Leo T. reviewed on 10/8/2019 + 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.

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