What is your favorite book to read when on the road? Not necessarily travel or location related, but what do you like to read when on the road?
If you liked "Off the Rails" Tim Cope is actually guiding a trek across Mongolia (If anyone is interested)... through World Expeditions.
My favourite reads while travelling were Papillon & Shantaram (I didn't even mind carrying Shantaram around... was worth it). But I'll usually pick anything along the way recommended by fellow travels.
Reply to this I just read 'Goodnight Mister Tom' and was so absorbed I found myself staying up most of the night to finish it. Beautifully crafted characters and a storyline that had me gasping in shock, laughing and crying alternately. A great way to pass the time, but have some tissues handy.
Reply to this I enjoy reading books that are related to the culture and history of the place that I am visiting. I was in Paris in February, and I was reading "Maria Antoinette". Visiting the Petit Trianon in Versailles was exciting and meaningful--I felt her presence everywhere.
Reply to this She was given such a bad name in history, much of what was not deserved.
Reply to this I try to read things related to the place that I'm going. Literature with a strong sense of place or culture always gets me. I recently compared some road trip books for my blog on books and travel, and read Steinbeck's Travels with Charlie for the first time. It is a great book for travel in the U.S., even though it is several years old. like Fermina who read Maria Antoniette when she visited Paris, I read about the Hapsburgs when I went to Austria, and Mozart, too. I like to find books in English in bookstores abroad--often there will be ones that you can't get at home. That was the case with Villa Ariadne when I was visiting Knossos on Crete. My husband was reading The Cretan Runner at the same time. I'll quite now, since this is my passion and I could go on for a long, long, time.
Reply to this She was given such a bad name in history,.
History has a nasty habit of portraying a lot of women unfairly. 😞 Apparently some herstory is being compiled to correct the situation somewhat.
Reply to this 1.The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton. Thought provoking and deeply insightful look into the why's of travel. Good to bring along if you want to delve into your own motivations and reflect on the nature of travel.
2. Caliph's House by Tahir Shah. The perfect stranger in a strange land story. Wondrous descriptions of the nuances of discovering life and culture of a foreign land (Morocco).
3. Rick Steves' Postcards from Europe. Rick describes how he got started in travel business and his amusing anecdotes collected through years of travel. This will give you an idea of what makes him tick and why he is so successful.
Reply to this Tried to read Guilty when on my trip - it drones a bit too much for me saying the same thing over and over.
Reply to this I travel a lot. Don't know how you call it, but every month I travel regularly from Jordan and Israel to Seattle WA in the States. That trip takes 24 hours and can't sleep one second. Then one day at work and then back home or to another location (Holland in that case).
Reading is always the only way that I survive those trips. But that was a problem, because I read so much and so fast and dragging a heavy book with me, which I finish after a couple of hours, is too much. Someone (and it is also my work) advised me to get a Mobile device (iPAQ) with Win2005 and Microsoft Reader and scan the book. That was a nightmare (scanning and illegal), but looking into the Internet, I found all books I liked at Amazon, but then in LIT format (for the device). Now I use an electronic reader (Motorola HC700) for reading.
And then I discovered fan fiction. Hundreds of thousands of books about any subject, totally free, and I could read one story after the other without any problems, copyrights, illegal copying and all that jazz.
So now when I must go on the road again, I take about 30 books (several thousands of pages) and read whenever I want.
So, when someone is at an airport at Seattle, Schiphol (Amsterdam) and see an older fat man sitting with a black device in front of his nose, that's me. Buy him a coffee.
Reply to this Ok, I have a fun one for people to read, Zorro. It is the back story on Zorro. It goes into his parent and even a little on his grandmother. His trip to Spain and how he started and trained to become Zorro. Very fun read.
Reply to this I find that traveling on my own, I have a lot of time to myself, on buses etc. Big books like The Count of Monte Cristo or Don Quixote are brilliant for filling in the journey.
Reply to this 3 best books ever read (so far) and PERFECT for traveling:
1. Shantaram - by Gregory David Roberts
2. Life of Pi - by Yann Martel
3. God of Small Things - by Arundhati Roy
if you've not read these then they really should be top of your list (especially Shataram - absolutely phenomenal!!)
looking for a few new reads for my next adventure (starting in 13 days to south east asia!!) so have found this thread really useful!! thanks fellow travelbloggers!! any more inspiration welcomed - off to waterstones this weekend to buy mine!! L x
Reply to this My favorite books range from Course In Miracles of which I take everywhere, and then all else has gone in phases. In other words, I went through my Carlos Castaneda phase, then Richard Bach, then Nelson DeMille, and next trip, well who knows...
Reply to this I guess i have a strange taste when it comes to books, since i am obsessed with books written by expat iranian housewives talking about how glamorous their life was in Tehran lol
Reply to this I just finished reading "Diary of Irak" by Vargas Llosa. It is very interesting how Irakies live and how they do not share that territory among themselves. The middle east is so a unique place--specially its people.
Reply to this the motorcycle diaries...we are all travelers no? and everyone has that little rebel in them...
Reply to this My favorite books for traveling are Paolo Koelio, all his books are perfect!
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