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Title: There's No Toilet Paper on the Road Less Traveled: The Best of Travel Humor and Misadventure (Travelers' Tales Guides) by Doug Lansky ISBN: 1-885211-27-9 Publisher: Travelers' Tales Inc Pub. Date: January, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.55 (22 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: There's No Toilet Paper on the Road Less Traveled
Comment: Subtitled, "...on the Road Less Traveled," this collection of short stories about the trials and tribulations of the somewhat unwitting, somewhat unknowing, and very amusing writers in odd moments is indeed a very enjoyable read. I roared through Bill Bryson's (see RQP reviews dated in March 1999) attempts to buy a train ticket for Stockholm, and wept through his "walk" through Paris. Dave Barry's attempts to "learn japanese in five minutes" will also leave most readers in tears of laughter. We accompany David Foster Wallace on a Celebrity Cruise in the Carribean and are eternally grateful that we have never and now, WILL never take one ourselves. We find out what Lara Naaman cooks up in Cuzco when the boyfriend's daliances are exposed, and we find ourselves with P.J. O'Rourke and his friend, Dorothy on a "holy" holiday from hell at a religious themepark called, Heritage USA (of Jim and Tammy Faye Baker infamy). Called the 'best of travel humor and misadventure', this is the type of book that should be read on metros and airplanes; where bemused strangers, unable to contain their curiosity any further will beg you what you are reading. A book to be shared with friends who have traveled and know that, while giggly funny, these stories DO happen, and they happen to all of us! A fun gift for a traveler as well.
Rating: 3
Summary: It's All Right, But...
Comment: I bought this book in anticipation of a long and arduous car trip through the Canadian Rockies. The roads in that area are absolutely deadly to a car and more so to drivers. Hence, I was looking for something to read when my spouse took over the wheel, something amusing that would take my mind away from the 400 foot drop and the avalanches. This book is it. Sorta. A lot of these stories are of the "American Abroad" school: nope, it ain't like back home at all. This can be funny for awhile, but soon one starts asking why, if they hated not being able to order a Cheeseburger in English in Katmandu so much, bother going at all? Then there's those humorists who simply use travel as a hook for their funny stories. Simply put, these stories are the traveller's edition of "three guys go into a bar..." Humor has to be about more than cheap laughs, otherwise it becomes stale very quickly. Simply put, this book is amusing for a while, but don't expect more than a fast, shallow read and then back to negotiating those hairpin turns
Rating: 4
Summary: Laughter is the best Medicine
Comment: When we are bombarded daily with news of the terrible state of the stock market, the threat of terrorism and the possibility of loosing one's job, there is nothing comparable to a good belly laugh.
THERE'S NO TOILET PAPER ON THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED edited by Doug Lansky perhaps is just the antidote we need.
To fill the prescription the editor has collected 28 travel essays composed by 20 different funny writers that when read together have a fine cumulative and varied effect.
To set the mood, the editor prefaces this compilation of humor essays with a quotation from radio and talk show host Garrison Keillor: "Humor is not a trick. Humor is a presence in the world-like grace- and shines on everybody."
The opening volley of these discourses recounts how the editor had to figure out how to use the men's room in a public library in Holland.
Now you may ask, what is so difficult about knowing how to use toilet facilities?
However, as our victim reiterates, you practically needed an engineering degree to open the stall, as there was no doorknob.
Furthermore you could not crawl under or over the door, as there was no crawl space under or over the door.
Once the all-important handle was secured from the appropriate authority and the door to the stall had been opened, another complication ensued. How to get out of the stall as you forgot to take the doorknob in with you?
Bill Bryson, who has been described by The Times (UK) as the "funniest traveler alive" and by the Daily Telegraph as " here is a man who suffers so his readers can laugh" relates how his travel agent booked him into a hotel in the 742 arrondissement in Paris.
The hotel was a charmless neighbourhood somewhere on the outskirts of Calais.
David Barry tells about his sojourn in London with his son and as he affirms, "London is a popular foreign place to visit because they have learned to speak English over there. Although frankly they have a long way to go. Often, when they get to the crucial part of a sentence, they'll realize that they don't know the correct words, so they'll just make some silly ones up."
Other raconteurs include Peter Mayle, John Krich, Carl Franz, Richard Sterling, Lara Naaman, Mary Roach,
These are only some of the collection of wacky stories and experiences contributed by
Laugh and the world laughs with you and cry and you cry alone.
These are only a few samples of the 28 essays written by 20 funny writers, who are probably the best in travel humour, that remind us to laugh and not to take ourselves seriously when traveling. Life is too short! In fact it is usually these experiences that we remember rather than the meal we ate at some high priced restaurant.
Appropriately the book deserved to win the Best Humour Travel as chosen by the Small Press Book Award.
One criticism I do have, however, is that printed on the back cover is the following statement: "in these pages you'll find some very funny people, including Art Buchwald, David Letterman and Steve Martin..."
When you try to find the essays of these writers all you are given are very brief jokes or sayings attributed to them.
This is somewhat disappointing and misleading to someone who does not have an opportunity to flip through the book before purchasing it.
This review first appeared on the reviewer's own site
www.bookpleasures.com
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Title: Not So Funny When It Happened: The Best of Travel Humor and Misadventure (Travelers' Tales Guides) by Tim Cahill ISBN: 1885211554 Publisher: Travelers' Tales Inc Pub. Date: 30 November, 2000 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Hyenas Laughed at Me and Now I Know Why: The Best of Travel Humor and Misadventure (Travelers' Tales Guides.) by Sean O'Reilly, Larry Habegger, James O'Reilly, Tim Cahill ISBN: 188521197X Publisher: Travelers' Tales Inc Pub. Date: November, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Last Trout in Venice: The Far-Flung Escapades of an Accidental Adventurer by Doug Lansky ISBN: 1885211635 Publisher: Travelers' Tales Inc Pub. Date: 10 May, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Sand in My Bra and Other Misadventures: Funny Women Write from the Road (Travelers' Tales) by Jennifer Leo ISBN: 1885211929 Publisher: Travelers' Tales Inc Pub. Date: March, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Bill Bryson's African Diary by BILL BRYSON ISBN: 0767915062 Publisher: Broadway Pub. Date: 03 December, 2002 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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