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Every Friday, the staff at Literary Traveler gathers up relevant book news from around the web, bringing it together in a handy post for book lovers to peruse.  Enjoy!

• By now, most of us have seen the iPad, Apple’s newest entry into the gizmo canon, but our friends across the pond just got their first look today.  As in America, this has led Brits to ponder the question: Will the iPad lead to a reading revolution? The Guardian ultimately decides that the iPad will be good for readers and writers – not necessarily publishers.  Eventually, the iPad (and the Kindle and the like) will almost certainly change the way we purchase books, but it is not quite clear yet how this will play out, though Stephen Page does have some interesting ideas.
• Allen Ginsberg is best known for his work as a writer, but were you aware he was also a talented photographer?  A voice of the beat generation, Ginsberg was committed to documenting his life through photos, 80 of which are now on show at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.  Curator Sarah Greenough explains that the “same ideas that infuse and invigorate his poetry… all of these things really help to invigorate his photography as well.”  If you’re interested in checking out some of his visual art, click here.
• Like Alison Ford, I’m in complete and total awe of John Basinger, the man who learned every word to Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost.  Basinger completed his task in 2001, but he can still recite all 12 books on command.  Ford, jealous of Basinger’s success, decided to see what poems she could recall, and the list isn’t particularly long.  Then again, neither is mine (however, I do know every word to “The Road Not Taken” and “Song of the Wandering Aengus.  Though this comes in handy about as often as you may think).  What poems, if any, can you recite?
• Finally, because we’re keeping it short and sweet for the holiday weekend, here are a few recommendations for your beach reading: 1. The L.A. Times bestseller roundup is a great place to start your summer reading list.  It has everything from the fluffy to the slightly-less-so.  2. The New Yorker just published a new piece of short fiction by Jonathan Franzen, titled “Agreeable.”  It’s the perfect Memorial Day read – highbrow enough not to be embarrassing, but interesting enough to keep you engaged.  And with that, have a wonderful holiday, and check in on June 1st for our newest feature article.

I admit it: I caught wind of Herzog’s Turn Left at the Trojan Horse far from the copies of Tin House, Utne, or The New Yorker that I pile alongside my desk when I want to pretend I’m contemporary and literary.  My pretense drop when I’m on an airplane.  I’m a voracious reader but a clumsy packer.

So I read an airline magazine, and I enjoyed the excerpt I read.  Herzog is having a “who am I/ what have I done” moment on the way to his college reunion, and his wife suggests that he take a long drive to figure it out.  He takes that to mean exploring a hero’s odyssey, so he imposes Greek mythology over a cross-country road trip, from Olympia, Washington to Ithaca, New York.  Charmed.

With graduation season upon us, you might be searching for that perfect gift to congratulate a loved one on their accomplishments. What better way to reward years of hard work than with a trip to somewhere new and exciting?

I have found a deal through Travelzoo where your graduate can stay in Cabo, Mexico for four nights in a luxurious villa. They can celebrate their new-found freedom with surfing, horseback riding, sunning themselves on the beach, and testing the guacamole at one of Cabo’s many excellent restaurants.  They can look forward to sipping wine on a private terrace in the evening and enjoying mid-night swims in the tri-level infinity pool.

If Cabo is a little too “Spring Break” for your accredited scholar, how about a 6-night stay in Scotland? This travel package includes a rental car, which offers the freedom to explore the surroundings at their own pace, 4 nights in a choice of B&Bs, and a night in 4-star Atholl Palace Spa Hotel.

While in Scotland, be sure your graduate explores the Edinburgh Castle, which offers amazing views of the city.  They also might do well to check out the Scotch Whiskey Experience, which is not just about tasting – this event allows your grad to get a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the classic beverage.  If they are into ghost and goblins, check out the Edinburgh Dungeon where witches, executioners and grave-robbers frolic, and if that is not enough, they can take the ghost tours through the underground vaults, an experience that is sure to leave you with goose bumps.

Want to give them the gift of multiple destination in a single week? I have found a Mediterranean 7-night cruise with stops in Naples, Rome, Florence and the French Riviera.   Although this package does not include airfare, it is a great deal that offers a $100 air rebate.  Cruises provide amazing food and entertainment 24/7 as you travel from place to place.  They also offer live shows, games, entertainment, chocolate buffets and seemingly endless amounts of food.   To make it even more enticing, cruises provide a perfect outlet for your glamorous needs – if you want, you can dress up every night and feel like a million bucks.

