Welcome to the Swagbucks Book Club. By the time you read this I will be high up in the Sierras hiking along with a backpack filled with books.  Of course I’m bringing along the three short stories you voted on for the August discussion.  As a reminder those are:

• The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
• A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor
• The Body by Stephen King

But just because I am not here at the moment doesn’t mean I won’t leave you with a topic discussion.  I will also be checking in on the discussion when I return on Tuesday.  At that time I’ll be hooking up 10 contributors with 25 Swag Bucks each so please join in the conversation.

Today’s topic is travel writing.  My first exposure to this genre was A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle.  I devoured this book when it came out in 1991 and read many of the sequels as well as watched the PBS specials of the same name.  The magic of travel writing is that while many authors have the ability to put you right in the setting of the story, with travel writing that place actually exists!  The travel writer knows the place is the center of the story and everything builds around it.

For today’s discussion I want to know about your experiences with travel literature.  Can you recommend any particular authors for other Swaggernauts to try out?  Have you ever gone to the place being written about and if so, how was it similar or how did it differ from the author’s account?

I will be thinking of you guys and will be back next week.

-Becky