a blog about travel literature
Are other authors’ ideas off-limits or is this just a bad book?
In 2011, German journalist Harald Braun feels inspired by Michael Holzach and comes up with his own version of the idea of walking pennilessly through Germany…
This author has been called the “grandfather of travel writing” – but is he really that good?
In the early 1920s, young American graduate Richard Halliburton feels bored. He decides to go traveling on a shoestring budget, so he hops on a ship to Europe and takes it from there…
Is this book going to be any good for you even if you’re not a fan of hardcore punk?
it’s 1980, and a young punk enthusiast called Henry Lawrence Garfield from DC gives himself a new last name, thus becoming Henry Rollins. When his favorite band Black Flag asks him to become their new lead singer, he accepts…
Can this be a new way to write travel literature, or will it always turn out terrible?
in the early 2010s, Huang Nubo, a Chinese billionaire who climbs mountains and writes poetry, gives to charity, and supposedly tries to protect cultural relics in China, decides to embark on a mission that is supposed to last him ten years: a visit to each and every World Heritage Site on the face of the earth…
If this guy writes so well and goes to so many cool places, then just why is this book he wrote so bad?
in the early 2000s, Xiaopeng is a young Chinese white-collar worker who decides to see the world. He travels around China, then ends up as an exchange student in the Netherlands. From there, he sets out to do the Grand Tour of Europe…
Who came up with the idea to spoil an otherwise fine travel book with a bunch of nonsense?
in the mid-2000s, British journalist Ben Donald has grown sick of traveling. This changes when he runs into a guy who claims to be a travel coach and who sends him to Germany. Germany doesn’t sound like fun at first, but Donald starts enjoying it after a while, and he returns for some more visits later on…
Is this author trying to show us how to alienate ourselves from our surroundings?
in the early 1990s, American journalist Carol Kloeppel works for German foreign correspondent Peter Kloeppel. The two get into a relationship, and in 1992 she returns home with him. Home to Germany.
They settle down in Cologne, get married and have a daughter. Peter goes on to become one of Germany’s best-known anchormen, and Carol works as a journalist. Then she writes this book about her life in Germany…
If migration basically means people moving from one place to another, can it really be a bad thing per se?
Cem Gülay is a German of Turkish descent who has published an autobiography about his abortive attempt at a “career” as a criminal. While promoting his book, he travels all over Germany, reading mostly at schools and
Can we read about warfare as if it was just an adventure?
at the outbreak of World War I, Gunther Plüschow, a young pilot in the German air force, gets dispatched to the German colony of Qingdao (they call it “Tsingtau” back then). He is supposed to be one of only two pilots on guard against the Japanese and the British there…
What happens when a cynic get outsmarted by an even bigger cynic?
in 2010, Jewish American author and theater guy Tuvia Tenenbom gets invited by a German publishing house (Rowohlt) to travel around Germany and write about his experiences. They know he is a cynic, and they invite him anyway…
A forced adventure.
In the early 2010s, German TV journalist Dennis Gastmann decides to walk from Hamburg to Canossa in Northern Italy…
The weight.
Wolfgang Büscher is a German journalist who has a thing for walking. So naturally in 2001 he decides to venture into Eastern Europe on foot…
The papal spy.
In the mid-13th century, a few years after the Mongol attacks on Eastern Europe, Italian cleric Giovanni da Pian del Carpine gets a mission from the Pope…
The modern traveler.
In 1946, Heinz Helfgen, a former journalist from Germany turned Wehrmacht soldier comes from a POW camp, only to find out that things are pretty bad at home, especially money-wise…
Impersonal realism.
In the second half of the 1800s, German poet Theodor Fontane likes to go for extended walks in the area around Berlin…