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