Mend & Hone

Last week, I headed downtown to Tribeca to Poets House, an impressive glass-walled space overlooking the Hudson River, to hear my talented (and extraordinarily pregnant) friend, Elizabeth Howort, read her poems from Mend & Hone, a new collection from Toadlily Press. Each of the four poets took the audience on a journey both deeply personal and universal.

This slim volume reminds me of how quietly powerful poetry can be.

I was nineteen on my first trip outside of the US, a newly minted high school graduate tagging along with my worldly older sister to Paris. I can still remember the murky, underwater sensation of arrival after the long flight, the exhilaration at the smallest discoveries, and the indelible feeling that, removed from my routines and rituals, I could see myself and my life more clearly. 

Here are three novels that I feel capture the spirit of travel in all its uncertainty and revelation: 

Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi by Geoff Dyer