forty-two/fifty-two

I am in love with audiobooks. I can't say it enough. Before I found out that my library has a rather decent selection, I dreaded the drive into and back from work -- a forty-five minute trip each way -- because it felt like such a waste of time. Now I feel like I'm actually getting something accomplished.

This edition of The Best American Travel Writing, edited by Frances Mayes, is a collection of the best travel writing from 2002. For the most part, the selections are read by their authors, which is cool. I love hearing authors read their own work. When they're not read by their respective authors, the pieces are read by Frances Mayes. She has a pretty voice, very Southern and soothing; however, it's such a soothing voice that I couldn't concentrate on the pieces she read, and my mind kept wandering, so that wasn't too great. The other authors (including David Sedaris!) mostly had good reading voices, with a few exceptions, but even the exceptions weren't horrible.

The selections themselves are a mixed bag; they were all okay, but half of them were too dry and static, full of long descriptions that might make for good reading but make for boring listening. The great ones, like "Forty Years in Acapulco," "In the Land of the White Rajahs," and "Home for Dinner," made up for it, though.

I would recommend getting this one from the library, but only if you already have an interest in travel writing. I wouldn't recommend buying it. I should also note that this is an abridged version of the book -- there are less than a dozen pieces on the four CDs that make up the audiobook, and the actual book has over twenty.

If you want it in book form instead of CD, The Best American Travel Writing 2001 is supposed to be better than this edition, so I think I'd try that one before seeking out the full 2002 edition.