BootsnAll Travel Community

I have read a load of books this year, but the best one (apart from Laurie Gough's unpublished one) was

A Pike in the Basement by Simon Loftus:

Book Review

What was yours?

Philip

Way too many to list down here, but my story of the year or rather decade is

Waltz at the end of the earth - I read it in a travelers tales publication and here is a link

http://www.salon.com/april97/wanderlust/passages970408.html

Happy reading!

Awesome story Dusty...

PC

2004 was the year I finally, really discovered Theroux. So Kingdom by the Sea, though it's older than snot, is my travel book of the year.

Amazon Journal: Dispatches from a Vanishing Frontier
by Geoffrey O'Connor

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0525941134/qid=1103838820/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/002-3632004-4486446?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

It's a toss-up between Molvania: A Land Untouched By Modern Dentistry and The Sex Lives of Cannibals : Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific.

The Molvania guide is good for a laugh with fellow travel dweebs, the Sex Lives Of Cannibals is a great read.

This is such a difficult question. I don't want to say it's my "the" book for 2004, but it is one I enjoyed very much recently. Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros. Multi-generational story of a family from Mexico that moves back and for between the U.S. and Mexico.

Happy to see Sex Lives of Cannibals mentioned as it's sitting in the number 2 position on my stack of "next to read" books.

NTF Travis

This is a tired and common response, but I've gotta say Vagabonding. I was already going in that general direction, but that downright inspired me. And actually, that's how I came to this site. Looking for the vagabonding forum, found much more.

I have four copies of Vagabonding with me, to dole out to friends that I want to inspire.

Rolf, I've brought you commission on I believe 9 copies of your book.

I've read a lot of great books in 2004 (and a fair number I hope to never see again). I think I'll have to go with Knut Hamsun's Hunger, though. I read it once this summer, just out of regular ol' desire, then ended up writing 20+ pages on it, comparing two English translations and the original Norwegian. I can't say I put that much effort into any other books I've read this year, but I still enjoy the hell out of the book. The experience has also gone a long ways towards determining the course of the rest of my undergrad, and hopefully graduate school. So my book of 2004 is actually around a century old, but what are you gonna do?

The Best American Travel Writing series

Not only are these wonderful in and of themselves, but they've also led me to some other great reads.

The best time reading this year was probably Stiff. Wait, unless I read Kitchen Confidential and A Cooks Tour by Anthony Bourdain this year, in which case, it's a 3 way tie.

and I really enjoyed reading Little Vampire Goes To School to my kids - even though it involved lots of finger pointing to indicate which character in the comic book was speaking.

i find my memory of what I actually read this year is faded! I know a librarian who issues an annual zine of every book she read, organized by month. Perhaps a resolution I should make.

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. Amazing, amazing! I think it probably came out in 02, but I just read it two days ago. Goddamn!

Great and difficult question!

I am an avid reader and I belong to a women's book club so I'll tell you the one's that I read in 2004 that I empathiclly recomend to folks.

* The Comfort Trap, Judith Sills

* We Got Fired, Harvey Mackay

* Admissions, Nancy Leiberman

* Maybe You Never Cry Again, Bernie Mac

* Louise L. Hay...Everything she writes!

* Soul On Bikes, Tobie Gene Livingston

I'll stop as I have about 20 more titles to recommend...

I am just finishing up "The Lawrence Durrell Travel Reader" and it has been really great reading. Not only for the travel aspect (now I REALLY want to go to Sicily) but also because he is an excellent writer.

This will be my last book of the year and definitely the best. I highly recommend it for travellers and also for anyone with a fascination/love of Greece.

One of my favorites of the year is, "A Suitable Boy" by Vikram Seth. It is an epic Indian tale set just after independence. I read it while in India and it was wonderful.

Anything by Sigurd Olson. "The Singing Wilderness" or "Reflections from the North Country" are 2 good examples.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned 'The curious incident of the dog in the night time'! ~ Mark Haddon

A must read utterly stellar amazing book Definitely my book of the year

Since I am entering the Peace Corps in a matter of days, I have been reading a lot of work by returned volunteers. Paul Theroux was a PC volunteer, though I've yet to read him.

My placement officer, Sarah Erdman published a book about her service in Africa that is excellent: "Nine Hills to Nambonkaha; Two years in the heart of an African Village"

I recommend it to anyone who is interested in getting to know the heart of a place rather than just passing through. I saw that show where the Virgin records billionaire took two teams of people to an African village and they were supposed to come up with a plan to help the people within 24 hours. I thought this was a very superficial and self-serving exploitation of the people there; it took Sarah about 9 months to get to really know and connect with the people of her village before she knew what it was they really needed and how she could help. She spent the rest of her time implementing an infant health care program and making it sustainable by educating and involving the locals and by molding the program to their traditions and mores.

Tricia

I'd have to say the best book I read in 2004 was "You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train" by Howard Zinn. It's inspirational, informative and moving. It's Zinn's memoir of teaching and just his experiences in general with the changes that took place in the US in the 20th century. There's lots of good first-person stuff about the civil rights movement.

I rather enjoyed former U.S. President/Nobel Peace Prize Winner Jimmy Carter's The Hornet's Nest. It's his 19th book, yet his first work of fiction. It's about the much forgotten tale of the American South during the Revolutionary War. Most of the deaths & destruction were in The Carolinas & Georgia during 1775-83, yet the vast majority of history books just talk about Boston, Philly, NY & NJ during this period... I'm a History nut though, so maybe that's why I liked it so much!