Inspiring travel reads from The Travel Bookshop

London’s bibliophile landmark, The Travel Bookshop — probably best known as a plot point in some Hugh Grant movie you may or may not have had the misfortune of seeing — is celebrating its 30th anniversary next month. To get in the spirit of things The Guardian UK asked owners Saara Marchadour and Julian Mash to list their top ten favorite travel books.

If you’re looking for something to read in these final weeks of summer there’s quite a few excellent suggestions in the list. Whether its a traditional travel yarn like John Steinbeck’s A Russian Journal, something a bit more meditative like W.G. Sebald’s Rings of Saturn or something truly out there, like The Kon-Tiki Expedition by Thor Heyerdahl, recounting Heyerdahl’s journey from Peru to Tahiti in a handmade raft, there’s something for just about every taste on the list.

I just finished up a couple of notable travel books that I’d recommend as well. The first is Guy Delisle’s The Burma Chronicles, a graphic novel that uses spare, black and white line drawings to tell the story of Delisle’s time in Burma, the people and of course to oppressive military regime currently ruling the country. Check out Rory Maclean’s review (Maclean is also the author of an excellent book on Burma).

The other, considerably more obscure, book is Ibn Battuta: Travels in Asia and Africa 1325-1354. While written in a style and approach somewhat different than what most of us are used to in a travel narrative, this is a surprisingly readable book that offers a glimpse of a world that disappeared long ago.

Have your own travel reading suggestions? Drop them in the comments below.