BOOKS
THE BATH VOLUME BRINGS OFF-BEAT ATTRACTIONS AND ACTIVITIES TO THE FORE
OFF THE BEATEN TRACK NIC BOTTOMLEY discusses the reinvention of travel guides, and how one of the newest Bath guides will appeal to the more curious visitor
T
he decline of the book at the expense of the e-book was much heralded five years ago, even if some of us chose to pay no heed to it. Fortunately, those of us who thought the book might add to the 500+ years it has enjoyed in its current form, were proven correct. Readers have decided that, while reading on screen is a handy option to have, they don’t want to do away with the real thing entirely. However, some genres seemed more likely to fall victim to the rise in e-books and, to my mind, travel guides were particularly under threat. In our interconnected, multiplatform world, it seemed plausible that bulky travel guides might lose their grams in the baggage limit and be replaced by an app or an e-book. But guides have survived and are now bouncing back after a few lean years. Lonely Planet, Rough Guide, DK and Bath’s very own Footprint Guides have all taken stock and refreshed their feel and design. Outside of these big players, other
series have appeared that are reinventing the travel guide in different ways to stay relevant and exciting for travellers. The Curves: Soulful Driving series is a publication that straddles the ambiguous territory lying between coffee table book and high-end magazine. Each book-zine in the series lies beneath matt-finished covers depicting a tempting winding strip of asphalt carving its way through an otherwise immaculate natural landscape. Inside, the photography continues – image after image makes you want to plot your road trip immediately, regardless of whether your preferred mode of transport is two or fourwheeled, motorised or leg-powered. Each set of images spans around 20 pages and depicts a different route that is first mapped out and then introduced in an essay (in both English and the native-German of the Curves creators). After seven issues focusing mainly on Continental Europe, Curves Scotland (Delius, £12.50) has brought the series to the left-side of the road. A series of sequential routes of extreme beauty
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take you from Glasgow to the Isle of Skye, around Skye itself, onto Ullapool, Inverness and then hurtling back down to Edinburgh (though Curves has little or no time for the urban – it’s all about the journey rather than the destination). If Curves is the visuals and the aspiration of the open road, then the 111 Places series is more about maximum content than look. In fact, their cover designs are, for me, the one thing that lets them down. This fastexpanding series covers many European and UK cities as well as places further afield and if you want to try one for size then look no further than the brand new 111 Places in Bath That You Shouldn’t Miss by Justin Postlethwaite (Emons Verlag, £11.99). The Bath volume follows all the principles of the series in bringing slightly off-beat attractions and activities to the fore and giving them more airtime than the landmark sights; the aim being to appeal both to folk who live in the city and more curious visitors. The 111 places featured are each given a full-page essay and a full-colour photograph, regardless of their prominence. I couldn’t help notice that it even gives a hearty recommendation to a nifty little bookshop tucked away somewhere between Queen Square and Milsom Street! Very astute. Finally, a word about the CITIx60 City Guides (Victionary, £9.99) which are simply brilliant pocket guides to accompany you on a city break. Again, the focus is ‘off the beaten path’, but with an eye here on culture, urban life and creativity. The ‘x60’ in the title refers to the 60 local creative types who have been tasked with playing ‘guide’ to each city, feeding in their recommendations for the very best art, architecture, shopping, eating and drinking, with a nod (albeit a secondary nod) to the history and traditions of the destination too. Many of the ‘big’ city-break destinations are covered by the series, and somehow, to me, the guides seem best fitted to destinations like Barcelona, Stockholm, Copenhagen and Berlin – places where life effortlessly combines the old and the new. If only we had a long summer holiday stretching out ahead of us so we could roadtest all of these guides. Oh well, it’s never too early to start planning for next year!
Nic Bottomley is the general manager of Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights, 14/15 John Street, Bath; 01225 331155; www.mrbsemporium.com
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