I admit it: I caught wind of Herzog’s Turn Left at the Trojan Horse far from the copies of Tin House, Utne, or The New Yorker that I pile alongside my desk when I want to pretend I’m contemporary and literary. My pretense drop when I’m on an airplane. I’m a voracious reader but a clumsy packer.
So I read an airline magazine, and I enjoyed the excerpt I read. Herzog is having a “who am I/ what have I done” moment on the way to his college reunion, and his wife suggests that he take a long drive to figure it out. He takes that to mean exploring a hero’s odyssey, so he imposes Greek mythology over a cross-country road trip, from Olympia, Washington to Ithaca, New York. Charmed.