Susan Orlean

Various Locations, October 14–16
Emphasis in the title should be on “stories,” not “travel.” Orlean has indeed been everywhere—some will recall a fictional version of her played by Meryl Streep in Adapation, in which she trails an orchid hunter through Florida swamps—but My Kind of Place is no ordinary travel writing. For one thing, these tales may range near and far, from Bhutan to Midland, Texas (hometown of Dubya), from a trailer park outside Portland, Oregon, to the African music scene in Paris—but they are not in the least prescriptive. Instead, the places Orlean writes about emerge as characters as vivid as any of the humans who inhabit them. One would expect nothing less, after all, from one of our foremost literary journalists (most of the pieces here were published in the New Yorker and Outside). October 14: Bound To Be Read, 870 Grand Ave., St. Paul; 651-646-2665; www.boundtoberead.com. October 15: Amazon Books, 4755 Chicago Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-821-9630; www.amazonfembks.com. October 16: The Bookcase of Wayzata, 607 E. Lake St., Wayzata; 952-473-8341; www.bookcaseofwayzata.com