My Kind of Place: Travel Stories from a Woman Who's Been Everywhere

MY KIND OF PLACE: TRAVEL STORIES FROM A WOMAN WHO’S BEEN EVERYWHERE: Susan Orlean: Random House: Nonfiction: 285 pages

This is not your normal travel book. Not many of us would pick Sunshine Market in Jackson Heights, Queens, or Portland Meadows Mobile Home Park on the fringes of Portland, Oregon as a travel destination but Susan Orlean does and that is what makes this book entertaining reading. Reminiscent of Charles Kuralt with a little more spice, Orlean’s witty writing drew me into places, people and experiences that I never even thought to wonder about before.

Whether Orlean is marveling at boxes of “Soft Touch Duck Degreaser” while attending the World Taxidermy Championships in Springfield, Illinois, or enjoying a Congolese ballad at Afric’ Music in Paris, the short self-contained chapters make this a great book for those of us who only have time to read (or travel) in 4 minute snatches.

MB