My Kind of Place: Travel Stories from a Woman Who's Been Everywhere (41 page)

Author’s Note

Except for minor corrections, the stories in this collection are printed as they originally appeared in the following magazines:

PART ONE: HERE

PART TWO: THERE

PART THREE: EVERYWHERE

Acknowledgments

Many, many people have made it possible for me to have this wonderful life—to wander the world, publish my dispatches, and, finally, gather those stories into a book. My wholehearted thanks go to my
editors at
The New Yorker
—Alice Truax, Virginia Cannon, Lee Aitken, and the incomparable David Remnick—who have encouraged me, supported me, and guided these efforts all along. I’ve been extraordinarily lucky to have the magazine behind me all these years, and to have such exceptional editors to learn from and work with. Thanks also to my editors at
Outside
—Mark Bryant and Susan Casey—who did the same, with gusto and great warmth. My team at Random House is just . . . the best. There couldn’t be an editor more enthusiastic, wise, and inspiring than Jon Karp; he has piloted me through multiple books and each experience has been a delight. Thank you, Robbin Schiff, for making the book beautiful, and Dennis Ambrose for making it read properly, and to Gina Centrello, for putting it out in the world. Many, many thanks to Richard Pine, my longtime agent, friend, and adviser, whose brainstorm led to the book.

Most of all, thanks to my very dear friends (I’m happy to say there are too many to list here) and family (my parents, Arthur and Edith, and my siblings and sibs-in-law, David and Steffie and Debra and Dave), and especially my husband, John, and stepson, Jay, who are there when I leave for my travels and there when I return, and who always make me glad when I’ve come back.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

S
USAN
O
RLEAN
is the
New York Times
bestselling author of
The Orchid Thief, The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup,
and
Saturday Night.
She has been a staff writer at
The New Yorker
since 1992. Her articles have also appeared in
Outside, Rolling Stone, Vogue,
and
Esquire.
She lives in New York City with her husband, John Gillespie.

For more information on the author, visit
www.susanorlean.com
.

ALSO BY SUSAN ORLEAN

The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup

The Orchid Thief

Saturday Night

PRAISE FOR

My Kind of Place

“Grounded in Orlean’s relentless curiosity, her slightly skewed take on human nature and her magnetic writing style, many of the stories are minor masterpieces.”

—
Rocky Mountain News

“Pitch-perfect … Be prepared for a fun and funny ride to places you didn’t expect. There’s no questioning [Orlean’s] enthusiasm for what she does.”

—
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“Compelling …
New Yorker
magazine writer Susan Orlean has developed a stellar reputation for her journalism. Her work involves hanging out with her subjects, allowing the personalities to develop themselves, then subtly folding in social and historical context.”

—
Cleveland Plain Dealer

“One of [Orlean’s] gifts is to find something serious or admirable embedded in what we might ordinarily laugh at or deride.”

—
Richmond Times-Dispatch

“[Orlean] has a remarkable openness to her subjects, resulting in articles full of dead-on details, odd facts and solid history.”

—
The Kansas City Star

“What is it that accounts for Susan Orlean’s special gift as an observer? Her most obvious talent is a remarkably sharp eye for detail, but it’s inarguable that it’s her choice of subjects that is the
sine qua non
of her success. … [Her] portraits of places and people remain impressively detached but their lively subjects, and the wealth of tiny detail lavished on them, make them glow with vitality.”

—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“Orlean is still … one of our best essayists, and her ability to evoke a place or person in a sort of literary shorthand is as solid as it ever was. …
My Kind of Place
is sure to appeal to Orlean fans, as well as those of us just along for the ride.”

—
The Sunday Oregonian

“Susan Orlean delivers a travel book that’s not really about travel—but who cares? The woman can write, period.”

—Tacoma
News Tribune

“An insightful collection by an exceptional essayist.”

—
Publishers Weekly

“A great read.”

—
Library Journal

2005 Random House Trade Paperback Edition

Copyright © 2004, 2005 by Susan Orlean

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Random House Trade Paperbacks, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

R
ANDOM
H
OUSE
T
RADE
P
APERBACKS
and colophon are trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Originally published in hardcover in slightly different form in the United States by Random House, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., in 2004.

Portions of this work were originally published in
Condé Nast Traveler, The New Yorker,
and
Outside
. In addition, a portion originally appeared in
Flowers in Shadow
(New York: Rizzoli, 2002).

“My Kind of Place” originally appeared in the anthology
Cuba on the Verge: An Island in Transition
, edited by Terry McCoy (Bulfinch Press, 2003).

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Orlean, Susan.

My kind of place: travel stories from a woman who’s been everywhere / Susan Orlean.

p. cm.

e
ISBN:
978-1-58836-432-6

1. Orlean, Susan—Travel. 2. Voyages and travels. I. Title.
G465.O75 2004       910.4—dc22       2004047192
www.atrandom.com

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