caroparr's review against another edition
3.0
Entertaining essays first published in the New Yorker that are not travel pieces so much as profiles of interesting people and places. The New Jersey tiger hoarder is a classic. She reads these herself and has a good narrative voice.
eileen_critchley's review against another edition
3.0
Not really a travel memoir, more essays of various things that took place in various parts of the world. Some interesting, some not as much.
kellylynnthomas's review against another edition
3.0
Read for my Travel Writing class. Some of the pieces were really, really good, but others were kind of stupid and not really travel pieces (like the one about her life as a series of performance pieces--cutesy, not a travel piece). The best ones were, in my opinion, "Where's Willy?", "Royalty", and the one about her climbing Mount Fuji in Japan, which has a very long, very silly name.
The thing that gets me about this book is that you can tell that Susan Orlean has led a fairly privileged life. And that's okay, having money doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to write a good book (or in this case, a series of articles for various magazines). But the thing is, she never, not once, seems to recognize or acknowledge that she is better off than the people around her. In fact, she seems completely oblivious to her privilege, and that's kind of annoying.
Even so, there are some really great moments in some of these pieces, and it's easy enough to skip the pieces that drag on forever (the one about the grocery store) and just read the ones that really interest you.
The thing that gets me about this book is that you can tell that Susan Orlean has led a fairly privileged life. And that's okay, having money doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to write a good book (or in this case, a series of articles for various magazines). But the thing is, she never, not once, seems to recognize or acknowledge that she is better off than the people around her. In fact, she seems completely oblivious to her privilege, and that's kind of annoying.
Even so, there are some really great moments in some of these pieces, and it's easy enough to skip the pieces that drag on forever (the one about the grocery store) and just read the ones that really interest you.
gemmadee's review against another edition
4.0
In the introduction to My Kind of Place, Susan Orlean confesses that she loves to travel – even to places that don’t sound wonderful. When the collection of essays begins with a taxidermy convention in Springfield, Illinois, it is immediately apparent that she means it.
ursulamonarch's review
2.0
A lot of these pieces were written from the mid-90's to mid-00's, and 15-25 years out seems like just the wrong time to read them. They're dated without providing a fresh look at the time; maybe for younger readers they would seem novel, but for me, there were nascent signs of emerging cultures (the child pageant story, already written in the shadow of Jon Benet, especially stuck out, as did the tale of the woman in NJ with the tigers!), while still seeming like a distant and foreign past (maybe from the lack of cell phones?). In any case, I found this not pleasantly jarring, especially because there are also hints of Orlean's masterful and funny writing that emerge from overall bland text.
nce14210's review
4.0
Great writer. Susan Orlean introduces us to people and places we will never have a chance to see. Full of laughter, wisdom and insight. Thank you Susan for a terrific read and a fantastic journey.
pattydsf's review
3.0
Good travel essays from a very interesting author. I always enjoy Orlean's work - quirky, fun, amazing topics. For lions in NJ to Thailand to fertility rituals in Bhutan to a wonderful grocery in NYC.
encgolsen's review
4.0
Interesting collection of essays. Some were decades old, but still interesting and I enjoyed the postscript that followed up on a few of the stories.