Graduation is wonderful milestone, so why not choose a vacation package to commemorate the accomplishment?

Every Friday, the staff at Literary Traveler gathers up relevant book news from around the web, bringing it together in a handy post for book lovers to peruse.  Enjoy!

• Last Friday we sang the praises of visually-striking book covers.  Today we have an article from the Guardian book blog on the importance of cover art – and the pitfalls of a truly bad design.   Stuart Evers discusses his distaste for certain covers (which reminds me of my hatred for the hot pink-meets-high-heels formula that has become the norm for a certain type of “chick lit” novel) and the problems faced by publishers.  “While one can understand the more commercial retailers wishing to stick to a tried and tested formula, I don’t believe this is helping writers or customers.  By packaging everything in the same colours, fonts and images, we lose differentiation,” he writes.
• Similarly, the title of a book can tell us a lot about the contents – or, conversely, it can tell us nothing at all.  Playing on this knowledge, a Twitter meme has recently cropped up, under the hashtag “Lesserbooks,” in which users create new names for old favorites.  A few examples: Of Mice, White Dentures, Dante’s Impala, and my personal favorite, The Lion, The Witch, and the Walk-in Closet.
• Continuing on the same thread is yet another article from the Guardian on the rewriting of classics to include modern elements (like the incredibly popular Pride and Prejudice and Zombies).   Instead of decrying the pop-culturally influenced remakes, Jonathan Wright suggests that this could be a valuable tool for getting people to read Great Books (much like Oprah’s Book Club!).  To make things even more interesting, he nominates a few novels for revamp.  It’s an interesting idea, but part of me wonders, why remake something as classic and stimulating as Nineteen Eighty-Four?
• Jeffrey Brown from PBS recently had the honor of sitting down to an interview with one of my favorite authors: Isabel Allende.  They discuss her new novel, Island Beneath The Sea, which is set in the Caribbean in the early 19th century.  To watch the full interview with the House of Spirits author, go here.
• And more good news for fans of magical realism: Allende’s novel has already made it to No. 4 on the L.A. Times bestseller list. Other newcomers to the list include Rick Riordan, Douglas Preston, and author of the Sookie Stackhouse vampire novels, Charlaine Harris.
• And finally, two fascinating articles to begin the weekend.  First, a 16-year-old published author takes a moment to consider whether age matters in publishing, and to meditate on her own feelings of inadequacy when faced with even younger teenage prodigies.  Second, the Rumpus ponders the first person narrator and praises the fallibly infallible Nick Carraway.  Enjoy your days off, and happy reading!

A quick entry, and I’m in the middle of A quick entry, as I’m in the middle of room-cleaning/ article-writing/ wedding-preparation:

I’m a few years behind on this (The Village Voice picked it up years ago), but Circus Amok , a NYC based circus whose performances focus on social justice issues,with shows like”Sub-Prime Sublime” and “Quality of Life.”

I’m trying to get an interview with bearded lady Jennifer Miller to talk about this year’s performance, but even a cursory analysis of the circus piques my interest — itinerant artists taking on broader social issues?  Sign me up, or, alternatively, come hang out in my backyard.

Since high school, when my enthusiasm for Emily Dickinson, George O’Keefe, and Eastern philosophy merged in a watercolor of a pink flower bearing the calligraphy, “I dwell in possibility,” I have marked my bedroom as an Emily-inspired zone.  She’s an icon, so my fascination is no distinction, and I’m sure many an introverted English major broached the shut-in/ “Wild Nights” dynamic in a therapy session.  Still, I was pleased with Holland Cotter’s unabashed hero worship, and NYT take, on Dickinson’s dwelling place.

I was two paragraphs into this Boston Globe review when I realized that I would read Mark Amis’s The Pregnant Widow.  The review makes it sound not-entirely-dazzling, but I am a sucker for coming-of-age novels, self-conscious writing, and Italy, and this is a story about a literature major who spends a summer in an Italian castle and tries to manipulate the present in order to maximize the nostalgic potential of his relationship with a beautiful Scheherazade.  This is an impulse-read, and, like my cash register purchase of the mint-flavored Three Musketeers, I expect novel enjoyment, but no enduring satisfaction.

