Stephanie S. (stephsc) reviewed Bad Trips: A Sometimes Terrifying, Sometimes Hilarious Collection of Writing on the Perils of the Road on + 12 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
A collection of short stories. Very engaging and would be great to read while traveling.
Talia J. (mycrobe) reviewed Bad Trips: A Sometimes Terrifying, Sometimes Hilarious Collection of Writing on the Perils of the Road on + 4 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
It's always fun reading about other people's awful experiences.
Claudia B. (Claudielou) reviewed Bad Trips: A Sometimes Terrifying, Sometimes Hilarious Collection of Writing on the Perils of the Road on + 77 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
This book is a fun but sometimes tedius look at the travels of various famous people.
Teresa Byrnes (treebyrnes) - , reviewed Bad Trips: A Sometimes Terrifying, Sometimes Hilarious Collection of Writing on the Perils of the Road on + 12 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
I thought the concept of the book sounded interesting. Only to discover that the stories were being written by Intellectuals who had very little sense of humor.
Heather reviewed Bad Trips: A Sometimes Terrifying, Sometimes Hilarious Collection of Writing on the Perils of the Road on
Intertaining book about not so great travel funny and insightful.
Judith P. reviewed Bad Trips: A Sometimes Terrifying, Sometimes Hilarious Collection of Writing on the Perils of the Road on + 33 more book reviews
Famous people tell about their bad trips. Interesting short stories.
Deborah F. reviewed Bad Trips: A Sometimes Terrifying, Sometimes Hilarious Collection of Writing on the Perils of the Road on + 42 more book reviews
Fun, light read. Enjoyed a lot!
Leo T. reviewed Bad Trips: A Sometimes Terrifying, Sometimes Hilarious Collection of Writing on the Perils of the Road on + 1775 more book reviews
Excerpts from books by authors with literary chops are served up and I read five of them, chosen at random, on the bus. Those I read were mostly somewhat depressing as I didn't encounter the promised 'hilarious' tales. English majors would probably love this volume, but I did not care enough for it to read more. Likewise, I always read a few paragraphs of the fiction offered every issue in The New Yorker but seldom am interested in reading the rest of the piece. But if a reader really likes an excerpt, they can go on to acquire and read the book from which it came.
The book is aimed at travelers and the authors may evoke other times and places. For example, Timothy Findley traveled to the USSR in 1955 with a theatre company,
'enjoying' flying on dubious airplanes in bad weather. Mark Salzman resided as a teacher of English in Hunan (1982-1984) and shares his struggle with a post office clerk as he tries to claim a parcel containing athlete's foot medication. The latter was not available as the PRC had declared that malady to be totally eradicated. P.K. Page, the wife of the Canadian High Commissioner, recounts their mid-1950s travel in the far reaches of the Outback.
The editor divides the book into sections such as 'Writers and the Effects of War.' John Ryle's 'The Road to Abyei' from that section certainly is moving.
The book is aimed at travelers and the authors may evoke other times and places. For example, Timothy Findley traveled to the USSR in 1955 with a theatre company,
'enjoying' flying on dubious airplanes in bad weather. Mark Salzman resided as a teacher of English in Hunan (1982-1984) and shares his struggle with a post office clerk as he tries to claim a parcel containing athlete's foot medication. The latter was not available as the PRC had declared that malady to be totally eradicated. P.K. Page, the wife of the Canadian High Commissioner, recounts their mid-1950s travel in the far reaches of the Outback.
The editor divides the book into sections such as 'Writers and the Effects of War.' John Ryle's 'The Road to Abyei' from that section certainly is moving.
David H. -
A collection of the worst trips ever by writers who travel for a living. Some are hilarious, some are scary, some are just sad; all give a fuller look into what it means to travel to the most out-of-the-way places on the planet. 51 essays, stories, poems, and memoirs full of natural, animal, and human disasters by Joseph Brodsky, Jan Morris, David Mamet, Umberto Eco, Bob Geldof, John Updike, Paul Theroux, Peter Matthiessen, and many others. Inspiring and fascinating, whether you prefer to sit at home and scorn the idiocy of distant travel, or whether you're inclined to get out there and challenge your own encounters.
