Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance is my favourite
go- can't remember the author
and although it sounds heathen I enjoyed The Beach although the film was rubbish.

quote:

Originally posted by Zeke14:
One of my fav books of all time about travel is The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton.

Wow!! I thought I was the only one who'd heard of this title. It was excellent. Not a narrative per se, but more of an explanation of the philosophy behind travel....its effects, its purpose, its nature, how it changes us.

I think I might read it again now.


Has anyone read "Through Painted Deserts", or LP's Blue List? What did you think?

River Town by Peter Hessler - Yes yes yes! Great book on China and the lunatics people who live there.

and

The Wrong Way Home - Peter Moore - brilliant, too :P I have all his books, but TWWH is the best.

Michael Palin - his books (2 of which I had signed ) and the DVD collection are some of my most prized posessions.

Anything by Paul Theroux. Dervla Murphy for biking and other madness.

Other books that involve travel, but aren't travel books exactly =/

Danny Wallace - Join Me - He starts a (very friendly) cult, very funny

Danny Wallace - Yes Man - He says yes to everything that anyone asks him and ends up in some random situations and strange places. Very funny

Louis Theroux (son of Paul, incidentally ^) - Well.. the books and the tv programmes are both excellent. I couldn't think how to describe him, so click here.

I started reading the thread and was wondering for a bit if anyone would mention Paul Theroux ... had almost guessed that his stuff was "too popular" to make anyone's list and that I'd have to "confess" to loving his stuff.

I remember the book that first gave me a case of wanderlust -- Michener's "The Drifters." Not really a travel book at all, but a novel that took you places -- not at all like his later blockbusters, though. It was more about being young in the '60s.

At the moment J. Maarten Troost's books are my favorite: Sex Lives of Cannibals and Getting Stoned with Savages. They are hilarious accounts of his life in the equatorial Pacific and makes me want to give up my desk job and take off for some exotic island!

Also liked Rivertown by Peter Hessler as has been mentioned.

Someone lent me Dave Barry does Japan and it was a fun read.

I loved Sex Lives of Cannibals too and even posted about it on here a few months back! I need to get my hands on his other books. I actually just recently lent it to a friend who is moving to Saipan.

I loved The Full Montezuma by Peter Moore. I have Vroom with a View on my night table queued up for reading together with a few books on Cuba.

I loved Paul Theroux's 'Happy Isles of Oceania' because he wasn't afraid to have the odd rant and he told it as it is.

My favourite so far is Laurie Gough's 'Kitestrings of the Southern Cross'--wonderfully poetic. Alas, I have to order in 'Travelers' Tales' books from the States, so I haven't read any others.

Through Painted Deserts by Donald Miller
(the author and a friend take a roadtrip across america in an old VW van. Craziness and spirituality ensue)

Blue Latitudes by Tony Horwitz
(Tony follows the steps of Captain Cook all over and compares cook's notes to the present day versions of the islands. Very well done book and easy to read)

Anything by Tim Cahill
Anything by Bill Bryson


The Art of Travel was too hard for me to read. It was choppy and I didn't think it was well put together.

Paul Theroux and V.S. Naipaul irritate the hell out of me because although they string words together cleverly, I find them both racist and classist (yeah, Naipaul is Indian but if you read what he & Theroux say about African people, especially African women, you have to puke), but one of my all-time favorite travel books is Jamie Zeppa's "Beyond the Sky and the Earth," which I KNOW I saw on this list a day or so ago, but now it has disappeared. It's the story of a Canadian woman in Bhutan. Beautifully written, full of powerful questions. But let me shut up. I'm just grouchy because July 12 is taking so long to get here. Let me OUT OF HERE! Ay vahnt to go to Portugal!

Oh Portugal... Granny I'm jealous! I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time. Tell us all about it, have a safe trip!

HOLY COW by Sarah MacDonald. I couldn't recommend this one more--she's hilarious, smart, and has incredible stories about her two years in India. Great book!

Kalashnikovs and Zoombie Cucumbers. Unfortunately, I've forgotten the name of the author and am lightyears from my bookshelves.

It's about travelling in Mozambique - a wonderful country!

by Nick Middleton

I have a copy. It's way out of print, but I recommend his others.

Anything by Tim Cahill

Lawrence Durrell's Mediterranean island books: Prospero's Cell, Bitter Lemons, Reflections on a Marine Venus, and Sicilian Carousel

Charles Macomb Flandrau's Viva Mexico!

Fanny Calderon de la Barca's Life in Mexico

Mark Twain's Innocents Abroad and Roughing It

Jim Paris