My father was given a complete set of Dickens’ writings in quarter bound leather for his 21st birthday. This three foot bookshelf full glowered over the living room for the whole of my youth. The books eventually went to my sister in law, but the damage had been done, I hate Dickens with an unreasoning passion. I can’t even watch a television adaptation with any degree of comfort.

This book however has opened the door a crack. I saved its reading for some travel of my own and read it on a journey to Milan. I caught the parallels of his experiences of train travel and my flights, his seasickness and my travel weariness; it made me appreciate my own travel more and maybe start to appreciate what Dickens has to offer.

i do love the idea of dickens often more than i actually *like* dickens. i'm one of those rare types who tend to prefer the more direct prose of wilkie collins, whilst enjoying adaptations of dickens' books more than the original source. why? because dickens at his worse is one of the single most verbose writers i can think of. hi grasp of plotting and characterisation and dialogue are SECOND TO NONE... but the rest of it, i really struggle with. and let's not even go near the sentimental streak shall we? i still shudder over memories of "oliver twist" to this day

no for dickens i tend to go to either his short stories, which are direct and masterful and his brilliance in the most pure form, or his non fiction stuff. i had read bits of this before when i'd also read dickens' book on his tour of america, during what can only be described as a sort of victorian travel memoir phase (basically this stuff, robert louis stevenson and mark twain!). the beauty of this hesperus edition is that it really pares down those writings into a nicely accessible and - yes! - travel friendly format. this is dickens at his best and the sort of book i can easily feel myself turning to as a reliable friend whenever an inevitable long journey beckons. highly recommended... ( )

In the film Notting Hill a hapless wouldbe book purchaser wanders into William Thacker's travel bookshop and asks for a book by Dickens only to be told that as a travel bookshop they did not hold Dickens. But Dickens did in fact write about travel as well his body of fiction and this slim volume provides a sample of his highly entertaining observations on travelling to France from England, travelling in Italy and even travelling around London.

Whether it is the vagaries of a particular cab driver, or a rough passage, amazement at the speed with which he travels to Paris from London, or delight at the fact that the real Verona does not affect his enjoyment of Shakespeare's, Dickens paints vivid pictures of his experiences. This is an enjoyable read that can be tucked in the pocket and savoured on one's own travels. ( )

I received a slim book "On Travel" published by Hesperus Press in the mail. Expecting a quick read, I was surprised that it took me over a month to finish it. I'm not reviewing Dickens' writing, but I do question why this particular book was put together without any more effort than an introduction, a few excerpts of Dickens travel writing, and nothing to put it in a modern context. I enjoyed reading about his shipboard adventures with seasickness -- "The Passage Out" -- and his trip to Verona -- "By Verona Mantua and Milan, Across the Pass of the Simplon into Switzerland." But "A Flight" was a stumbling block where I just put the book aside. I could not help but compare another travel book I read a few years ago by Alain de Botton -- "The Art of Travel." Botton's book gives the reader a new way of looking at travel. I would hope that future books in this series would offer more than a few endnotes to interest the reader. ( )

This is a short anthology of Dickens' travel writing, published by Hesperus, in a series of 'theme' anthologies which includes Houdini On Deception and Bernard Shaw On War.

Unfortunately, the collection was bookended by two very arch, heavily comedic pieces - the first about the behaviour of London cabbies and the last about a man who 'travels' all over the world by visiting exhibitions. The 'true' travel articles in between were more enjoyable - a vivid account of Dickens' first, rough, Atlantic crossing, an account of the sublime Italian countryside, and two pieces about the train ride from London to Paris, one hyperbolically enthusiastic and the next (written some 20 years later) hyperbolically wearied, and both very funny.

There were also some interesting period details, such as the fact that in Italy, a favourite caricature for clowns was the English tourist - "Lord John, with a very loose stomach, dressed in a blue-tailed coat down to his heels, bright yellow breeches, and a white hat ... with an English lady (Lady Betsy) in a straw bonnet and green veil". ( )