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AIRPLANE READ OF THE MONTH
In previous novels, Peter Cameron has taken readers to destinations as intriguing as the Basque country (Andorra) and Uruguay (City of Your Final Destination), but he stays close to his own New York home in his terrifically titled Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You (Farrar, Straus and Giroux. $16. http://www.fsgbooks.com), providing readers with an intimate psychological itinerary through the mind of a privileged Manhattan gay teenager. Unlike the party boy escapades you’d expect from other chroniclers of urbane adolescence (Brett Easton Ellis, say, or the creators of Gossip Girl), Cameron gives us James, a quiet, bookish narrator who feels overwhelmed by the city’s superficial sophistication and snap-judgement social relationships. Particularly entertaining are several scenes in which James spars with a therapist his parents have forced him to see, and an episode in which lying via internet identity leads to romantic humiliation. Bittersweet, honest, and making no attempt to turn its very specific lead character into a universal every-teen, Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You will make you happy to be a grown up.

“A medical space station which beams its guests into a healthier life,” is how Regina Dahmen-Ingenhoven describes her design scheme for the Lanserhof Spa near Innsbruck, Austria: Resin walls are lit from within, emitting a sci-fi spring green glow, curved expanses of blue mosaic tile lead to daybeds covered in soft white felt. At the Fitnesspark Hamam in Baden, Switzerland, designer Ushi Tamborriello uses gray stone, dark wood, and dramatic washes of forest green light to create a subterranean dreamscape where one can descend a staircase into a flowing pool, take tea in a quiet lounge hung with Turkish lamps, and pass through shimmering beaded curtains to rest on putty-colored hassocks in a twilit cavern. These are just two of the remarkable shrines to health, fitness, beauty (and vast quantities of disposable income) featured in Relax: Interiors for Human Wellness (Frame Publishers. $69.95. http://www.framemag.com), an oversized showcase of cutting edge design that will have spa-hoppers drooling in anticipation of future trips. In addition to destination spas, the book features fantastically tricked out salons and gyms that offer escapes-within-escapes for visitors to London, Chicago, Tokyo, Paris, and other world capitals. When design celebrity Karim Rashid opens his three brief essays with quotes from sticky pop songs by Olivia Newton-John, Billy Joel, and Alphaville, one thinks he should keep a distance from writing, but the book’s other texts, in which each project’s designers discuss their aesthetic and philosophical approaches, provide real insight about the eyepopping visuals.

An item that any sensible gay traveler should always include in his luggage is the subject of a fascinating new book that’s also worth packing for some nifty leisure reading: The Humble Little Condom by Aine Collier (Prometheus Books. $18.95. http://www.prometheusbooks.com) is a breezily written cultural history of the jimmy hat, from ancient Egypt to modern times. Chock-full of trivia and anecdotes—along with an excellent overview of several cultures’ culture wars—the book’s choice tidbits include illustrations of decorative condom tins from the 1930s; chronicles of Catholic fervor against birth control; and a look at how the rubber hit the road once again and soared to unprecedented popularity and social acceptability in the wake of the AIDS epidemic. Here’s an easy way to bone up on a subject you probably take for granted.

Back in January, 2006, Lonely Planet published its first BlueList book, claiming that the smart and timely compendium of travel hotspots, suggested itineraries, and tips for adventurous vacationers would become an annual publication. I expressed my doubts in this column, wondering whether such an info-packed, beautifully photo-illustrated, and well-organized reference volume could be consistently produced on a year-to-year basis. Well, with the publication of the third book in the series, Bluelist 2008 ($22.99. http://www.lonelyplanet.com), I’m happy to eat my words and admit that I now look forward to each year’s Bluelist with the same anticipation I had for the annual Guinness Book of World Records when I was a kid. This latest volume includes an excellent primer on taking one’s first foray into Islamic countries, making no bones about Lonely Planet’s philosophical underpinnings with a section called “Stop The Bad-Mouthing: Think Again About Destinations Sometimes Considered Unsafe.” Each year, the book’s GoList section introduces some emerging destinations to catch now before they become too trendy; for 2008, they include Labrador, Canada, Punta del Diablo, Uruguay, and Montenegro, the world’s newest country. While Bluelist’s content is fresh each year, there’s little that becomes quickly outdated; I still dip into the first two volumes when looking for travel inspiration.

In Celtic Coastlines (Thames & Hudson. $55. http://www.thamesandhudsonusa.com), photographer Philip Plisson journeys from Scotland’s Outer Hebrides Islands all the way down to the shores of Asturias and Galicia in northwest Spain, tracing the diaspora of Celtic clans who spread out along the coasts in flight from Saxon invasions fifteen centuries ago. Plisson’s breathtaking full-spread images (two and a half feet wide across the reader’s lap) capture rugged cliffs, sand flats, seaside farms, and lighthouse promontories that, spread over thousands of miles and six countries, form a single “land of the sea” where bagpipe music and salt air create cultural connections that transcend nationality. Duncansby-Head, the prow of Scotland, juts into the sea, a knobby jigsaw puzzle piece reaching out to its sisterlands; deep green moors overlook the roaring sea in Brittany; and pink granite islands stand up to roaring foam along the Spanish coast. The scale of these photographs has a dramatic effect on the viewer, making you feel tiny on the outside, and vast on the inside.

[Published: April, 2008]