AWOL: absent without leave; absent from one’s post or duty without official permission but without intending to desert.
Originally a military term, it gradually entered the vernacular for when someone goes missing unexpectedly. Jennifer Barclay and Amy Logan thought it fit well with the kind of travel pieces they wanted to publish--irreverent but thoughtful, emotionally honest and opinionated, bold and provocative.
For those who dream of having no fixed address, and those happy simply to read about it, AWOL is filled with entertaining, enriching and edifying stories of people getting away from the familiar. AWOL: Tales for Travel-Inspired Minds is dedicated to the perspectives we gain when away from our regular circumstances.
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3.75. I’ve never been good at reading introductions (I think Gulliver’s Travels tainted me?), but I’ve been making myself read them more as I’ve gotten older. If done right, they set the stage and whet your appetite before the page even counts one. This one was well done; it made me hungry. I have the travel itch! I was also especially happy to learn all the authors are Canadian.
I cracked the book open and the first story is set in Thailand, a country I’m traveling to soon - meant to be! Then Canada (yay), then Cuba, which I’ve been to. Great start. I quickly realized, however, the blown up quotes were misplaced and very distracting. Oh well. I ignored them.
The majority of the stories (I could have done without a few) painted such vivid pictures. Some highlights for me were: Local Rules by Brad Smith; The Motherhood Roadshow by Alison Wearing; Chickens, Girls and Ruins by Simona Chiose; and Up the Holy Mountain (And Down by Cable Car) by David Manicom.
Definitely glad I held onto this collection for so long; I just needed the right time to read it. Jennifer Barclay I often recommend this book to my travelling friends! Jennifer Barclay 3.5, bumped up to 4 stars
like most, if not all anthologies, some of the tales in this collection work better than others
yet altogether, they do the trick of transporting the reader away from the everyday, and cultivate a yearning for experiences apart from mass-market, sanitized and pre-digested travel Jennifer Barclay When you can’t travel, it seems a good idea to travel on somebody else’s words!
It took me almost 9 months to read this one because it was my stand by book. Some of the stories made me travel, others not so much, but overall it was an enjoyable read! Jennifer Barclay