The literature that inspires our travel
When Gregory Hubbs posted about The Joys of Reading Literature while Traveling not along ago, I got to thinking about the books we read when we travel and how they influence us. With so much good travel literature out there, you can usually find lots of choices specific to your destination. Not only is there a rich history of travel writing, but there are plenty of contemporary travel writers to choose from – and any bookstore travel section is likely to carry narratives from at least six of the continents (there are Antarctic titles too, but you may not find them on the shelves). Sometimes there are so many choices, it’s difficult to choose what to read on those long flights, bus rides, and trains trips.
Word of mouth from fellow travelers may be one of the best ways to find good travel literature. In Australia, I was handed down copies of Bill Bryson’s In A Sunburnt Country and Bruce Chatwin’s Songlines by travelers who wanted to pass on good literature (or maybe just lighten their loads). Preparing to go to South Africa I read Disgrace, by J.M.Coetzee, on recommendation from a friend who had just returned from South Africa, and Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton (and yes, I’m not ashamed to admit I heard about from Oprah).
But beyond reading tales about our specific destinations, there’s also so much out there to inspire our travels. What are the books that we read that make us say to ourselves – yes, that’s exactly why I want to travel? For me, it was reading James Michener’s The Drifters – the 1960’s coming-of-age story that chronicles six young travelers in their quest for meaning, self-exploration, hedonism, and rock’n’roll. Though I was a few decades off, I read that novel and couldn’t wait to hit the road in search of my own revolutionary adventure, and hopefully, a cohort of travelers in a yellow pop-top Volkswagen van.
Even though I never found that VW pop-top, the spirit of The Drifters has never left my travels. I wonder now, what other books speak to our traveling zeitgeist? A friend just recommended Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat Pray Love (which I immediately bought and loved) because she said it resonated with her traveling spirit. So I want to know, what other books encourage our spirit of travel?
March 14th, 2007 at 5:54 am
“Slow Boats to China” is a classic by Gavin Young. It made me want to visit the Philippines, although I haven’t yet made it.
Anything by Paul Theroux is fantastic.
I’ve been living in Vietnam for the past couple of years (but am about to move to Nicaragua) – the best book I read here was “The girl in the photograph” – the biography of Kim Phuc, the girl burned by napalm in that infamous war photography.
Best book I ever read about South East Asia was the Killing Fields. An absolutely incredible read and very very moving.
March 14th, 2007 at 6:52 am
Sun After Dark by Pico Iyer, a dreamy collection of stories that show the travel experience as a spiritual transformation as much as physical movement.
Mr. Muo’s Traveling Couch by Dai Sije. Not a travel novel, but a work of fiction that has me itching to return to China.
Korea by Simon Winchester, which I think does a wonderful job of taking a beautiful and balanced snapshot of the Korean peninsula South of the DMZ. Plus, it’s inspiring how Winchester is so dedicated to direct experience, as evident by his commitment to walking the entire journey.
And of course, let’s not forget the classic – On The Road by Jack Kerouac.
March 14th, 2007 at 10:05 am
I would highly recommend River Town, by Peter Hessler. It’s an amazing book about China. It’s a view point of someone who lived for years in a remote part of China. I think it’s valuable for people who may only be visiting for a few weeks or months.
March 14th, 2007 at 11:03 am
A book I always read before a trip is ‘The Art of Pilgrimage: The Seeker’s Guide to Making Travel Sacred’ by Phil Cousineau.
Don’t be put off by the title, this is a book that will help you to appreciate your journey and really help you to get into the heart of places.
And ‘River of Time’ by Jon Swain is essential reading before going to Laos, Cambodia or Vietnam. It’s a beautiful, poetic book about these countries and he explains why ‘they are places that take over a man’s soul’.
The chapter about the Vietnamese boat people is one of the most moving things I have ever read.
March 14th, 2007 at 9:40 pm
I second the recommendation of anything by Theroux. Love him or hate him (and sometimes I feel both of these emotions), his prose is vivid. I can never put his books down.
On a more obscure note, I found Brad Newsham’s “All the Right Places” to be inspiring in a everyday sort of way. He’s just a regular guy — a taxi driver, no less. Yet he sets out on an amazing journey, writes a very readable book, and gets it published. Every traveler’s dream!
March 14th, 2007 at 9:50 pm
how do you feel about on the road as a book that emoodies the spirit of the time? people read that book and have the itch to travel…..it sounds like that “cohort” in the VW may have read it.
March 15th, 2007 at 3:56 pm
Traveling it’s always in my mind. Reading a book about a far country or not. But there’s several curious stories of books that made me just “take the road” as soon as I put them down. One is Jorge Amado’s “Doña Flor e suis dois maridos” (Mrs. Flor and her tow husbands).
Right after graduating for college my uncle gave me some money “to buy that laptop any journalist must have”.
But I had just read “Doña Flor” and the love for life and “living good” of the first husband of Flor were causing a “hedonistic” revolution in me. I, like Cindy Lauper, just wanted to have fun.
So, in lack of enough money to go to Brazil, nearby Cuba (I live in Dominican Republic) was an option.
I am still writing in a PC and from time to time daydreaming about buying a laptop, but the fun that I had in those 10 days… the memories, the adventures with old and new friends, the great moros I ate, interesting movies I saw, and ricos mojitos we all drank just make me thanks “Doña Flor” for made me take my third trip to Cuba.
March 15th, 2007 at 4:22 pm
although i am a good number of years younger than you – i have to say this is the first time i see someone else mentioned drifters – which definitely was my trigger…