Travels with Alice [Paperback]

Calvin Trillin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 23, 1999

This delightful book collects Calvin Trillin's accounts of his trips to Europe with his wife, Alice, and their two daughters. In Taormina, Sicily, they cheerfully disagree with Mrs. Tweedie's 1904 assertion that the beautiful town "is being spoilt," and skip the Grand Tour in favor of swimming holes, table soccer, and taureaux piscine. In Paris, they spend a day on the Champs- Elysées comparing Freetime's "le Hitburger" to McDonald's Big Mac. In Spain, Trillin wonders whether he will run out of Spanish "the way someone might run out of flour or eggs." Filled with Trillin's characteristic humor, Travels with Alice is the perfect book for summer travelers.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

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. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

The humorist explores Europe and the Caribbean with his family, commenting on the events, etiquette and food they encounter. "If he were a stand-up comedian, these essays would be called routines," PW stated. "The peripatetic, insatiably curious Trillin is invariably entertaining."
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 1st Farrar, Straus, and Giroux pbk. ed edition (July 23, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374526001
• ISBN-13: 978-0374526009
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #856,965 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A travel-writing gem, September 4, 2000

By 

Susan Butterworth (Marblehead, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Travels with Alice (Paperback)

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.

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Trillin's best yet!, August 30, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Travels with Alice (Paperback)

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.

14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Travels with Calvin, October 1, 2004

By 

Mary G. Longorio "Texasbookgirl" (Eagle Mountain, UT) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Travels with Alice (Paperback)

Calvin Trillin may want to sound exasperated when he talks about his travels with his wife Alice and his daughters.He can talk all he wants about dispelling the notion that an $800.00 per person customs limit does not mean his family each need to purchase that exact amount of goods before returning home. How McDonald's semingly smell the same though located half a world apart. He may want to sound gruff, but this collection of essays manage to convey his delight in discovering new cusines,comfortable places and kindly people. I suspect half the fun of traveling with Alice, is seeing how far you could push the seemingly intractable Calvin over the edge.