I bought The Best Travel Writing 2011 for a discount, and now I’m savoring each story bit by bit. It’s interesting that I’ve been reading this while I’m riding the jeepney or the bus — during those short, bumpy, dusty journeys, in other words.

Travel literature is a relatively new genre for me; I considered it the logical step after perusing dozens and dozens of travel blogs. I’d thought that from this book, I could get a few tips on how to write about travel. I’ve found out, though, that travel lit is quite simply writing about the journey and not just the destination, and it’s a lot like fiction, only more vivid (in my mind) and, well, a lot stranger. Each narrative in this collection reminds me of the diversity of places and cultures, and yet how universal the simplest things — like beauty, frustration, and love — are, wherever one may be.

I can’t say I’m hooked on the book, but it does make for fantastic light reading.