. There is an epic romance, but for me, the greater love story is Circes deep and ultimately selfless love for her son, Telemachus. Did I mention cameos by the Minotaur, Icarus, Scylla and Medea?

Sandra Beasley is a renowned American poet, as well as author of the memoir Dont Kill the Birthday Girl: Tales of an Allergic Life. Beasley recommends her 2015 poetry collection Count the Waves for a great escape.

Author Sandra Beasley. Photo courtesy author

APRIL 09, 2020 - Book jacket of Sandra Beasey's "Count the Waves" photo courtesy author

Visit Egypt in 'Count the Waves.'

(This) collection was inspired by a period of being on the road more days than not, and thinking about how intimate relationships change over long distances, she said. Much of the book is in dialogue with The Travelers Vade Mecum, a quirky code devised in 1853 for sending messages by telegram. New York and Hawaii, Paris and Edinburgh, Italy and Egypt these poems hop and skip, taking their inspiration points from all over the world history.

When she wants to turn to another for her own escape, her choice is The Last Unicorn.

Like many, I first came to (Peter) Beagles story through the 1982 animated movie, which includes charismatic voiceovers by Christopher Lee, Alan Arkin, Jeff Bridges, Mia Farrow, Tammy Grimes and Angela Lansbury, she said. But itd be a mistake to stop there. This novel, first released in 1968, is just as spellbinding while also being at turns a little darker, a little weirder. Fantasy is a genre Im craving right now; our daily lives have shifted so swiftly and drastically that the dystopic kingdom surrounding Hagsgate doesnt seem all that bad. But simultaneous to offering a landscape occupied by unicorns, flaming bulls and talking skulls, The Last Unicorn offers bittersweet, grounded lessons on what it means to love and be mortal.

Originally posted here:
Authors share their destinations for literary journeys - Boston Herald

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero