Those who don’t travel read only a page – St Augustine
I’ve blogged before about wanting to read more books around the subject of travel. I think reading helps to disconnect from the world, especially with staring at phone and TV screens all the time, so I tend to use it as a form of escapism.
In 2016 I decided to start collecting travel novels and reading new ones as often as possible. I blogged about it originally here.
Well since then I’ve gathered quite a collection. Here are some of the books i’ve collected:
Now I’ve not read all of them because i’m quite a slow reader and quite frankly there just isn’t enough time in the world! But I love to read about other peoples travel experiences and i’ve really enjoyed the few I have read so far. I’ve actually blogged about two of them previously so you can read about them here if you want some recommendations:
How not to travel the world – Lauren Juliff
I also highly recommend Just a little run around the world by Rosie Swale Pope although seem to have misplaced my review on that one!
And just now i’m reading my latest addition to the collection – Men on The Menu by Bambi Smyth. This is about a woman travelling the world dating a man in each country from A-Z! On the dates she experiences the cuisine on offer and then compares the dates to the food of the country. It’s rather random but an enjoyable read in my opinion so far.
Have you ever seen a ‘little library’ whilst on your travels? I first saw this in Door Country, Wisconsin. What a great idea! How it works is you take a book and you leave a book. I think they’re really cute and I just recently saw one outside the bus station on my travels in Bratislava. This is what they normally look like:
If you have read a good travel novel please let me know in the comments and I’ll be sure to check it out! 🙂
So Beau 
You should check out Rosie Swale Pope’s earlier books – I first read them when I was about 15 and would say they were the books that inspired me to travel – “Rosie Darling”, “Children of Cape Horn” and “Back to Cape Horn”. “Libras don’t say No” I would give a miss. The book walking round Wales was okay but it’s many years since I read it.. i used to follow her run round the world on her website, but didn’t think the book did it justice.
Others that i would recommend
Ted Simon – “Jupiters Travels” and “Dreaming of Jupiter” – went round the world on a motorcycle in 1973 and then did it againin his 70’s. His book of walking across Eastern Europe is pretty good as well.
Paul Theroux – “Great Railway Bazaar” and “Ghost Train to the Eastern Star” – another journey taken in the early seventies and then repeated many years later. I’m struggling a bit bit with “Riding the Iron Rooster” but loved his “Dark Star Safari” about going back to Africa so many years after he had worked there – quite sad that things seemed to have gone back to what they were.
Dervla Murphy – “Full Tilt” – cycled to India in the 60’s – she has done lots of books since but this is the best in my opinion.
Ian Hibell – “Into Remote Places” – another cyclist who cycled pretty much around the world and was the first person to cross the Darian Gap by bike – google him there are a few videos – amazing guy who was still doing this into his 70’s. Sadly killed by a hit and run in Greece about 10 years ago – there are some blog posts as well that never made it into books of his travels across China. This book is quite rare and can be expensive – I have a copy if you want to borrow at some time. Shame he never wrote more.
Nick Middleton – “The Last Disco in Outer Mongolia” – I have no idea where I originally bought and sold this book but it about Mongolia in the early 90’s – quite funny in places. It must have been good as I bought it when I came back home.
See you mentioned reading “Into the Wild” – good book and I have watched the film – I’ll not say anymore if if you haven’t read the end….
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Wow that’s a lot to think about! Thanks for all the recommendations! I have lots to read going to take me a few years lol yes I’m reading Into the wild at the moment and enjoying it. About halfway in! Thanks for your help, I’m a slow reader but will get through stuff eventually!
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[…] Read more -> My travel library […]
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[…] Nearly 2 years ago I wrote a post about reading and how much I love to collect travel books. I can’t actually believe it’s been so long since I wrote this! You can read the post here. […]
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