CHECK IT OUT

When wanderlust hits, savvy travelers can book a flight, hit the road

or head for the high seas. Or, they can visit their nearest library for

virtual passage to venues around the globe.

“I don’t think I’m likely to encounter anything so extreme as the

snows of Antarctica or the dunes of Arabia along the American

interstates,” observes Larry McMurtry in “Roads.” What the author does

experience in traversing America’s great roads is a recollection of

things past, as he tries to find something “out there that the reader

will enjoy knowing about.”

In his third nonfiction work, McMurtry admits he’s “not attempting to

take the national pulse, or even my own pulse.” The latter endeavor comes

closer to what he accomplishes in an automotive odyssey aimed at

recouping some of the “lost feelings” and “elements of . . . personality

that are still unaccounted for” in the wake of his 1991 heart surgery.

Award-winning travel writer Mike Tidwell provides a more heightened

sense of adventure in the 20 tales that comprise “In the Mountains of

Heaven.” From getting a haircut in Hanoi to conversing with a homeless

fisherman in Washington D.C., Tidwell takes simple experiences and makes

them fascinating. Colorful prose and an ability to draw out those he

meets make his accounts of adventures on six continents especially

engaging.

Equally broad in scope and feeling is “Fresh Air Fiend,” Paul

Theroux’s collection of articles that jump from post-Mao China to turtle

watching in Hawaii and kayaking on Cape Cod. While they’re infused with

the prolific writer’s trademark grumpiness, the lively accounts reveal

much about his self-inflicted lifestyle of compulsive travel, writing and

alienation.

A more upbeat tone pervades “Honeymoon in Purdah,” Alison Wearing’s

report on five months spent in a country few Westerners have a chance to

see. Close-up portraits of the people she encountered and accounts of

Iran’s Islamic Revolution provide an illuminating study of a nation with

a long and exotic history.

For those who like their travel on tape, one of the world’s funniest

travel writers offers a glimpse of extreme spaces, primeval landscapes

and improbable creatures on “In a Sunburned Country.” Read by author Bill

Bryson, this 10 plus-hour travelogue is an adventure-filled tour of

Australia that extends far beyond beaten tourist paths.

When you’re ready to hit the road for real, hundreds of magazine

articles provide details about hotels, air fares and destinations. Find

them in such periodicals as Travel & Leisure, Travel Holiday, National

Geographic, Sunset and Outside, all available on Newport Beach Public

Library shelves. Or, visit o7 https://www.newportbeachlibrary.orgf7 to

find travel-related articles and journals that can be accessed online

from the ProQuest and EBSCO databases.

* CHECK IT OUT is written by the staff of the Newport Beach Public

Library. This week’s column is by Melissa Adams, in collaboration with

Tamara Henn. All titles may be reserved from home or office computers by

accessing the catalog at o7 https://www.newportbeachlibrary.org.

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