BootsnAll Travel Community

What travel books do you love? I am partial to Michael Chrichton's "Travels" because he went from being a med student to an author and became open to non-scientific experiences of all kinds, while keeping his love for science...

So, how about yours?

I just saw this book at the bookshop today, and I really love it...


See insides of the book

Quite an old one but still incredibly funny to read - good old Mark Twain's "A Tramp Abroad".
(Especially for somebody who lives close to Heidelberg and the Black Forest.)

I read Geoff Dyer's "Yoga for People Who can't Be Bothered to Do It" a few years ago and I still find myself going back to it (and recommending it to the students in my travel writing classes).

Tony Hawks' "Round Ireland with a Fridge" is absolutely hilarious!!

Loved Round Ireland with a Fridge. Funny!

Just finished "The Sex Lives of Cannibals" by J. Maarten Troost. What a crazy book. I kept finding myself exclaiming "Oh my GAWD!" then calling up my dad who read the book right before me.

Jet

I agree on Round Ireland with a Fridge--I read it while driving around Ireland and it was a great fit. Left it at a B & B in Cobh for another visitor to Ireland.

One of my fav books of all time about travel is The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton.

Am I too old school? It's all Bruce Chatwin for me. The Songlines particularly.

1. 'The Road To McCarthy' by Pete McCarthy
2. 'Driving Over Lemons' by Chris Stewart
3. 'Extra Virgin' by Annie Hawes
4. 'Italian Neighbours' by Tim Parks
5. 'Snowball Oranges' by Peter Kerr
6. 'The Wrong Way Home' by Peter Moore
7. 'The Sex Lives of Cannibals : Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific’ -- by J. Maarten Troost
8. 'An Unexpected Light' by Jason Elliott
9. 'Take Me With You : A Round-the-World Journey to Invite a Stranger Home' by Brad Newsham
10.'The Hotel on the Roof of the World' by Alec Le Sueur
11. 'Catfish and Mandala’ by Andrew Pham
12. 'Kite Strings of the Southern Cross: A Woman's Travel Odyssey' by Laurie Gough
13. 'AA Gill is Away' by AA Gill

I have left out the really obvious ones (Bill Bryson and Peter Mayle, etc.). Also, there are plenty of bestsellers that are pure crap ('The Olive Farm' ~ Carol Drinkwater). I have saved you the trouble of vomiting into your lap. All my suggested titles are worthy, say I.

Third Class Ticket by Heather Wood
Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
Are You Experienced by Willian Sutcliffe
Age of Kali by William Dalrymple
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig

my travelwriter's homepage

If you're looking for ideas from lots of folks, these lists from authors can be an inspiration.

I read the Gringo Trail by Mark Mann while in Peru and found it hilarious. The book contains a series of humorous articles that are all spun together to tell the authors story. Easy to dip in and out of while on the road!

I too really enjoyed "Travels".
I'm also a huge fan of:

Anything by Susan Orlean or Bill Bryson
Tim Cahill's: Family Man and Hold the Enlightenment
No Touch Monkey by Ayun Halliday
Gulliver's Travels

Here's my reviews of four of the five of my favourite books I listed above.

[URL=http://www.newindpress.com/sunday/sundayitems.asp?id=SEB20060119074617&eTitle=Books+%26+Literature&rLink=0/"]New Indian Express on Sunday: Books[/URL]

my homepage

Still didn't work - just cut and paste the link!

http://www.newindpress.com/sunday/sundayitems.asp?id=SE...+Literature&rLink=0/"

I also like Travels by Crichton. additionally I like How Star Trek Conquered Planet Earth by travel author Jeff Greenwald, Journey to the Center of the Earth Jack Londons stuff (especially White Fang and To Build a Fire) and Long Way Round.

For a great travelogue on the Philippines, Luis Francia's "Eye of the Fish" is an excellent read. Even if you're not going there, it's an interesting book. He meets people from all walks of life in the Philippines, from the New People Army guerrillas to Filipina feminists.

"Francia's odyssey takes him the length of the nation, from Batanes in the north to the Muslim Jolo and Marawi regions of the south, and from the rugged mountain hideaways of revolutionary freedom fighters to the well-appointed salons of the political and cultural elite. priests, island shamans and small-town politicians, cultists, feminists, and infamous first ladies all make an appearance in this imaginative and idiosyncratic exploration of "home.""



http://www.powells.com/biblio/61-1885030312-0

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1885030312/qid=1138833...ks&v=glance&n=283155

Black Lamb and Grey Falcon is good.

So is almost anything by William Least Heat-Moon

Just to add a wildcard to this list, I suggest two books by Nicolas Bouvier, a Francophone Swiss author. He's not so well known in the English speaking world, but what little I've read is great. I've only seen two of his books translated in English:

- The Way of the World ("L'usage du monde") -- a tale of his trip from Yugoslavia to India, overland, over 50 years ago.

- The Japanese Chronicles

Thanks for all these posts! I read The Hotel on the Top of the World and loved it! I'm going to go to the library, get as many of these as they have, and start in. Thanks again!