AA Gill is...problematic

Most of me wants to rave about the collection of travel writing "AA Gill Is Away". The British columnist/critic roams everywhere from the Kalahari (he sacrifices a goat and angers the gods) to the undead city of Kaliningrad. He writes with equal parts insight and irreverence. His so-wrong-they-work metaphors are of Martin Amis standard - describing Patagonia: "The beauty never lets up, it's like ocular tinnitus, a repetitive deafening of the eye." AA doesn't skimp on the cultural backstory or statistical realities, either. He even buddies up with "Top Gear"'s Jeremy Clarkson for comedy road trips (one of which leads to him judging Miss Iceland). The problem is that when he gets a place wrong - as in the case of Japan, which he loathes in its entirety - he can leave you royally miffed. Buy the book and skip that chapter. And maybe those on Milan Fashion Week...and Germany...and the Royal Agricultural Show...