"A sometimes terrifying, sometimes hilarious collection of writing on the perils of the road"
So begins an anthology of travellers tales that more or less go badly. Some, I've read before, Peter Matthiessen, Wilfred Thesiger, Eric Newby, others were new to me.
An overrepresented sampling of Canadian and western authors, and - given the date of publication, 1990 - well, the world was a very much different place. That, at least, I like.
The stories, for the by and large, the excerpt from the larger tale doesn't for the most part compel me to read the entirety. Perhaps, in such instances as the tales by Graham Greene or Dirk Bogarde or Umberto Eco, make me want to read the entire volume, capture the entire sense of the journey or novel, but - as an anthology it fell rather flat in my eyes.
As an introduction to authors I haven't yet read - and many I won't, it was fine, but it's soon to back to the bookstore with this and search out something a little more substantial.