Ustinov Still at Large

Actor, traveler and raconteur Ustinov writes a journal of sorts that takes the reader to the four corners of the world. With droll tone and deft turns of phrase (``Under our balcony at the hotel there is a bar which announces proudly it is open all night-like the window of our room,'' he notes after noisy revelers kept him awake), he describes his travels through the smoldering heat of Bangkok or a condom-littered ocean front in the south of France. Not that he is restricted to soft news: he comments as well on Bosnia and the Gulf War. While the book seems to be a compendium of columns for a newspaper, Ustinov lacks the American-style punch of a Tony Kornheiser or Mike Royko, opting for a more reasoned and subtle tone. It doesn't always work. When the author merely comments on world events, acting as a kind of journalistic armchair quarterback, the result is somewhat flat. But when Ustinov really takes the reader along in his travels, pointing out details like a fishbowl in riot-torn L.A. whose inhabitants almost certainly died when flames heated their habitat or the comments of taxi drivers in northern England, the sense of immediacy is truly impressive. (Mar.)