Altogether too much travelling and not enough reading going on here!

Glad to see "A Visit to Don Antonio" mentioned.

A posted this to another thread a few days ago, fits in here too:

Huckleberry Finn, On the Road, and large parts of The Lord of the Rings often come to mind when I starting to feel shut in. If I then re-read them, I'm in real trouble.

Tim Moore's travel books, Frost on My Moustache (far north), French Revolutions (cycling the tour de France route), and Travels with My Donkey (Santiago de Compostela) are very funny.

Norman Lewis' The Tomb in Seville, about his travels through the country on the eve of the Civil War was gripping (avoiding arrest), appalling (how about a witch burning in 20th century Portugal?) and sometimes funny (classic British dry humor).

Thomas Asbridge's brilliant history, The First Crusade, made me long for a time when a fella could finance an extended trip abroad with just a sword and shield. (Made me want to visit Crac des Chevaliers aussi.)

Histories and biographies often make me want to see the places where it happened. Too many to mention . . . but Hugh Thomas' "Conquest -- Montezuma, Cortes and the Fall of Old Mexico" is a fine retelling of what may be history's greatest drama.

Thanks for the suggestions. I've been traveling alot lately myself -- unfortunately on business so spending lots of time in planes, airports and hotels. Not fun!! Someone left a copy of "Bella Tuscany" in the seatback pocket which I read on my way to London (or was it L.A.?) which I found fairly entertaining...

A few of these have been mentioned above, but these are my latest reads:
1) Without Reservation - Alice Steinbach
2) Almost French- Sarah Turnbull
3) A Thousand Days in Venice - Marlena de Blasi
4) Holy Cow - Sarah MacDonald (very delightful story of her experience living in India for 2 yrs where her husband was stationed for work)
5) A Honeymoon with my Brother - Franz Wizner

I am looking for more recommendations ... :)

I'm taking along on my trip next month to italy:

- Best American Travel Writing 2006 -- I've read the whole series that consists of articles from famous and obsure authors in small and large magazines. The articles are always interesting, different, and present a wide array of points of view. They aren't about travel in America (although occasionaly that occurs), but just American authors. I collect travel writing and find this book series perfect for traveling since its comprised of articles.
- Foreign Babes in Beijing...I think it sounds hilarious - about a US graduate who goes to work in China and somehow winds up as a tv star. True and the premise is funny.

Currently, I'm reading a background on the Medici family and the Thousand Days in Venice.

I also liked many of the books posted above, and I'd add...

Dinner with Persephone (Greece) by Patricia Storace
Venetian Dreaming by Paula Weidiger
Magic of Provence by Yvone Lenard

Perhaps this should be posted on the Africa site but I loved the 6 book series by Alexander McCall Smith: The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency. Takes place in Botswana. Such a charming and interesting book (books).

Also like: Almost French, Sarah Turnbull.
Hotel Pastis, Peter Mayle
The Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett

Some more:

Richard Bernstein's "Ultimate Journey". N.Y. Times book critic follows the route of the 7th century Chinese monk Hsuan Tsang from Xi'an to India and back.
Ina Caro's "The Road from the Past". France with some painless history.
Peter Fleming's "News From Tartary". Brother of Ian crosses China in the 1930s.
Edward Gargan's "The River's Tale". Following the route of the Mekong from source to sea.
Mary Lee Settle's "Turkish Reflections". Sub-title -- A Biography of a Place.
Any of Michael Palin's travel books.

Italian Days Grizzuti-Harris
Foreign Correspondence Brooks
Paris Diaries Rorem
Neither Here Nor There Bryson
Paris to the Moon Gopnik
Two Towns in Provence Fisher
The Flaneur White
Our Paris White
French Dirt Goodman
On Persephone's Island Simeti
The Adventures of Elizabeth in Rugen
Van Arnim
A Walk in the Woods Bryson
The Aristocrats Atherton
Pleasures and Landscapes Bedford
A Different Person Merrill
The Temple Spender
In Maremma Leavitt
A Castle in my Backyard Draine and Hinden
On Rue Tatin Loomis
The Hills of Tuscany Mate

Anyone else fans of any of these?

On a lighter note, " 'Round Ireland With a Fridge" and "McCarthy's Bar."

Since Sybille Bedford's books have been mentioned a few times on this thread, I thought it would be a good place to note that she died last week, at the age of 94. An obituary appears at http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...049650,00.html

Bree --

Thanks for posting that. What a life!

Pausanias, I think we share the same taste in travel literature. I have just ordered Norman Lewis and having read the review, am about to order Sybille Bedford. Do you have any more recommendations?

Hi Gertie --

Well, so many mentioned above -- here are three good ones.

Malaria Dreams -- Stuart Stevens

Very funny account of a drive across central Africa.

Journey Without Maps -- Graham Greene

Greene in Liberia, back when.

In Patagonia -- Bruce Chatwin

His first and I think best book.

Hope there's one there you haven't read.

P.

Pausanias:

Have you read Barbara Greene's "Too Late to Turn Back: Barbara and Graham Greene in Liberia"? Interesting to compare her view of events to Graham's.

Pausanias, I haven't read the Stuart Stevens, possibly because I have no experience of Africa. However...
My next big trip is going to be Croatia and Greece...have all the usual stuff, anything you recommend in that area?

Rufus --

No, I've wanted to read it for sometime, but is out-of-print at present. Sure I'll stumble across a copy someday.

"Hail, hail Freedonia . . . "

The Lost Upland by W.S Merwin
Covers the fading pastoral life in Northern Languedoc.

Gertie --

Haven't read much on that area. Last was Tony Perrottet's Route 66 A.D. (reissued in paper as "Pagan Holiday". Author travels on the well-worn tourist routes of ancient Rome, through Greece (very good section), Turkey and Egypt. He has a real talent for evoking what a site must have been like in ancient times. Not a bad sense of humor either.

Pausanias:
Thanks, that looks like another must-read. It's nice to get recommendations for unusual travel literature; I've read most of the classic stuff again and again. Never even heard of Perrotet!

Thought I'd also offer some interesting and more unusual authors:

- Rebecca West -- Black Lamb and Grey Falcon (1941), an 1,181-page classic of travel literature, pro-Serb in its point of view, giving an account of a trip to Yugoslavia in 1937, interwoven with Balkan history and ethnography.
(She had affairs with both Charlie Chaplin and HG Wells - who she had a son with)

--Also, assorted books aby Freya Stark. She was a female traveling alone through Arabia in the 30s.

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