Music in Every Room: Around the World in a Bad Mood

This book came out just after I had come home from an extended trip to Southeast Asia, doing cheap backpack travel with a boyfriend I wasn't too sure about. I needed this book. It made me laugh about things I didn't know were funny. This is therapy, plus entertainment, plus travel guide. My hope is that a person considering travel will read this, and go anyway. "Music in Every Room" was on the brochure for a place we stayed in Yogyakarta, Java, where there was a horrible transistor radio up on a flagpole in the middle of the courtyard, and no matter which room you were in, you could not get away from the noise it made. The tone of gritty realism with just a touch of bitterness, counterpointed by the girlfriend's relentless good cheer, is just funny. It so well mirrored the two of us.

The author's use of pop culture references and turns of phrase made getting through (most of) this book a pleasure. I'm highly recommending it with one caveat (hence the missing ratings star). I listened to it as an unabridged audio book. It starts off slowly, but moves along well once he and Iris hit Thailand. There are two sections near the beginning (one in Hong Kong and one in Bangkok) told in third-person narratives. These have absolutely nothing to do with (advancing) the plot of the story at all; I found myself wishing I were reading the print version so I could skip them. My favorite line came near the end: "We were trick-or-treaters dressed up as ourselves."

I agree with Steve. I must have recommended this book to 50 friends over the years. I have been to several of these places and the book is more fun. The writing is wry and humorous with a vein of sadness. It ranks right up there with Pico Iyer's "The Lady and the Monk" another great travel book about a year in Kyoto.

I read this book years ago and was so impressed with it that I gave copies to several friends. This is a travel book with a very personal twist. The author and his girl friend take off around the world with different goals and with a shakey relationship. The author is not at all confident that they will make it, and several times it seems he may be right. But, they do make it back, together, although that is short-lived. I'm not at all sure why I liked this book so much. It reflects my own view of travel in a lot of ways. Much of what you get in a long trip to foreign lands is relative to what you expect. The title, for example, is an ironic reflection on this often seen advertisment for rooms. In this case it is a portable radio left on full volume all night in the court yard of a very cheap hotel. I am now planning my own trip around the world with a shakey relationship and I want to re-read this book. It is funny and sad, philosophical and helpful. Highly recommended!