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A review by drifterontherun
By the Seat of My Pants: Humorous Tales of Travel and Misadventure by Don George
3.0
Like any road trip, this book had its ups and downs. But unfortunately, there were more downs than ups.
I read one other Lonely Planet travel anthology earlier this year, "A Moveable Feast", and I found that to be infinitely better. The difference in quality between that anthology, in which almost every story was a winner, and this anthology, in which over half of the included stories are duds, is bizarre considering both books share the same editor.
There are some particularly egregious stories here, sadly too many to mention, that are little more than exercises in self-promotion, but there are also a few delightful stories that deserve highlighting. These are as follows:
1. "Wangara's Cross" by Joshua Clark
2. "An Idyll in Ibiza" by Karl Toro Greenfeld
3. "Left Luggage" by Jeff Greenwald
4. "An Award-Winning Performance" by Deborah Steg
5. "Coming to America" by Amanda Jones
6. "The Prince and I" by Kathie Kertesz
6 stories out of a total of 31. That's pretty sad.
I read one other Lonely Planet travel anthology earlier this year, "A Moveable Feast", and I found that to be infinitely better. The difference in quality between that anthology, in which almost every story was a winner, and this anthology, in which over half of the included stories are duds, is bizarre considering both books share the same editor.
There are some particularly egregious stories here, sadly too many to mention, that are little more than exercises in self-promotion, but there are also a few delightful stories that deserve highlighting. These are as follows:
1. "Wangara's Cross" by Joshua Clark
2. "An Idyll in Ibiza" by Karl Toro Greenfeld
3. "Left Luggage" by Jeff Greenwald
4. "An Award-Winning Performance" by Deborah Steg
5. "Coming to America" by Amanda Jones
6. "The Prince and I" by Kathie Kertesz
6 stories out of a total of 31. That's pretty sad.