So reminiscing about my travels this summer I have begin to once again long for travel. In my absense I am wondering if any of you guys know or reccommend any novels (I like novels, but entertaining non-fiction is ok as well) that remind you of travel or are about travel. Etc. You know what I mean. Something related to foreign lands, especially Europe.
If u want to get in the travelling mood, try Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintainance .. Little philosophical and a little boring (i'm not into philosophical stuff) but a good read ..
Anyone who ever spent some time backpacking in South-East Asia will find 'are you experienced' by William Sutcliffe absolutely hilarious. Deals with all the clichés of 'travelling' and the Lonely Planet devotees. Don't read it on the bus people will look at you funny as you won't be able to stop laughing. Again if you've ever been a similar trip. To others it's probably irrelevant.
About Europe, "Neither here nor there" by Bill Bryson. Not a novel, but laughing out loud funny, as usual with Bryson.
And Roughing It, too. I promised in some previous thread to stop pimping this guy's stuff, but Alan Furst's WWII espionage novels read like European travelogues sometimes. Dark Star and Night Soldiers are probably the most appropriate to the topic.
Anything by Bryson, really. Humorous observations on the little quirks of the world will always entertain me.
tony Horwitz. anything of his. I love Bryson (I have all his books and some of his audiobooks) but I like horwitz even more.
Just got Byrson's "Notes from a Small Island" So far in chapter 3, pretty funny. Definatelly one to check out.
the only book of bryson's i didn't like as "The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America." I thought he just sounded mean in that book (he made reference to that himself, a couple of times). the think I like most about him is that he more often than not finds the silver lining in situations. here, it was like he was looking for reasons to hate stuff.
I wonder if Bryson actually does the stuff he says.. like walk 30 miles in 2 days in the 'wilderness' of England?
I don't, just seemed a little far fetched but definatelly feasible. You never know about these writer types, they are a crazy bunch.
According to "A walk in the woods" he is an excellent hiker and did the Appalachian Trail (well, most of it anyway). I've read all his books and, roughly speaking, everything he does seems feasible. However, I've no doubt that specific dialogues and situation are cleverly rewritten. As a french poet, René Char, said : "un poète doit laisser des traces de son passage, non des preuves. Seules les traces font rêver" (A poet must leave traces of his passing, and no evidence. Only traces make people dream). Bryson is no poet, but I suspect he's following the advice.