Memorial Day is a time to commemorate those who have died serving our country. We celebrate with fireworks, barbecues, and parades that initiate the new summer. With Memorial Day only two weeks away, I wonder how you envision celebrating this year: on a boat fishing, exploring a new city, or barbecuing with close friends?

Either way, I have found some great deals to satisfy any celebrator’s needs.

First, I found a flight from Philadelphia to Miami through OneTravel. Miami hosts Urban Beach Week, one of the biggest beach parties that welcome over 300,000 people. If you are into hip-hop, soaking up the sun and starting your summer with 300,000 other people, Florida is the place to be.

Another amazing location to celebrate Memorial Day is in Washington, DC. Travelzoo is offering airline tickets for as cheap as $108. The city offers an amazing variety of events to accommodate any individual. From parades, to concerts, to motorcycle rallies, to Chestertown’s Tea party festival.  In my opinion, the capital city would be a perfect place for a weekend getaway with the family.

And for one more option – which I think would be the ultimate celebration – try traveling to Dallas, TX for a weekend getaway. I have never visited Texas, but there is something about the state that lures me. Is it the cowboy/cowgirl image I envision, or the warm weather and country western atmosphere I believe bombards Texas? I am not sure, and maybe these depictions are far-fetched, but either way I have found a flight through Travelzoo for $158.

Much like the other options above, the city of Dallas celebrates with a parade, but even better, Dallas also offers an annual art festival that includes the work of over 200 different artists, wine tasting, and live music.

However you choose to celebrate Memorial Day, I hope you will consider these great deals and always remember the fallen soldiers.

Every Friday, the staff at Literary Traveler gathers up relevant book news from around the web, bringing it together in a handy post for book lovers to peruse.  Enjoy!

• We’ve all heard the saying, but sometimes you can’t help but judge, especially when the cover art is so visually striking.  The Millions highlights two amazing new cover designs, for wild child Bret Easton Ellis’s new book Imperial Bedrooms and Tom McCarthy’s forthcoming novel C.  Interestingly, neither cover is particularly beautiful, but there is something unexpected and engaging about the aggressive designs.
• When I told my father that this guy, Ray Bradbury, was one of my favorite authors in high school, he said simply, “mine, too.”  Bradbury had a long and very prolific career, and as he nears his 90th birthday, Slate takes a look back at some of his best short stories.  While Bradbury was known primarily for his novels, like Nathaniel Rich, I was always most interested in his quirky, dark short stories.
• Via USA Today: “Move along, Jane Austen. Hollywood is hot for the Brontës again.”  As much as I love Austen and her spunky heroines, I must say I breathed a sigh of relief reading the above sentence.  Not only are British filmmakers working on new versions of Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre (which will star Mia Wasikowska, who was amazing in Tim Burton’s recent Alice in Wonderland), but we will also be seeing a big screen biopic.
• Are contemporary novels nothing more than “antediluvian texts” that mimic the writing of those who came before?  Has literature become stagnant, and authors made impotent and unimpressive by “dead rules” of a bygone era?  If writers like David Foster Wallace are anything to go by, I would answer no, but these are the questions being raised by David Shields.  However, Shields’s is only echoing the criticism leveled at the literary world fifty years ago by Alain Robbe-Grillet.  To learn more about his theory of the evolving novel, click here.
• It seems that bad writing is having something of a moment.  But instead of simply snickering at all the horrible entries into our cultural consciousness, GalleyCat, a website that specializes in publishing news, is asking writers to help turn some very bad prose into something far more tolerable.  The book of choice?  Bad writer extraordinaire Horatio Alger’s rags-to-riches novel Joe’s Luck.
• I would like to kick off the weekend with some lighthearted links.  First, we have this ridiculous new blog that has been making the internet rounds all week: Hot Guys Reading Books. While I don’t support objectification, I do love seeing people (especially young men) reading.   And finally, the writers behind the television series Lost reveal their literary influences. If there is one thing I learned from this article, it’s that these scifi guys must have very well-stocked bookcases.  It’s the best of both worlds – pop culture meets good reads – and that’s exactly what I need on a Friday afternoon.

In high school, my favorite teacher, Miss Reynolds, once told our class that F. Scott Fitzgerald was famous for writing “the perfect sentence.”  I knew immediately what she meant.  While some authors are masters of the paragraph, and others shine most strongly with a single phrase, Fitzgerald’s majesty lay between two periods.  He has the rare ability to capture an image – or a feeling – completely within these bounds of punctuation.  Unlike Hemingway, Fitzgerald’s writing tends more towards prolix than terse, yet it is possible to get a real feel for his writing by reading just one of his immaculately-crafted sentences.

