[.ca] Travels with Alice (ISBN 0374526001)

From Amazon.com:
Calvin Trillin goes through life one step behind his appetite. He says he's just a Big Hungry Boy from the Midwest, but he's also one of the funniest American writers around, writing a palate pilgrimage through Europe and the Caribbean, where Trillin fantasizes of an Italian West Indies island of Santo Prosciutto "whose steep hills are green with garlic plants." Trillin gives free play to other obsessions (like taureaux piscine), but most of the travels are happily fueled by thoughts of breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Trillin's best yet!:
Trillin's light brand of humor is perfectly suited to his view of travelling with wife and children in tow. A European summer for the Trillin family consists of food (of course), swimming, and finding the best "babyfoot" -- that is, bar football. And how many authors do you know who get their kicks by yelling "tauraux piscine" out the open car window as the Provencal countryside whizzes by? Read it and enjoy.

A travel-writing gem:
This is a gem of the travel narrative genre. Yet it is found under the Humor category in the bookstore. It is wickedly funny. Trillin's enthusiam is a pleasure. The chapter called "Defying Mrs. Tweedie" is worth the price of the entire book. Typical of this book, the chapter is not only original and funny, it is a lyrical description of a travel destination, Taormina, with details of history, scenery, and food. I like Trillin's philosophy of travel, the leisurely approach. The book is full of inside jokes from chapter to chapter, like the I.W.I. (the imaginary Italian West Indies, where the food is superb) and his nickname for his wife Alice, "la principessa." (It improves the service in Italian hotels.) Nice insights on family travel, too. I finished the last chapter, turned the page hoping for another, and groaned when I realized the book was finished.