Book Review

"The Best American Travel Writing" edited by Simon Winchester Hought, Mifflin Harcourt 351 pages $14

When I saw it on the library shelf, I thought, "Ah-hah! Perhaps this can help me write 'travel' better!" and promptly checked it out. At home, my enthusiasm waned. Titles such as "The Generals in Their Labyrinth," "The End of the End of Revolution" or "Ecotouring in Honduras" didn't interest me.

Many would argue that "Travel is politics" and to a great degree it is. We travel (largely) to see things that we don't have at home. These, by their titles alone, were "thinky" pieces. Clearly I was out of my depth ("And not for the first time," many mutter.)

Still, determined to improve myself, I pressed on. The only name I recognized was Calvin Trillin, whom I enjoy very much. He wrote about Texas barbecue in a familiar, homey sort of way.

Encouraged, I pressed on to an account of a foreign correspondent's attempts to build himself a secluded cabin - in Patagonia. "Bolivia's Wrestlers" are women, of a certain age. "Tracking Down James Bond" was an examination of the ski slopes and the stunt skiers in many of the Bond films. "Terminal Beauty" was an examination of architect-designed airports. The Chattanooga River, sctting for the movie "Deliverance" was written by the daughter of the book's author.

But I still haven't gotten around to "Ecotouring in Honduras."