The Seattle Post Intelligencer put out a recommended Summer reading list and a few travel lit books were mentioned.
“Solar powered literature: Hot titles for reading and relaxing” By John Marshall
Despite the nightstand pile up already causing a six book back up of guilt, J. Maarten Troost is getting an “Advance to Go” card straight to the top. All because of a stellar review for his new book “The Sex Lives of Cannibals” (Broadway Books, June 2004, 272 pages, $12.95).
“A twentysomething couple from America relocates to a small island in the South Seas, only to discover that the expected paradise of travel ads is more Hades than Heaven, despite the great weather. This is a riot from the madcap wing of travel writing, a promising first effort by a hilarious writer who unleashes enough zinger asides to float three TV sitcoms.”
Ok, so, what do we have on this funny guy:
Publishers Weekly thinks he’s hot shit:
“Troost is a sharp, funny writer, richly evoking the strange, day-by-day wonder that became his life in the islands. One night, he’s doing his best funky chicken with dancing Kiribati; the next morning, he’s on the high seas contemplating a toilet extending off the boat’s stern (when the ocean was rough, he learns, it was like using a bidet). Troost’s chronicle of his sojourn in a forgotten world is a comic masterwork of travel writing and a revealing look at a culture clash.”
His essays have appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, the Washington Post, and the Prague Post. He lives in California….AND he’ll be in the Bay Area doing events next month!
JULY 11 Book Passage (Ferry Building)
JULY 22 Cody’s Books
AUG 10 A Clean Well Lighted Place for Books (no small feat for a travel book)
I’ve got to have this today! Thanks for the tip, John Marshall.
Hey Jen – Sorry that I missed you last night!
I had grandiose plans to make it to the Inside Out party – Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) work stood in the way.
Looking forward to the next event…