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Thread: Travel Literature

  1. #1
    Yekhefah
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    Thumbs up Travel Literature

    I love travel literature! I've read everything by Bill Bryson, a few other assorted true-life globetrotting stories, and currently I'm reading by Jaqueline Tomlins. It's the enormously entertaining and enlightening account of a lesbian couple from Melbourne who have the money saved up for a down payment on a mortgage, but decide to spend six months backpacking around Africa instead. There are a couple of the sad stories you always hear from Africa, but for the most part it's a really funny and informative look at day-to-day life in different parts of Africa and how this pair of clueless white chicks manages to adapt.

    Anyone got other travel lit to recommend?

  2. #2
    Featured Member sunnie's Avatar
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    Default Re: Travel Literature

    If you are still in an African mood, try "Dark Star Safari" by Paul Theroux.

    He got kicked out of the Peace Corps in the 1960s or something, and ended up living and teaching in Malawi. He goes back when he is in his 60s to go from Egypt to South Africa. Pretty crazy.

    "Don't let's go to the dogs tonight" by Alexandra Fuller, about growing up in Zimbabwe.

    Lonely Planet has a series of travel lit books, I really liked one about Papau New Guinea...but I think it may have gone out of print.
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    "The Heart of Darkness" is my alltime favorite book...not travel lit per say, did you know Joseph Conrad didn't learn English until he was an adult? Amazing.
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  4. #4
    Yekhefah
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    Default Re: Travel Literature

    ^^^ Oooh, I haven't read about New Guinea yet! I've only read about it in Jared Diamond's books (he spends a lot of time there) but that's not really travel lit and he doesn't get into much travel detail. I'll have to hunt that one down.

    Thanks for the recommendations. So far Bill Bryson is still the golden standard by which I judge all travel literature, but I'm open to the extremely slim possibility that I might find someone I like better.

  5. #5
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    Default Re: Travel Literature

    I should try to read some travel literature. I'm a big National Geographic Channel nerd, though. I watch it everyday. I had a subscribtion to the magazine once, too.



  6. #6
    Yekhefah
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    Default Re: Travel Literature

    Yeah, back when I had a TV, we had Tivo, and I watched WAY too much Animal Planet and Travel Channel. I didn't really watch anything else, but I'd watch the same episodes of "Big Cat Diary" over and over without getting sick of them.

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    I am so jealous of that spoiled blonde bitch that hosts The Travel Channel. If I could have any job in the world it would be hers!



  8. #8
    Yekhefah
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    Default Re: Travel Literature

    Hm, don't know her. It's been about three and a half years since I owned a TV, so maybe she's new or something. I mostly watched Animal Planet... didn't really care for the veterinary shows, but I loved the wildlife documentaries.

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    Default Re: Travel Literature

    Quote Originally Posted by Mily View Post
    I am so jealous of that spoiled blonde bitch that hosts The Travel Channel. If I could have any job in the world it would be hers!
    Did you ever see that guy on PBS who trvels all over Europe?

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    Default Re: Travel Literature

    I highly recommend The Birdman and the Lap Dancer by Eric Hansen. (Not all of the essays are travel narrative, but many are; Borders stocks it in that section.)

    Also, yek, if you haven't read Iron and Silk by Mark Salzman, you really must.

    I also think that everyone in the world should read David Quammen's The Song of The Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinction. Though it is mostly a pop science book, there's lots of travel narrative in there. It's an extremely important book, and Quammen is a phenomenal writer.
    "Doc still loved true things, but he knew it was not a general love and it could be a very dangerous mistress." - John Steinbeck, Cannery Row


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  11. #11
    Yekhefah
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    Default Re: Travel Literature

    Read Iron & Silk - come on, I'm obsessed with China! It's amazing, you're right.

    I'll look for the other two. I looked them up on Amazon and they sound great! I need to make some money to buy some more books. K and I called a moratorium on book shopping awhile back because our bookshelf is overflowing, but he just ordered a bunch of books so I guess I should order some more too so we have an excuse to get another bookcase!

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    I really like Bryson also. You should try J. Maarten Troost's "Getting Stoned with Savages" or "Sex Lives of Cannibals". "Cannibals" chronicles his time on Tarawa, a remote South Pacific island in the Republic of Kiribati. "Savages" is about his time on Vanuata and Fiji and his discovery of kava. Real light easy reads.

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    Default Re: Travel Literature

    "Eat Pray Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert

    She spends 4 months each in Italy, India, and Bali.
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  14. #14
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    ^I was just going to recommend this book, even though I own it and still have not read it. I really should. I've always wanted to go to India.



  15. #15
    Yekhefah
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    Default Re: Travel Literature

    Great recommendations! They're all going on my Amazon wish list!

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