Peking to Paris (Dina Bennett)

This is the author's story of a 35-day road rally across Asia and Europe in 2007, made by over 100 classic cars duplicating a trip over much the same route in 1907. I enjoyed a lot of the details of what the trip was like, including experiences in crowded Chinese cities, vast Mongolian deserts, and frustrating Russian checkpoints. The ongoing saga of their car's inadequate shock absorbers was, forgive me, absorbing. I was less enthralled with the author's harping on her overly-fragile emotional state. She was upfront about admitting that slights she perceived from other rally members evoked the angst of her 13-year-old self; I was less likely to find this charming or enjoyable in an adult. I would have preferred to spend more time on the journey, less on her inner securities. I can say that I liked parts of it, but don't feel that my life was better in any way for having read it.