The Saturday Night Traveller

Bruce Grainger is Head of Public Services in the Macdonald Library at
McGill University in Montreal.

The 20 essays in this collection are a potpourri of articles previously
published in Saturday Night magazine. Although the editor suggests in
his introduction that Canadians have become more cosmopolitan and have
begun to see the world in a uniquely Canadian way, these essays do not
illustrate this point. Rather they are quite varied and individualistic,
reflecting perhaps the fact that most of the Canadian contributors are
foreign-born and spent their formative years outside Canada.
Internationally known travel writers Jan Morris and Calvin Trillin are
contributors; the latter’s “Footloose in New York” is a funny look
at the city, with the humor largely at the expense of Saturday Night
editor John Fraser. Two of my favorites are Ernest Hillen’s
description of his childhood home in Java and Joey Slinger’s fiercely
comic look at the paving of Florida. Both active and armchair travellers
will enjoy these stories of cities and countries on four continents.