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Better Than Fiction 2: More True Travel Tales From Great Fiction Writers

Lonely Planet. Dec. 2015. 320p. ed. by . ISBN 9781743607497. pap. $15.99. TRAV
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Working off the success of the original Better Than Fiction, this new volume focuses on the idea that fiction writers can tell amazing true travel stories. Compiled by travel writer and editor George, this set includes 30 original stories from such authors as Dave Eggers, Jane Smiley, Francine Prose, and Marina Lewycka. While there are a few returning contributors, such as Alexander McCall Smith, the majority are new. George asked the contributors for stories of "especially memorable travel experiences…that had profoundly moved, delighted, taught, and/or transformed them." The group experienced a gratifying mix of good and bad escapades ranging from the typical, such as dealing with unreasonable train bureaucracy in England or a sun-filled summer in Norway, to the more unusual, such as fear in Azerbaijan, paranoia on a taxi ride across Saudi Arabia, and illness in Samoa.
VERDICT Another wonderful anthology of adventures by some of your favorite novelists. Readers of literary travel books, as well as fans of these fiction writers, will love this title.
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