Journey to the Land of the Flies and Other Travels

I love this book and I return to it often. It's for those who love Russian literature and history and know that Russia and Italy have had quite an odd cultural 'conversation' (esp. literature and architecture) And, yes, it's for those who love food and how food is so central to our memory and experience. It's for those who ever wondered why they had a strange fascination with and attraction to the "Russian Soul" It's for those who have ever had an inkling that the foreign isn't so strange after all, but then... yeah...it is. But no, it's not narrative or straightforward. But neither are our memories, experience, or self understanding.

This is an odd book, part travel reminiscence and part random musing. The essays hop and skip about through history, literature, and culture. There are no obvious themes, but an appreciation of oddities of life is throughout. I find it charming, and re-read it frequently.

This book is superb. Far more than just a travel book, it mixes philosophy, opinion, insight and comedy in one recipe. If you like to travel (or just think about travel)....this book is time well spent.