I have always felt that Edith Wharton came from the F. Scott Fitzgerald school of writing.  Like Fitzgerald, Wharton uses words to the utmost advantage; she does not let the reader guess at her meaning, but rather paints with phrases, colors and tints our view with her writing.  She has the ability to transport a reader back in time, to the Age of Innocence, or move us through place, to the winding streets of Morocco.

In our newest feature article, writer Inka Piegsa-Quischotte travels through Fez, searching not only for the Morocco of Wharton’s description, but also for a house. She is looking to purchase a mini-palace; a burrow of tiny bedrooms and storage spaces that she can call home.  Like me, Piegsa-Quischotte has been seduced by Wharton’s perfect sentences and her ability to conjure up an entire world through a single phrase.  Clip-clopping on the back of a mule through the covered alleys and tented streets, Piegsa-Quischotte can’t help but remember the poetry of Wharton’s language, and the aptness of her descriptions.

This week, join us in Morocco, where we ride on colorful saddles and smell the many scents of Fez in Pink Saddles & Djellabas, Edith Wharton’s Fez In Morocco. Allow yourself to be guided by Piegsa-Quischotte and her new-found friends as they work their way through a foreign land, searching for beauty and something far more lasting: a room of one’s own.

As I have become an adult, I have noticed that my taste buds have changed, specifically with wine. I began to notice this when I lived in Rome, Italy in 2007. Wine is the staple of Italian heritage and I was living in the center of it.

Surrounded by wine and growing to like it, I realized that it was not only about the different grapes, but the different tastes and attributes that made the wine so special and tantalizing. Drinking wine in Italy was not about reaching a certain state of intoxication, but studying the wine, smelling it, tasting it, swirling it and finding the perfect dish to accentuate its hidden characteristics.

For this week’s post I have found a romantic, wine-incorporated excursion that is likely to leave you just as intrigued by wine as I am. Spend 6 nights in the 1,000-year-old Borro Estate, located in northern Italy for only $899.00.

Spend your days on this 1755-acre vineyard participating in cooking classes, horseback riding, fishing or wine tasting. If by some chance you get bored, or would like to take a 45-minute drive to Florence or Siena, use the car that is included in this package to enjoy the landscape and beautiful views that Italy is so famous for.

People often shy away from wine because of fear. Fear of the taste, fear of inadequately drinking it, fear of the unknown. The best way to understand and learn about wine is to experience it. I recommend wine tasting, it is a great way to see what aspects of wine that you do or do not like. Do you like dry wines? Do you enjoy full-bodied wines? Do you prefer wines with a floral, aromatic taste? Do you prefer sweet wines with a chocolate nose?

Wine is an art form; begin to broaden your horizons at Il Borro where you can indulge in wine tasting and the wine atmosphere.

Every Friday, the staff at Literary Traveler gathers up relevant book news from around the web, bringing it together in a handy post for book lovers to peruse.  Enjoy!

• We’ve seen a lot of interesting writing projects lately – from contests for bad poetry to a compilation of very, very short stories – but this one might just take the cake: Ben Segal and Erinrose Mager are soliciting submissions for The Official Catalog of the Library of Potential Literature. They are asking writers to “imagine that they’ve just read the most amazing book they’ve ever encountered, and then write a brief blurb about the imagined text.”  We can hardly wait to see the results; the fruits of this mental exercise sound like they promise to be rewarding.
• It won’t be a surprise to anyone who has been following this blog that I am a little obsessed with food writing, but as it turns out, I’m not the only one.  Jessica Ferri at The Millions chronicles the various forms of food writing, from evocative passages in novels like Sophie’s Choice to more specifically-oriented food writers like Michael Pollan.  Perhaps the most interesting tidbit has to do with how food writers (and readers) are influenced by the shifting economy.  Find out more here.
• And for another topic we’re naturally interested in, the B&N book blog takes on reading about reading. This delightfully meta activity has been covered by many different authors, but recently literary critic and “the world’s best-known reader” Alberto Manguel has gathered up a collection of his essays in a new book, A Reader on Reading.  Full of interesting quotes and observations (sample: “Karel Capek, in his wonderful book on gardens, says that the art of gardening can be reduced to one rule: you put into it more than you take out. The same can be said of libraries.”) Manguel’s compilation sounds like a must-read.
• Our relationship with books is often shaped by hearing them read aloud.  Like most people, I was introduced to the joy of reading aurally, but as I’ve grown older, I’ve spent far more time considering the printed word than the spoken one.  However, this article, from Jacket Copy makes me reconsider the influence of the author’s voice.  Carolyn Kellogg asks the question: Is David Sedaris really that good?  Or is his popularity due in part to his abilities as a performer?  A longtime fan of Sedaris, I would have to answer (like Kellogg) both.
• And finally, two lighthearted links to start your weekend: 1. Bookslut posted an adorable cartoon that highlights the differences between a Kindle and a “Crappy Paperback” and 2. Check out this incredibly tacky but surprisingly fun “I read banned books” necklace.  Quite the literary fashion statement, if you ask me.

