Don’t Judge Memoir by Boring Title

TRANSYLVANIA AND BEYOND: A Travel Memoir by Dervla Murphy (The Overlook Press, $21.95 hardcover).

There’s one disappointing thing about this book, the latest from the adventurous, stylish and appealingly old-fashioned Irish travel writer Dervla Murphy: its title. True, it’s straightforward and accurately descriptive of the book’s contents--which recount the author’s travels, mostly by foot or bicycle, through the Carpathian Mountains in Romania. But this is a writer, after all, whose previous books have titles such as “In Ethiopia With a Mule,” “On a Shoestring to Coorg,” “Eight Feet in the Andes,” “Muddling Through in Madagascar,” and “Cameroon With Egbert”--irresistible, colorful monikers that set the tone for Murphy’s engaging prose. In such company, “Transylvania and Beyond” just sounds a little dull. But, of course, it isn’t. It’s compelling, educational (in the good sense of the word) and a delight to read. Murphy just strides (or rides) into the middle of a place and asks questions and speaks her mind and splendidly records the world that inevitably unfolds around her.

One brief example, Murphy’s account of trudging through the countryside as “cold spits” of rain turn into sleet: “ . . . (A) tractor drawing a load of firewood overtook me and stopped to offer a lift. It was awesomely ancient--in Ireland people pay good money to witness such machines in action--and already had two passengers in the cab. . . . Jolting towards Birzava, I decided a tip would not come amiss; as a newcomer, I still had much to learn. When I offered 100 lei--more than a day’s pay for a state farm tractor driver--my rescuer flushed with insulted embarrassment. In rural Rumania, humans helping humans is not yet a commercial enterprise.” This isn’t guidebook stuff, but this is travel writing at its best.

WE’RE HERE: A Touring Companion for Showing Visiting Friends and Relatives Southern California by Judith B. Uthus (Black Ball Publishing, $9.95 paper).

Most people’s friends and relatives probably don’t want to come anywhere near Southern California these days, what with the riotsfiremudslidesearthquakes and all. Ah, but they’ll come back. They’ll forget the shaking ground and the burning supermarkets. And when they do start descending upon us again, this wouldn’t be a bad little volume to have on hand.

As a guide to the area, it’s superficial and sometimes sort of silly (its “Radical Tour” starts with Watts Towers and the First Unitarian Church on Wilshire Boulevard), but it does compress a lot of useful information--and any guidebook that sends readers on a weekend excursion to Trona (not far from Death Valley) has a pretty offbeat sense of humor.

Quick trips:

AUSTRALIA: The Rough Guide by Margo Daly, Anne Dehne, David Leffman and Chris Scott (Rough Guides/Penguin, $18.95 paper). Roughly (so to speak) 800 pages of small type, packed with breathlessly brief, practical information about the country-continent.

THE ALASKA GUIDE by Ron Dalby (Fulcrum Publishing, $16.95 paper). Short on literary style but long on practical information, this is a good traveler’s introduction to the 49th state. The author’s top-10 list of Alaskan destinations and activities, including touring the Mendenhall Glacier by helicopter and driving around Prince of Wales Island, is a nice touch.

BOSTON SITES AND INSIGHTS by Susan Wilson (Beacon Press, $16 paperback). A dense, information-packed introduction to Beantown, based around 50 historic landmarks in and around the city--and making use of the author’s monthly column in the Boston Globe. Probably more than you need to know, but fascinating in spots.