Use literature and literary figures to follow in the footsteps of notable writers and their settings with the aid of a title which covers many destinations, from the Prague of Kafka to Steinbeck's California setting for Cannery Row. Add first-person reflections on the literature containing the settings and you have an excellent take-along or travel planner.

Literary Trips: Following In The Footsteps Of Fame is a superbly presented compendium of observations, adventures, and travels of and by some of the best loved writers as they trekked around the world. A magnificent armchair travelogue, Literary Trips is divided as the world is: Africa to Australasia (Paul Bowles, T. E. Lawrence, Rohinton Mistry, Bruce Chatwin); North America: West (Malcolm Lowry, The Beats, D. H. Lawrence, Garrison Keillor and Sinclair Lewis); North America: East (Tennessee Williams, Margaret Mitchell and Tom Wolfe, Ayn Rand, Mark Twain, Elizabeth Smart); Caribbean and Latin America (Ernest Hemingway, Ian Fleming and Noel Coward, John Stephens and Frederick Catherwood); Great Britain and Ireland (W. B. Yeats, Jane Urquhart and the Bronte Sisters, A. A. Milne, Agatha Christie and Jane Austen); Continental Europe (Knut Hamsun, The Lost Generation, Mary Shelley). Highly recommended for both school and community library collections, Literary Trips is enhanced for the reader with a section on biographies and a "user friendly" index. A novel and original feature of this publication is that any of the chapters are available as separate, individual e-texts and downloadable from the GreatestEscapes.com website.

This is a book to savor in a cigar lounge...in the corner of a jazz club...in front of a softly crackling fire at home. Or in a hammock under a royal palm in the deep, deep south.

I started out by nestling with the book into our oversized, down-filled sofa - and ended up traveling through one of the best reads of my life. Several times, I startled my husband with cries of "No kidding...Wow...I didn't know that...Ohmigod..." as I discovered new places in the hearts of my favorite authors. And delved into the lives of others I knew little about.

Literary Trips probes into the past, yet is formatted for the present. We're all used to reading in chunks now - short, self-contained sections that are complete, independent modules. And this book is totally "today" in that respect. Each chapter, written by a different person, is a complete story - gift-wrapped with its own special signature. Each has its own flavor, its own style, its own finds. Every writer has unearthed amusing tidbits and lively tales that add richness and depth to well researched and beautifully written prose.

The book is also an excellent travel guide for following in those famous footsteps. Each module contains a practical reference section listing hotels and other stomping grounds of famous feet ("Literary Sites"; "Literary Sleeps"). Each section also describes how to get to those grounds and provides useful tips and background information.

My favorite parts are the little surprises throughout. For example, did you know that: §Hemingway dedicated his Nobel Prize for literature to the patron saint of the basilica in Santiago de Cuba? § Ian Fleming wrote the James Bond novels at Goldeneye, his home in Jamaica, and named 007 after the local author of a book on birds? §When Ayn Rand was writing Atlas Shrugged, which took 12 years, she didn't leave her apartment for an entire month?

Another of the book's delightful dimensions is a smattering of recipes that could form a menu for a literary memorial party. You could honor D.H. Lawrence with his dandelion wine; Hemingway with double daiquiris; Mistry with Dhansak; and Sinclair Lewis with his "Sinful Christmas Cookies".

I'm always looking for inspiration for my own writing, and Lit Trips provides it on many fronts. Much of it comes from seeing so many authors "under one cover" - an excellent way to compare styles, to link lives, to see how they made their magic. But I was no less inspired by the talent of the book's contributing writers.

I disliked this book. The author travels to Sindh and revists the places visited by Sir Richard F. Burton, and then writes about his observations. I have 2 problems with this book..

One is that the authors obsession with prostitution and homosexuality distorts his views of this great land. Secondly, his views are clouded by his sources which are all feudal in nature. One cannot experience Sindh without looking at the lives of the everyday people. I for one wasn't impressed by the fact that the authors hosts in Sindh were the biggest criminals and landlords of the province.

Finally, it is silly for the author to keep pointing out that Burton was well known for his controversial report about homosexuality in Karachii. We got that the first time he mentions it.

While rifling through her stack of borrowed library books, during my brief visit to Sarnia earlier this month, one book stood out and beckoned me to read it. Written by one of our very own (i.e Canadian), Christopher Ondaatje, not to be confused with his brother of "The English Patient" fame, "Sindh Revisited" is what its subtitle speaks of: "A Journey in the Footsteps of Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton."

Though Burton, the 19th century adventurer, too, went looking for the source of the Nile, it was Burton's own account of his experiences covering the western seaboard of India, between 1842 - 1849, which became the basis of Ondaatje's quest to mirror a similar trek. Ondaatje is a devout admirer of Burton having read all that has been written about him as well as Burton's own accounts. To capture the true essence of his journey, and grasp the geo-social nuances of India's diversity, Ondaatje persuaded Haroon Siddiqi, editor emeritus of "The Toronto Star", to accompany him on his travels. Siddiqi turns out to be an able guide, interpreter and sometimes an effective interlocutor.

Burton served as a military officer, sometimes surveyor, with the British East India Company (BEIC). He was an accomplished linguist who spoke a number of Indian languages and dialects. rumor had it that he was in reality a spy dispatched to areas still under native control but which were coveted by the BEIC. He openly cohabited with local gals to the great consternation of fellow officers. On many of his trips he easily merged into the local scene, in dress, food, habits, gestures and of course the lingo.

Though the book is titled "Sindh Revisited", a title similar to that of Burton's book, it is in reality a much more extensive a journey which encompasses Mysore, Goa, Bombay, Baroda, Karachi and some other places of great fascination. Ondaatje gives us descriptive glimpses of what life may have been like during Burton's time and as he would have seen and experienced it, comparing it to present day life in each of these places. He captures the life of some of today's Maharajas (e.g Gaekwar of Baroda) and their painful readjustment into civilian life, a far cry from absolute rulership enjoyed by their fathers or grandfathers. There is a riveting account of a 'mujra' evening in a well-known district of Karachi. Burton fell from General Napier's grace with his reports giving lurid written accounts of boy brothels in Karachi.

Christopher Ondaatje was born in Ceylon, recieving his schooling and began his career in England, and emigrated to Canada in 1956. In 1967 he founded Pagurian Press. He was a member of Canada's Olympic bobsled team that brought back Camada's only gold medal from the 1964 Olympics. He is the author of The Prime Ministers of Canada, Olympic Victory, Leopard in the Afternoon and The Man Eater of Punanai.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book to one and all.

Bhupinder