Category: Bashfully Literary

Mark Twain Slept Here

Any number of places can claim writer Mark Twain, born Samuel Clemens, as their own. Photo from Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, T. E. Marr, photographer, Reproduction number LC-USZ62-117715.

Literary Tourism: A Plethora of Places Claim Samuel Clemens As an adult, far removed from the trials of middle school and any controversies about its reading lists, then or now, I don’t think much about Mark Twain, formerly known as…

Slacking the Saint James

When the going gets tough, the tough get going . . . after a cappuccino or two, anyway.

Doing the Camino de Santiago Your Way The little nagging fear about embarking on a pilgrimage is, at least in my case, that everyone else on the trail will be a whole lot more religious than I am. So it…

Cruising Cemeteries around the Globe

Grave marker of Anastasia Romanov at Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg, Russia Photo credit: M. Ciavardini

Touring Graveyards for History and Understanding I suppose if you are bashful, a cemetery is a great place to visit given that no one is likely to talk to you much. I like cemeteries for the opportunities they provide to…

Machu Picchu for Tea Time

Set back by the mid-January wind chill and an ick-disease variation of the flu, I turn to Mark Adams’s Turn Right at Machu Picchu to carry me away far from the sniffles and Nyquil-charged fog. I am already enthused by…

The Wild Backstory

Although my idea of “roughing it” involves having to walk from my cabin to a clubhouse for dinner, I still enjoy books about more rugged adventures involving far more outdoorsiness than I am ever likely to pursue. I sometimes imagine…