Location Reading
There’s only so much you can learn from a guidebook.
Below is a list of fiction and non-fiction books, sorted geographically. This list (and the way that it is formatted) is a work-in-progress, so please comment below with additional book titles and authors!
Long-Distance/Adventure Travel
Long Way Round: Chasing Shadows Across the World by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman
Jupiters Travels: Four Years Around the World on a Triumph by Ted Simon
The Great Railway Bazaar: By Train Through Asia by Paul Theroux
Ghost Train to the Eastern Star: On the Tracks of the Great Railway Bazaar by Paul Theroux
Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Capetown by Paul Theroux
Sand Dance: By Camel Across Arabia’s Great Southern Desert by Bruce Kirkby
General World Travel
Holidays in Hell by P. J. O’Rourke
Video Night in Kathmandu: And Other Reports from the Not-So-Far East by Pico Iyer
Travels by Michael Crichton
Journeys by Janet Morris
Bicycle Diaries by David Byrne
The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World by Eric Weiner
By Country/Region
Africa
Africa: Altered States and Ordinary Miracles by Richard Dowden
The Shadow of the Sun, My African Life by Ryszard Kapuscinski
Malaria Dreams, An African Adventure by Stuart Stevens
Antarctica
Berserk by David Mercy
Australia
In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson
Thumbs Up Australia: Hitchhiking the Outback by Tom Parry
The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin
The Dig Tree: The Extraordinary Story of the Ill-fated Burke and Wills 1860 Expedition by Sarah Murgatroyd
The Explorers: Stories of Discovery and Adventure from the Australian Frontier by Tim F. (Edt) Flannery
A Secret Country by John Pilger
No Worries: Journey Through Australia by Mark Mccrum
The Singing Line by Alice Thomson
A Traveller’s History of Australia by John H. Chambers
The Happy Isles of Oceania: Paddling the Pacific by Paul Theroux
We, the Aborigines by Douglas Lockwood
True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey
Bangladesh
Banker to the Poor by Muhammad Yunus
Brazil
Do Travel Writers Go To Hell? by Thomas Kohnstamm
Canada
Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw by Will Ferguson
Cambodia
First They Killed My Father by Loung Ung
Congo
Blood River by Tim Butcher
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
King Leopold’s Ghost by Adam Hochschild
No Mercy: A Journey Into the Heart of the Congo by Redmond O’Hanlon
Cuba
Ay, Cuba! A Socio-Erotic Journey by Andrei Codrescu
Egypt
Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz
Italy
Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes
Year in the World by Frances Mayes
India
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
Kenya
Unbowed by Wangari Maathai
No Picnic on Mount Kenya by Felice Benuzzi
The White Masai by Corinne Hofmann
Liberia
The House at Sugar Beach: In Search of a Lost African Childhood by Helene Cooper
Malaysia
The Harmony Silk Factory by Tash Aw
Mexico
The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano
Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall
Middle East
Baghdad without a Map and Other Misadventures in Arabia by Tony Horwitz
Nigeria
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Ake: The Years of Childhood by Wole Soyinka
North Africa
The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles
Rwanda
We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda by Philip Gourevitch
Sierra Leone
A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah
South Africa
Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela
Life and Times of Michael K by JM Coetzee
Cry Beloved Country by Alan Paton
The True Confessions of an Albino Terrorist by Breyten Breytenbach
Spain
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
Spain: The Root and the Flower: An Interpretation of Spain and the Spanish People by John A. Crow
Sudan
What is the What by Dave Eggers
Tibet
The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen
Uganda
A Bend in the River by V.S Naipaul
Ukraine
Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
United States
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values by Robert M. Pirsig
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
Travels with Charlie by John Steinbeck
Venezuela
The Silence and the Scorpion: The Coup Against Chavez and the Making of Modern Venezuela by Brian A. Nelson
Vietnam
Catfish and Mandela by Andrew Pham
West Africa
White Man’s Grave by Richard Dooling
The Masked Rider by Neil Peart
Untapped: The Scramble for Africa’s Oil by John Ghazvinian
Western Europe
Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell
Yugoslavia
Black Lamb and Grey Falcon: A Journey Through Yugoslavia by Rebecca West
Zambia
The Africa House: The True Story of an English Gentleman and His African Dream by Christina Lamb
Zimbabwe
Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller
Popular Travel Writers
Bill Bryson
Paul Theroux
Paulo Coelho
Pico Iyer
Anil on March 4th, 2010
1
I’ll add Jupiter’s Travels and Long Way Round. Both ‘long distance travel’ I suppose.
Chris on March 4th, 2010
2
Spain:
Spain: The Root and the Flower: An Interpretation of Spain and the Spanish People
A little long, but extremely informative. You finish understanding the why’s behind Spain’s current cultural eccentricities.
Cuba:
Ay, Cuba!: A Socio-Erotic Journey
A Hilarious book on the culture and history of Cuba. Worth it just for the stories and the pictures.
Alan on March 7th, 2010
3
Thanks Anil and Chris–your suggestions have been added.
POPS on March 8th, 2010
4
Great Idea and Great List. Keep up the good work. Possible website to the billions in the world?
Claire on March 12th, 2010
5
I’m currently reading Kiss the Sunset Pig. Other books on travel that I like are The Geography of Bliss (general travel), Lois on the Loose (North and South America), Fumbling (Spain), and Eat, Pray, Love (Italy, India, Indonesia).
Conrad on March 14th, 2010
6
The one that immediately comes to mind is ”The Asiatics” by Frederick Prokosch – fiction but what a read, my all time travel classic, a true gem.
Mike B on June 21st, 2010
7
India – “Samskara,” by U.R. Anantha Murthy. My copy is beautifully translated, without any loss in the force or vigor of its meaning, from the Sanskrit by A.K. Ramanujan.
Zimbabwe – “Nervous Conditions,” by Tsitsi Dangarembga. This book introduces the reader to Rhodesia’s (if not all of sub-Saharan Africa’s) colonial legacy (similar in this sense to King Leopold’s Ghost, but a very, very different (and, to at least the average reader in America today, age 12-40, Nervous Conditions characters and narrative are a lot easier to understand and empathize with than Hochschild’s work, which is still a marvel in its own right too of course).
If you’d like loaner copies, feel free to ask.
I was pleased to see this list, and happy to say I have already come across and devoured about 40% of the titles listed above. Some of those I have read, well, many of them, they are truly fantastic books. Samskara and Nervous Conditions (remember Fanon’s statement, “The condition of a native is a nervous condition”?) are real gems too. They are two books I actually stumbled upon, thoroughly enjoyed reading and will never, ever forget.
While you’re at it, why not add Franz Fanon’s Wretched of the Earth to the list as well? As I have a thing for African Philosophy, I also have a lot of other material on sub Saharan Africa. It just requires a bit of digging.
I also just realized I have a bunch of stuff on Eastern Europe and states in the area that were former members of the USSR, like Georgia. I’ll post this when I find it, which might take till the end of the summer… it’ll happen though…
Alan on June 29th, 2010
8
@Mike B: Thanks so much for your recommendations, Mike! I’m heading to Zimbabwe in a few weeks and will definitely pick up a copy of Nervous Conditions before I head out. Also, check back in a month or so–when this site is redesigned, it will be much easier to browse through these books!