[Gail White]

I have to admit I don't know much about Chatwin (although the title "In Patagonia" rings a bell). But I know & love the works of Patrick Leigh Fermor, and was delighted to learn that he is still among us at 96.

For the record, I'm a great reader of travel books (especially by women, but I like all kinds) - & if you and Cally are working on such projects, I will follow with great interest.

[Cally Conan-Davies]

Gail - it means a great deal to learn of your interest! My PhD thesis was on travel writing—D.H. Lawrence's travel books, actually. Travel writing marries my passions: movement, geography, writing. And when I met Richard Holmes at Melbourne University a couple of years ago, and listened to what he had to say, I knew what I had to do, and I am now at the fascinating stage of exploring the ways of doing it! And never ceasing from travel, of course!

It's a wonderful spur for me to think of you as a potential reader. Could you tell me some of your favourite books of travel writing by women?

Cally

[Gail White]

Yes indeed, Cally.

Mary Kingsley - TRAVELS IN WEST AFRICA.

Alexandra David-Neel - her books about Tibet.

Ella Maillart - THE CRUEL WAY, TURKISTAN SOLO, and
FORBIDDEN JOURNEY.

Freya Stark - ALEXANDER'S PATH & other works.

Also loved DESERT QUEEN, the life of Gertrude Bell.

What's cool about women travelers is that, since they aren't wanted on all-male expeditions, they are usually traveling alone. (Send me your e-mail address and I'll send you my "Ballade of Women Travelers").

[Cally Conan-Davies]

Gail,

I am even more thrilled that you wrote about "travelling alone". That is the core element of my personal experience - I always travel alone - and so it is one of the pivotal preoccupations of my writing project. People who learn what I'm doing, how I'm living, invariably say to me "gee, that's brave!" or "aren't you afraid?" I have heard these words thousands of times! And the truth is, I don't feel either of these things.

But - oh, this is great to feel you are part of this journey now, too, Gail! I value your recommendations. I've read Bell and Kingsley - will get onto the others.

Have you read "Revolt in Paradise: One Woman's Fight for Freedom in Indonesia" by K'Tut Tantri? Someone recently recommended it to me, and I am waiting for my ordered copy to arrive.

My paradoxical position is that despite my constant travelling, I fully believe the Chinese proverb that goes something like "you do not need to cross your own threshold to know the world".

Email address now winging its way to you, and excitedly awaiting your Ballade!!!

Cally

[Catherine Chandler]

David,

Thank you for the link. A most interesting review. I received Chatwin's In Patagonia as a gift in 1993 and, as a result of its impression on me, vowed I would make that same trek one day, which I finally did in 2003-2004.

[David Mason]

Damn, Catherine, say more!
What did you find? Was your experience better than the book (as I guess any real experience must be by definition)? Did the book hold up in any way? What would you tell a pilgrim to do if headed in that direction.

Cheers,
Dave

[Catherine Chandler]

David,

Unlike Chatwin, I didn't consider my trek a "ridiculous journey". However, although I did eat the calafate berry, I doubt if I will ever actually return. The town of Ushuaia was a major letdown (I wrote a poem, "Ushuaia", on the subject), though the view from the cumbres was breathtaking. However, I came closest to meeting my Maker when our catamaran got caught in a sudden storm in the Beagle Channel.

Of course, I didn't spend six months there as Chatwin did, so I didn't meet up with many of the strange characters he depicts in his book (and, as some would say, he invented!), but I must say the boat ride through the iceberg-filled Lago Argentino and the trek up to the Río de los Perros waterfall were thrilling and its the clean, cold water was the best I have ever tasted!

[David Mason]

This review has much to be said for it:

http://www.tnr.com/article/books-and...chatwin-review

[Cally Conan-Davies]

"Unclassifiable" is right. I think it's pretty classy to come up with an unclassifiable genre! I'd love to be called unclassifiable!! But 'travel writing' is an intensely shifty genre. That's partly why I love it.

Dave, it's pleasing and interesting to me to read that he viewed The Songlines as fiction, as invented. That cheers me up enormously about him! As an Australian, it never rang true to fact for me (along with many other Australians!), but it does ring true to other things. I would have thought authors would have authority over how their works are classified?

Travelling stirs the imagination, whips it to a peak! It's creative. So how could creativity not saturate the facts? I love saturated facts!

Catherine. WOW. What an adventure, especially the peril on the cat!!!

Cally

[Janice D. Soderling]

Not to divert from the real thread subject, but (Cally and Cathy, I am a solo traveller too. If I change my name to Canny, can we start a club?)