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annekevries's review against another edition
4.0
Some stories are really good and take you away to a different place. I miss the point of some stories
reallyitsrudi's review against another edition
the stories felt WAY too short and just didn't leave an impression on me at all
bookworm1909's review against another edition
4.0
The first volume I couldn't get through most of the stories- this volume is more intriguing, but still, some of the stories were "dry"
vilhelmr's review against another edition
4.0
Not as great as its predecessor, but still an enjoyable read, with some real gems hidden between the other more humdrum stories.
michaelnlibrarian's review
5.0
What a surprise.
Sometimes I find something on the "new" shelf at the local public library, take it home, and am amused when I enjoy a found-by-accident book more than something I sought out and waited for.
This book is a collection of "true [travel] adventures from 30 great fiction writers." For whatever reason, the fact that this was published by Lonely Planet made me a little suspicious (not in a good way) but I saw Alexander McCall Smith's name in the list of contributors and decided I would surely read that one and enjoy it, so why not.
The writers range from ones whose work I have read and know well, such as McCall Smith, to others that I have heard of but not read, such as Dave Eggers and Jane Smiley, to the majority, whose names were unfamiliar. Well, there are a lot of writers in the world.
The book is slightly more than 300 pages long, so with 30 authors, the average contribution is about ten pages. There was not one that I started that I did not finish, which is unusual for me with this sort of compilation. Having jumped around reading authors whose names I knew at the beginning, I then ended up going to the trouble to work my way through and be sure I had read all of them.
I only read the introduction from the editor at the end. Uh, in fact just now. (!) It is made clear that this was not a compilation of items published already elsewhere but rather items solicited from the chosen authors for inclusion in this particular travel book. So this is not a "best of" travel writing sort of book, but rather a collection of travel stories with a purpose, to tell compelling stores about travel and to show how travel can provide the grist for such stories. Some of the authors seem to have felt some need to give their contributions some deeper meaning while others - apparently not.
Nice. Worth the time.
Sometimes I find something on the "new" shelf at the local public library, take it home, and am amused when I enjoy a found-by-accident book more than something I sought out and waited for.
This book is a collection of "true [travel] adventures from 30 great fiction writers." For whatever reason, the fact that this was published by Lonely Planet made me a little suspicious (not in a good way) but I saw Alexander McCall Smith's name in the list of contributors and decided I would surely read that one and enjoy it, so why not.
The writers range from ones whose work I have read and know well, such as McCall Smith, to others that I have heard of but not read, such as Dave Eggers and Jane Smiley, to the majority, whose names were unfamiliar. Well, there are a lot of writers in the world.
The book is slightly more than 300 pages long, so with 30 authors, the average contribution is about ten pages. There was not one that I started that I did not finish, which is unusual for me with this sort of compilation. Having jumped around reading authors whose names I knew at the beginning, I then ended up going to the trouble to work my way through and be sure I had read all of them.
I only read the introduction from the editor at the end. Uh, in fact just now. (!) It is made clear that this was not a compilation of items published already elsewhere but rather items solicited from the chosen authors for inclusion in this particular travel book. So this is not a "best of" travel writing sort of book, but rather a collection of travel stories with a purpose, to tell compelling stores about travel and to show how travel can provide the grist for such stories. Some of the authors seem to have felt some need to give their contributions some deeper meaning while others - apparently not.
Nice. Worth the time.
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