Somewhere Found: Travels in Obscurity

Kyle Battisti’s “Somewhere Found” is “vividly written and delivers a true sense of life-affirming joy, blending history and culture from inaccessible corners of the world.” (James Hendicott, for IndieReader)

Like Robert Louis Stevenson, who said, “I travel not to go anywhere, but to go,” modern-day flâneur Kyle Battisti has circled the globe, forgoing Insta-famous destinations in favor of the offbeat and uncelebrated, from Kurdistan to Sudan, Mauritania to Lithuania.

Growing up a self-described outsider in 1980s Utah, he was awestruck by Arabian domes found in encyclopedias and the curiously named Yugoslavia of his sixth-grade school report, a fascination with places unknown that persisted as he stumbled into adulthood, now with boarding passes in hand. "Somewhere Found" chronicles his far-flung explorations as he gulps down horse sausage in Kyrgyzstan, battles leeches in Sri Lanka, listens for ghosts in a decommissioned Latvian prison, and, one hot-mess Christmas Eve, makes a questionable purchase at a gay Moscow nightclub.

In intelligent, insightful, and often hilarious detail that evokes the greats — Jan Morris, David Sedaris, Edmund White — Battisti’s forays in “hidden cemeteries, seductive alleys, elaborate doorways, and quiet gardens that both cats and pigeons call home” take readers on an unforgettable armchair journey.