My kind of place: travel stories from a woman who's been everywhere

Description

Literary journalist Orlean has been called "a kind of latter-day Tocqueville." In this unconventional travel book, she conducts a tour of the world via its subcultures, from the heart of the African music scene in Paris to the World Taxidermy Championships in Springfield, Illinois--and even into her own apartment, where she imagines a very famous houseguest taking advantage of her hospitality. Readers will climb Mt. Fuji; play ball with Cuba's Little Leaguers; trawl Icelandic waters with Keiko, everyone's favorite whale (of "Free Willy" fame); stay awhile in Midland, Texas, a place where oil time is the only time that matters; explore the halls of a New York City school so troubled it's known as "Horror High"; and stalk caged tigers in Jackson, New Jersey, a suburban town with one of the highest concentrations of tigers per square mile anywhere in the world.--From publisher description.  Read more... Abstract: Literary journalist Orlean has been called "a kind of latter-day Tocqueville." In this unconventional travel book, she conducts a tour of the world via its subcultures, from the heart of the African music scene in Paris to the World Taxidermy Championships in Springfield, Illinois--and even into her own apartment, where she imagines a very famous houseguest taking advantage of her hospitality. Readers will climb Mt. Fuji; play ball with Cuba's Little Leaguers; trawl Icelandic waters with Keiko, everyone's favorite whale (of "Free Willy" fame); stay awhile in Midland, Texas, a place where oil time is the only time that matters; explore the halls of a New York City school so troubled it's known as "Horror High"; and stalk caged tigers in Jackson, New Jersey, a suburban town with one of the highest concentrations of tigers per square mile anywhere in the world.--From publisher description Content: Here -- Lifelike [Springfield, IL] -- A Place Called Midland [Midland, TX] -- Beautiful Girls [Prattville, al.] -- Party Line [Dimondale, MI] -- Madame President [New York City, NY] -- All Mixed Up [Queens, NY] -- The Lady and the Tigers [Jackson, NJ] -- Super-Duper [Miami, FL] -- There -- The Homesick Restaurant [Miami, FL, and Havana, Cuba] -- Rough Diamonds [Havana, Cuba] -- Carbonaro and Primavera [Cienfuegos, Cuba] -- The Congo Sound [Paris, France] -- Like Waters and Chocolate Pancakes [Heviz, Hungary] -- Shooting Party [Biggar, Scotland] -- Fertile Ground [Bhutan] -- Do We Transcend Before or After We Purchase the Commemorative Eel Cakes? [Mount Fuji, Japan] -- Game Plan [Sydney, Australia] -- The Place to Disappear [Bangkok, Thailand] -- Everywhere -- Homewrecker -- The World -- Skymalling -- We Just Up and Left -- Art for Everybody -- Intensive Care -- Royalty -- Uplifting -- My Life: A Series of Performance Art Pieces -- Shiftless Little Loafers -- Where's Willy? -- Shadow Memory.