#doug lansky

Book Review: Last Trout In Venice

Last Trout In Venice:  The Far-Flung Escapades Of An Accidental Adventurer, by Doug Lansky

The titular story of this particular generally enjoyable travel book shows the author in Venice learning how to steer their famous gondola boats and ending up drinking some of the horrible water in the lagoon where he finds himself slapped by a fish, quite possibly the last trout in Venice.  That story,…

Book Review: There’s No Toilet Paper…On The Road Less Traveled

There’s No Toilet Paper…On The Road Less Traveled, edited by Doug Lansky

I have read some of Doug Lansky’s work and it has struck me as somewhat mixed, and that was my impression of these travel essays as well.  Travel humor is a tricky subject, and in this book a variety of authors, some of them particularly famous (Dave Barry, Steve Martin, David Letterman, Bill Bryson, Dennis Miller, and David…

Signspotting:  Absurd And Amusing Signs From Around The World, compiled by Doug Lansky

When one reads road signs, it is worthwhile to appreciate on their absurdity.  At times a given sign may seem to make sense when the elements are viewed in isolation, but when viewed together, reveal something very alarming, as when a road is marked as simultaneously “not a through street” and “evacuation…

Book Review: The Titanic Awards

The Titanic Awards:  Celebrating The Worst Of Travel, by Doug Lansky

Having been amused by some of the author’s previous work, I must say that there was at least some irritation I found with this book.  At times it appeared as if this book and its voting patterns demonstrated a consistently anti-American pattern (how else could Americans be simultaneously among the rudest, cheapest, most drunken,…

I had a really hard time getting through this book. When I read the title on the cover, I got the impression that the stories were supposed to be amusing disasters or otherwise funny, but that is not the case. While some of the stories had funny aspects, (perhaps a handful out of sixty), most of the stories were dry, laundry-list like retellings of Lansky’s adventures all around the world. Some of these adventures included hanging out with the military in the Middle East, taking the JFK tour in Dallas, watching a bullfight in Madrid, studying Spanish in Guatemala, moose hunting in Sweden, caving in New Zealand, learning how to surf in Australia, sailing down the Nile in a felucca, and staying awake during a Chinese opera. Most of the time Lansky explores our vast world on his own, but sometimes he brings his family members or girlfriend. At other times, he meets people on the road to take with him. My biggest issues with this book are manifold:

1) The second portion of the title, “60 offbeat adventures around the world,” gave me the impression that the stories would be funny or otherwise entertaining. Don’t ask me why, I couldn’t really tell you; but, Lansky didn’t live up to my expectations in this department, which contributed to my disliking the novel.

2) Lansky has a very bland and straight forward manner of speaking, which made his prose painful to get through.

3) Lansky doesn’t seem like a naturally funny guy-- he tries to interject humor, especially when captioning the few photos that appear in this novel, but they’re just cheesy and not funny. He also has horrid “timing,” which is something you hear about a lot when you talk about a comic’s ability to deliver punchlines. I know this is much harder to do in a written format; but, Lansky really sucks at it.

4) Sometimes you wondered why Lansky bothered to include certain expeditions and stories. For example, he included one about “trying to master the complexities of a dutch toilet,” which is something he failed miserably at. Maybe he was trying to be funny, I don’t know, but the story wasn’t funny and simply demonstrated that he has apparently gone most of his life without figuring out how to use a dutch toilet.

5) Lansky keeps telling us who the “usual suspects” are and it’s bloody annoying. I’m not going to forget that Signe is within a few paragraphs, so you don’t need to tell me about it over and over again. Geez, I get that you’re in a relationship and you’re overjoyed, but I don’t want to hear about it all the frickin’ time.