So when I heard that he had a new book out, and that it was about Hawaii, where he has been living for years, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. Eventually it arrived, and as soon as I could carve out a few free moments, I began reading. About 15 minutes and 10 pages later, I realized that I wasn't an undergraduate anymore, and that in the intervening years, I had fallen out of poetry-reading practice. I just couldn't stay with it. I mention this here because it helps explain why I like anthologies so much these days.
Anthologies break literature down into easily digestible, bite-size pieces.
They're perfect for someone in my stage of life, where almost all reading gets done in airports, on airplanes or in those increasingly shorter moments between my kids' bedtime and the time I nod off myself. Happily enough, travel anthologies seem to be experiencing something of a mini-boom these days. I have been intrigued by this anthology since I heard about it almost a year and a half ago, when Northam and Olsen first contacted me about contributing a story. Tim Cahill, Simon Winchester, Jeff Greenwald, Linda McFerrin, Mary Roach and Anne Cushman among them. This fact alone made me eager to see the finished book.