When I think of Africa, I close my eyes and see orange sunsets illuminating the classic thick-trunk blooming-only-at-the-top African  trees with giraffes and elephants grazing in the distance. However, I have recently carried an image of men running around a field chasing after the same ball.

The FIFA World Cup is an intense, ceremonious event that brings both competition and an economic surge to South Africa. It will begin June 11^th in Johannesburg, South Africa. The World Cup is an “international association football competition” that occurs every 4 years. Over 150 teams are eliminated during the “qualification phase,” where you compete to merely play in the World Cup. During the World Cup 32 teams challenge each other for the title.

For one month this summer, South Africa will host this year’s World Cup.  For those of you interested in seeing the biggest event in soccer in person, I found a few flights to Johannesburg, South Africa through Expedia. These flights range from $1315 to $3000, depending on when you want to travel. However, I will warn you that, due to demand, flights from June 11^th – July 11^th, are going to be much more expensive.

I have also found some great excursions to spend your days while staying in Africa.  You can experience the competitive aspect at night and the gorgeous landscapes by day.  Get out of the hotel and take a wine day in Cape Town, where you can sample wines from Chardonnay to Shiraz in the famous Stellenosch and Paarl Valley wineries.  This 8-hour excursion costs approximately $95.00.

Also, if sightseeing strikes your fancy, I have found a Cape Point sightseeing tour. The Cape of Good Hope is “a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of Africa.” The Cape offers amazing views of the Atlantic Ocean as the water rushes into the rocky edges, if following the equator, it is the point where you begin to travel more east as opposed to south.

Africa is the second largest continent in the world. It has 53 different football (which we in the States still call soccer) teams and over a thousand different languages are spoken across the region. Africa is a beautiful place where giraffes, lions, and elephants run freely.  If traveling is not enough of an adventure, why not venture to South Africa when there are over 2 million screaming fans and one badly-abused ball?

I am, it must be said, a good patriot.  I love my country and adore all things American.  However, America, beautiful as it may be, lacks a certain something. We might have wilderness and amber waves of grain, but our melting pot mentality makes a unified national character somewhat harder to obtain.

Not that I am complaining; I am thoroughly convinced that the United States is one of the most wonderful places in the world.  However, I occasionally feel a certain twinge of jealousy when reading about the historic centers of the so-called Old World.  As much as I adore our purple mountain majesty, I sometimes suspect that Europe has cornered the market on majestic.  There is a grandeur conferred on buildings and squares by age and the slow weathering of time that no amount of modern mechanics can ever recreate.

Today Literary Traveler has added a new feature article to our website, titled Sun & Moon in Montepulciano, Under The Tuscan Sun & New Moon Film Locations. In this piece, writer Deborah Downes journeys to a hill town in southern Tuscany to see the sights immortalized in two famous films.  Both movies (and both books) center around an American woman visiting Italy, traveling through the crowded city streets and learning her way around the new landscape and culture.  Although very different, New Moon and Under the Tuscan Sun share more than just a setting – they also share a sense of adventure, the over-brimming of excitement that comes with the exploration of an ancient place, and the somewhat contradictory feeling that stems from the discovery of something new.

Join us in Italy this May Day by taking a look at our newest feature article.  Not only did Downes teach me a thing or two about Italian history, but she also takes her readers on an imaginative journey through the snaking alleyways and winding streets of Montepulciano.  For those of us unable to travel across the Atlantic, this is the perfect weekend getaway.  Just try not to get lost.