Neither Here Nor There by Bill Bryson, 254 pages

Bill Bryson's first travel book, The Lost Continent, was unanimously acclaimed as one of the funniest books in years. In Neither Here nor There he brings his unique brand of humour to bear on Europe as he shoulders his backpack, keeps a tight hold on his wallet, and journeys from Hammerfest, the northernmost town on the continent, to Istanbul on the cusp of Asia. Fluent in, oh, at least one language, he retraces his travels as a student twenty years before.

Whether braving the homicidal motorist of Paris, being robbed by gypsies in Florence, attempting not to order tripe and eyeballs in a German restaurant, window-shopping in the sex shops of the Reeperbahn or disputing his hotel bill in Copenhagen, Bryson takes in the sights, dissects the culture and illuminates each place and person with his hilariously caustic observations. He even goes to Liechtenstein.

Holidays in Heck by P.J. O'Rourke, 265 pages

I'm not familiar with P.J. O'Rourke's work as a political humorist but saw this book and thought it was a humor book about traveling with children. I discovered my mistake almost immediately but will read pretty much anything (it's an addiction) so I went ahead with it. I'm glad I did because he's a funny writer who has traveled the world and now is bringing his family some of the time. While he's more Republican than I normally enjoy, the book was enjoyable enough that I was willing to forgive him for that, lol.