BootsnAll Travel Community

There's a ton of travel related books out there right now. What are you reading and how is it?

I'm reading 'McCarthy's Bar' by Pete McCarthy in which the author tries to explain his connection with Ireland by visiting every McCarthy's Bar in the country. A noble cause to be sure to be sure.

The book is entertaining as straight laced Pete gets continually thrown into situations with eccentric locals and a whole menagerie of travellers.

The Sunday Times said "An acutely observed and often hilarious series of snapshots of a country
that can induce an onrush of sentimental cliche. A funny and believable travellogue."

The Examiner ( Australia ) said "Wonderful....the funniest thing I've read in years."

I would endorse it too.

Nic

1)My absolute favorite book, and for about the third read it still keeps me highly amused:
"Frost On My Moustache" by Tim Moore
British author, Moore, retraces the 19th-century travels of Lord Dufferin from No. England to Iceland, and across via bike, then by "Viking convoy" through the Faroes to Norway and up to the northern islands of Svalbard/Spitzbergen. Laughed so hard reading this while waiting 9 hours on a Newark lay-over that people wouldn't sit next to me in the crowded terminal.

2) "Cook's Tour" by Irish author Paul Cullen. Chef, travel buff and father of three treks (with family in tow) from China to Ireland, and back via public transport, never truly knowing if said public transport will continue to take him across the nether reaches of China and many Soviet Republics. Also VERY funny, and if you're a cook, or simply food enthusiast, I recommend it.

I just started a new book called 'The man who walked through time' by Colin Fletcher. It the story of how he walked the length of the Grand Canyon Nat. Park in 1963, which had never been done, at least by a white person.

It shows how amazed he is by his surroundings and what courage he shows, as there was no guarantee of finding water, a safe route or any chance of rescue.

-Nick-

Hi, I'm currently in T.E. Lawrence's Seven Pillars of Wisdom. It's a wonderful insight into the Middle East and the Arab people as well as the hardships and horrors of war. It certainly lives up to its reputation as a classic although I think the £80000 paid at auction recently for a first edition is a bit much.

Current reading list:

- Alvin Toffler's Future Shock
- Bill Bryson's The Lost Continent
- An Anthology of H.L. Mencken
- Jean-Paul Sartre's The Psychology of Imagination
- Henry James' The Ambassadors

And I'm about to start Paul Bowles' The Sheltering Sky, which Earth2Angela was kind enough to send to me and the lads. I like books, okay? Deal with it!

I bought two books in the English bookstore here in Belgrade yesterday, to read on the long bus ride back home next weekend (unless I can figure out a way to get deported by airplane ):
Thomas Hardy * A Pair of Blue Eyes
Ivo Andric * The Days of the Consuls
And I`ve recently started reading:
Peter Handke * Am Felsfenster morgens (have no idea if that`s even been translated into English, let alone what the title would be)

Ant all I've got to say is, if sometime soon you're figuring out the books your reading and it seems that Mencken imagines himself in the future, travelling through a lost continent surounded by ambassadors.......you're in trouble!

-Nick-

i may not have much in the way of "furniture" but i do have stacks of books....
anyway, right now my list is, in order of most time spent with since there is more than one..
1. Passionate Nomad - The Life of Freya Stark. It explores her travels thru the middle east from 1927 - 1993.
2. A walk across America - Peter Jenkins. My copy s very well worn as it becomes a winter reread. I rescued the book from a garage sale my father was having as a little girl and it's been with me ever since.
3. The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook - TRAVEL. It was a gift from a friend who knows my travel horror stories and wants me to be prepared for the worst.
4. Berlitz-Hungarian for Travellers. Doing some "brushing up"

the last book i picked up was "The Odyssey" by Homer. learning that the movie 'o brother where are thou' was based on it kinda sparked my interest. i must admit it was good, but jesus, too much detail! anyway, its a really good read. i have yet to crack open its counterpart, "the illiad" ( i may have spelled that wrong). but as far as the spin the movie put on the book... let just say it was a reeeaaally loose interpretation.

I've been reading Bill Bryson continuosly now for about a month. He's witty, dryly comical and completely factual. Here's what I have read so far and highly recommend:

1. "Neither Here Nor There" in which Bill retraces the steps he took back in his college backpacking days. I bought it because when I opened it to the chapter on Brussels he talks about how he got off at the wrong station which I've done myself. It was the perfect cure for my Europe nostalgia.

2. "A Walk In The Woods" about hiking the approx. 2,200 mile Appalachian Trail. I just finished it and let me tell you, I don't think I'd ever be ready for a thru-hike of that magnitude. And the man seems obsessed with Bears. Odd.

and I've just started "In A Sunburned Country" about his travels in Australia, which just so happens to be my next adventure. I'm hoping it'll give me a bit of inspiration.

delara

Just finished reading Tony Hawks' "Round Ireland with a Fridge" - where he makes a bet that in 30 days he can hitchhike the circumference of Ireland, including a couple of islands, with a small fridge in tow. Bloody hilarious... and I gotta say, touching. He meets some amazing people, and the fridge, well, it's just a fascinating book. Highly, highly recommended!

is the book I just finished. Its the story of a man who set out on a motorcycle journey through south America in the mid 90's retracing the journey that Che Guevera and a friend took back in the 50's, the journey where Ernesto Guevera first became Che, who would become the revolutionary...great story, combination journalism, travel writing and history book.

