Nothing that Chatwin wrote could be completely uninteresting, although several of the outtakes from his fiction here come close. When brilliance comes, however, it comes in his uniquely marvelous voice, so much worth it. But please read Songlines and In Patagonia for an immeasurably more wonderful experience; and no, I don't care whether he made some of it up, or what a flawed person he was, it's still worth every syllable. ( )

Travel

in the gift books and to be read pile.

This is the last of Bruce Chatwin's works to be published while he was still alive (he penned the introduction in 1988, a few months before he died). It's a collection of Chatwin gems--profiles, essays, and travel stories that span the world, from trekking in Nepal and sailing down the Volga to working on a film with Werner Herzog in Ghana and travelling with Indira Gandhi in India. Chatwin excels, as usual, in the finely honed tale.

In this personal selection of stories and travelogues, Chatwin reveals part of himself as he looks at the world populated by the wise, the misguided, the beautiful and the bizarre. It follows his view of the world through situations; he abandoned his job to pursue his passion for world travel. Bruce Chatwin's last novel "Utz" was shortlisted for the 1988 Booker fiction prize. He has also written "The Viceroy of Ouidah" and "On the Black Hill", both of which were made into films. His "In Patagonia" won the Hawthornden Prize and the E.M.Forster Award.