Very funny travel books

Cahill - Wolverine . . .(above)

and

Jaguars Ripped My Flesh

All the Time in the World - - Hugo Williams

DAVE BARRY DOES JAPAN is funny in a fairly ridiculous way. I love Dave Barry.I always picture him wandering around in total amazement at everything, with no agendas or condescension (except in his baad novels however)

Brysons WALK IN THE WOODS_Actually made me and a friend hike the MAine wilderness section from About Skowhegan to Katahdin. Bryson was too kind, or else he was delirious from loss of blood. Maine sucking insects can rid your body of its necessary daily allotment of blood rather quickly. They can turn you into a piece of zwieback in nothing flat. We never saw any bears. Did see moose but they, unlike what everyone says, were more like big stupid cows that quickly got out of our ways.

Its amazing how stuff that Bryson mentioned , like being clean, becomes important in direct proportion from the number of days you are on the trail.

My buddy and I both had 9mm pistols in butt holsters, just because we were feared of the "crazed hillbillies" that Bryson talked about. We instead, ran into people who mostly seemed to be Long Island yentas.

His book on Australia left me with the Australian household knowledge that
everything in Australia that bites, will kill you.


MArk Twain has still gotta be the best . He is like a 19th century DAve Barry . His travel and adventure stories transcend the story of mere place and get you invloved with the mundane points of daily life that are the true and entertaining stories.

So I look on my shelf and see a book entitled "There's No Toilet Paper...on the Road Less Traveled. The Best of Travel Humor and Misadventure
Edited by Doug Lansky.

Well, it's a compilation of short pieces by various writers, many of whom I have liked when I read them previously. What is is doing on the shelf? Either I read it entirely without potato chips, or it is unread. But I have a faint memory of throwing it aside. Perhaps that was another travel compilation.

I list the authors included in order of appearance, last names only, to titillate you: Zweibel, Barry, Naaman, Nugent, O'Connor, Sterling, Dembling, Bryson, Rivers, Barley, Roach, Wallace, Mayle, Krich, O'Rourke, Franz, Barry, Arizmendi, Carroll, Leavitt, Storm, Roberts, Marrazzo, Shoenstein, Trillin, Bode', Lansky, Bryson.

I loved reading "A Cook's Tour" by Anthony Bourdain. But, then again, I love food!

Had to ressurect this thread because Brysons newest book "A theory on practically everything"(?). was a complete DUD. It was almost pompous and so like a book written by someone who thinks, because theyve got the goods in one area , it ought to be a slam dunk to transfer that into another area of endeavor. Itsw not a travel book at all but kind of a lame attempt at science humor. He fails miserably in this one . In the science writing prizes (zero to 54 bells) Bryson gets a zero, a NO Bell prize!!
Has aNYONE ELSE READ this?

Thanks for that, Farmerman - I'd been considering buying it -now I'll hold off.

No-one mentioned that great travel series - "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy", by Douglas Adams, a trilogy in 4 or 5 vols now. I've been watching part of the tv series, but the books (and original radio play) were better. I only have some parts, but plan to go looking for the rest.

I've just started to read "The Salmon of Doubt", - a compilation of Adams' bits and pieces, put together after he died. It's quite amusing, so far - but hasn't caused any embarrassing guffaws on public transport.

I have to say that "The Road to McCarthy", that I mentioned previously, and was so looking forward to, was a bit of a fizzer. While parts were amusing, it just didn't capture my imagination, and I didn't bother finishing it.

I've just re-read Brysons "Notes from a Small Island", on travel around UK, which I still found amusing. I've just picked up "The Lost Continent", which I have read, but don't recall.

There was a story in "Notes..." about a counterpane. Is a counterpane a Brit version of a doily?

No - a counterpane (at least in Oz) is a lightweight bed-spread, that covers the bed during the day, but is removed at night. It's a sort of cosmetic cover - to hide the serious bedclothes. It's usually made of some light fabric.

My grandmother used to use counterpanes, but I don't hear of them now. Perhaps with the older generation.....

Although I have stayed in some hotels that remove the bedcover when they turn your bed down for the night?

Sounds like a bedspread.

I didn't know about the "new" Douglas Adams.

It's never cheery to learn of someone's death but that one did hit me especially hard. Love (refuse to add the "-d") Douglas Adams.

He also wrote "Last Chance to See", with someone I think, very funny actual (well, Terrestrial) travel book about checking out endangered creatures.