March 20, 2011 By 4 Comments

Books To Sail To

A few literary suggestions to quench your thirst for adventure.
A few literary suggestions to quench your thirst for adventure.

A few literary suggestions to quench your thirst for adventure.

From my Sealog:

Over the next three days I drank as much of the steward’s horrible coffee—a diuretic—as I could possibly choke down. This, coupled with ransacking the library for what hard-boiled detective novels as well as any and all spy thrillers I could find, served to allay my hand from the ship’s well-stocked stores of alcohol. As well as the fact that I had spent all of my money on cheese before departing France made this seemingly Odyssean effort of ignoring the Siren of the sea—and here I mean Rum—much easier to accomplish than one would think.

I scanned through Agatha Christie and Caleb Carr like a warm knife through so much Camembert, which I partook in liberally as well. I conquered Ian Rankin and John le Carré, Ludlum’s Bourne Trilogy (at over 1400 pages this book was physically demanding to life, let alone read) and I even found time for A Traveller’s History of Russia as well as the latest Yann (Yawn) Martell pooh pooh. Thankfully there were no Paolo Coelho novels or I might have given myself up willingly to the siren voices calling out to sea.

I have a rule: no more than one book at a time. Despite the fact that I generally read anywhere from two to four books at a time, when walking down the long road that ends at the sea, it’s to much to carry more than one. If your one happens to be Infinite Jest that might be too much as well.

Here is the list—in order—of what I read as I left Japan and ended up in California:

  • Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell (Hodder & Stoughton, 2004)
  • Shantaram – Gregory David Roberts (Scribe, 2003)
  • Budding Prospects – T.C. Boyle (Penguin, 1984)
  • Genghis Khan & The Making of the Modern World – Jack Weatherford (Crown, 2004)
  • Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster – Jon Krakauer (1999, Anchor Books/Doubleday)
  • The Rise and Fall of the British Empire – Lawrence James (St. Martin’s Griffin, 1997)
  • Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything – Steven Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner (William Morrow & Co., 2005)
  • The Power of Myth – Joseph Campbell (Anchor Books/Doubleday, 1988)
  • The Blunderer – Patricia Highsmith (W.W. Norton & Co., 1954)
  • Los Detectives Salvajes – Roberto Bolaño (Picador, 1998)
  • Tree of Smoke Denis Johnson (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007)
  • Dashiell Hammett Complete Novels: Red Harvest, The Dain Curse, The Maltese Falcon, The Glass Key, and The Thin Man – Dashiell Hammett (Library of America, 1999)
  • Dark Star Safari – Paul Theroux (Penguin, 2003)
Rook at Sea

Even out at open sea there are signs of life

All of the aforementioned books were each excellent in their own way. If you have any suggestions to add, or a comment on the list, please feel free to comment below or let me know at info (at) willwalkforsex (dot) com.

Thanks! Read on!

Filed Under: The Trip Overland Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,
March 17, 2011 By Leave a Comment

This thing, whatever it is

Kamikura shrine, located on the mountainside of Mt. Chihogamine, is considered to be the place of the advent of Kumano Sansho Omiya. Gotobiki-iwa, which is the symbol of the God, can be seen clearly from urban area because the shrine is on the cliff at a height of 100 m above sea level. Oto Festival, held on Feb.6 every year, is famous as a spectacular fire festival where men and boys dressed in a white costume race down the flight of the stone steps holding flaming torches. (Manny Santiago)

Kamikura shrine, located on the mountainside of Mt. Chihogamine, is considered to be the place of the advent of Kumano Sansho Omiya. Gotobiki-iwa, which is the symbol of the God, can be seen clearly from urban area because the shrine is on the cliff at a height of 100 m above sea level. Oto Festival, held on Feb.6 every year, is famous as a spectacular fire festival where men and boys dressed in a white costume race down the flight of the stone steps holding flaming torches.

I am not in Japan, but for the past few days since the earthquake, tidal wave and nuclear reactor leaks, I have been getting the same question asked via email, neighbors, people in line at the grocery store, even my grandma:

Why all the suffering?

Though this question tends to always hang in the air like the invisible doom of radiation looming over Fukushima, it tends to come up over and over again whenever natural disasters rear their ugly and unavoidable heads. The amount of those who ask during a time of overwhelming hardship does not make it any more answerable than when the world is a generally more peaceful place and we can ignore the minor cataclysms which inevitably beset us from moment to moment. Those that say, “God.” or “Devil.” seem to be having as much trouble finding a good answer as the rest of us.

Still we ask.

My only answer is something that Kurt Vonnegut Jr. said while quoting his son, Mark Vonnegut, in his genius book, Timequake, which went something like, “We are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is.”

Whatever it is, giving is what gives it meaning. A creative way to give is via Flickr’s Charity Print Auction. So if you have a photo why not submit it and spread the word for a good cause?

Otherwise, DONATE SAFELY:

Photo Details: Kamikura shrine, located on the mountainside of Mt. Chihogamine, is considered to be the place of the advent of Kumano Sansho Omiya. Gotobiki-iwa, which is the symbol of the God, can be seen clearly from urban area because the shrine is on the cliff at a height of 100 m above sea level. Oto Festival, held on Feb.6 every year, is famous as a spectacular fire festival where men and boys dressed in a white costume race down the flight of the stone steps holding flaming torches.

Filed Under: The Trip Overland Tagged With: , , , , , ,