I am reading the following three books, and find them very interesting

Invitation to France
Our travels in France have been a thoroughly enjoyable experience — truly, it’s an exciting and beautiful country. The towns we’ve visited, the sights we’ve seen, the people we’ve met! This is a story of what we saw, and where we saw it during our nine trips to France. It’s a composite of all our trips — nearly 160 nights, spent in over 100 different places.

Invitation to Germany
A vacation trip to Germany can be a trip through many different settings, representing many periods of history. Scenery, architecture, and the ambiance of the towns and villages, all change from one section of the country to another. Over 300 nights have been spent at the homes of 10 different families (most, but not all, were Emmy’s Cousins), and 115 nights were spent in 78 other cities, towns and villages.

Invitation to Italy
A trip to Italy is unlike any other trip imaginable. A beautiful, confounding, exciting, educational experience that will be remembered for a lifetime. Italy is cluttered with beautiful old towns and buildings, but more important, Italy is crowded with beautiful, friendly, congenial people. After 112 wonderful nights in 63 different places during eight trips to Italy, beautiful Italy, we don’t remember anything that wasn’t a few hundred, or even a couple of thousand years old.

Why am I reading these books? Because I wrote them, that's why.

Please visit the Bootsnall hosted site,

http://www.InvitationToTravel.com

Why not Travel, rather than How To Travel essays.

Thank you

Jim Humberd

I have just finished reading a fantastic piece of Australian travel writing by Peter Moore called The Wrong Way Home. Its basically about a guy who travels from London to Sydney overland without getting on a plane and with only a few thousand dollars in his back pocket. Great read!

Am now reading his follow up book called The Full Montezuma where he travels through Mexico and Central America with the GND (Girl Next Door). Hilarious writing style, definately worth checking out.

I just picked up and "One For The Road" by Tony Horwitz. It's the story of his wacky hitchhike through the outback. Has anyone read any of his other books?

Oh, and feeling the pressure of pop culture not to mention the heavy unauthorized advertising here on the boards, I picked up 'Fellowship of the Ring'. Time to re-read LOTR. Do you guys get a percentage of the sale?

A couple of weeks ago, I just finished "Around the World in Eighty Days," by Jules Verne. The vocabulary is extraordinarily rich with imagery!

I'm almost done with "A Moveable Feast," by Hemingway. I've never read Gertrude Stein, but by Hemingway's description of her, I do not think I would enjoy her at all.

Then I'm starting on "Paris to the Moon," by Adam Gopnik.

And yes, I have a definite infatuation with Paris!

modgirl

I went to South Africa last fall which made me reread an all time favourite of mine

"Biko - Cry Freedom" by Donald Woods It's the story of Bantu Stephen Biko, one of the most important leaders of South Africa. Not always an easy read but if you want a better understanding of South Africa it's an absolute must.

Other books I read before, during and after my trip were

"July's People" by Nadine Gordimer - a servant rescues the white family he works for, when the city becomes a battlefield

"Cry - The beloved country" by Alan Paton - a Zulu pastor travels to Jo'burg in search for his son in the cities underworld

"The Power of One" by Brice Courtenay - The memoires of an English boy in South Africa

There's one book I think everyone should read. In some respect it even has to do with travel

"And the band played on" by Randy Shilts - Subtitle "Politics, People, and the Aids Epidemic" which basically says it all...

Have a good read everyone...

moomba

If you have an interest in great travel writing form scientific minds, written in prose don't overlook Charles Darwin's 'Voyage of the Beagle' nor anything written by Barry Lopez.

Additionally, Peter Mattheisen's books, most have something to do with travel or are at least set in far-off lands. Certainly anyone travelling to the Himalaya's will find something of interest in 'The Snow Leopord'.

I recently read a book about the efforts, over the years, to navigate the length of the Mekong River from the Delta to China. The hope of using the river as a commercial freight-way has yet to be realized and may never be. The story is interesting and it gives an interesting insight into the history of the region, not connected to the wars for a change.

I can't reall the exact title and I had a publisher's proof so the title might have been changed anyway.

I'll look for the author's name and put it up later if anyone's interested.

Cheers, Aaron

Anything by James Michener is great, especially "The Drifters" as it relates to travel and also "Poland" and "The Covenant." I am in the middle of the Covenant right now and it is about the history of South Africa but it is historical fiction. Very, very good.

"Journey to the Hebrides" - Interesting book by James Boswell & Samuel Johnson. They traveled Scotland together back in the 1800s, from Edinburgh north to Aberdeen, over to Inverness and throughout the Highlands, then over and throughout many of the Western Isles.

It's really fascinating, primarily to get ideas of what life was like then. There is the occasional class-oriented - or, well, snobby - comment or viewpoint, but all told it's just a fascinating observation of a different place in a different time.