When the cold, wet blanket of winter arrives — some of the finer comforts to be appreciate are a warm & dry abode, yummy meals, and… cozying up with a capitivating book. A story that transports you to foreign places, different mindsets, new language. Scenes from places you have never been. A vacation without the hassle of airport security.
Reading has been my Wonderland forever. Books have inspired my travel desires. And still do! Why did I journey to the Amazon in 1974? Because of the novel Green Mansions. What’s next on my list? The herds of bison and pronghorn antelope grazing in wildflower-blanketed glacier meadows; the striking apricot sunsets illuminating the granite faces of Yellowstone’s sawtoothed peaks described in the mystery Celine.
Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.— Groucho Marx
Here are travel reads I’ve enjoyed. It’s a mixed bag of genres— some are humorous, others travel memoirs, and a few are emotionally fraught and spiritually redemptive.
Muddling Through in Madagascar — Dervla Murphy
Eight Feet in the Andes — Dervla Murphy
Sideways on a Scooter: Life and Love in India — Miranda Kennedy
Shooting the Boh — Tracy Johnson
A House in Bali — Colin McPhee
Video Night in Katmandu — Pico Iyer
Songlines – Bruce Chatwin
My Journey to Lhasa — Alexandra David-Neel
A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush — Eric Newby
Long Ago in France: The Years in Dijon — M. F. K. Fisher
A Visit to Donatavio — Sybille Bodford
How to Climb Mt. Blanc in a Skirt — Mick Conefrey
The Tao of Travel — Theroux
Christ Stopped at Eboli — Carlo Levi
The Snow Leopard — Peter Matthiessen
The Iliad/ Odyssey — Homer
Canterbury Tales — Chaucer
Huckleberry Finn — Mark Twain
Brazilian Adventure — Fleming
Valleys of the Assasins — Freya Stark
Venice — Jan Morris
Incidents of Travel to the Yucatan — Stevens
In Patagonia — Bruce Chatwin
Stones of Venice — Mary McCarthy
Stones of Florence — Mary McCarthy
Taste For Travel — John Julius Norwich
Any books by: Dervla Murphy, Evelyn Waugh & Graham Greene
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