Travel Writing

[via vicaria]

I've really loved some of the books you mention in your original post, SB (particularly Jan Morris'). It's a genre I'm a bit in love with too!

There's a couple of relatively recent finishes I'd highly recommend:

Kolyma Diaries: A Journey into Russia's Haunted Hinterland by Jacek Hugo-Bader. A rather old skool Polish journalist takes a trip along the Kolyma highway in Siberia, retracing the history of the gulags and generally spending a lot of time having to get drunk with random characters he meets along the way.

Land of the Turquoise Mountains by Cyrus Massoudi. Liked this a lot, mostly I think because I haven't read a lot about Iran, so it was all quite new to me.

Border by Kapka Kassabova. While it's a bit of a travelogue, it's something more akin to Morris' book in that it's a general examination about how borders, borderlands and those who live in them are affected by the ebb and flow of politics and allegiances.

[gt3]

Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing

Apsley Cherry-Gerrard's The Worst Journey is probably a good companion piece. Have you read that WD? certainly Endurance is on my list to read.

[gt3]

If Michael Palin is the Rolling Stones of the genre, I'd put Paul Theroux as Elvis Presley...His The Great Railway and its sequel, Ghost Train To The Eastern Star must be considered to be up there as having invented this type of writing.

Also, an honourable mention for Colin Thubron - especially To A Mountain in Tibet. Incredibly moving. A meditation on travel and mortality.

Most things by William Dalrymple are worth reading - Nine Lives and The Age of Kali are particularly good on India.
Alexander Frater - Chasing The Monsoon is an eminently readable journey across India. It's inspired many of my travels in that country. As does anything by Mark Tully.
John Berendt - The City of Falling Angels s a wonderful reflection of one of my favourite places in the world, Venice.

One of my favourite books about India, not strictly a travel book: Begums, Thugs & Englishmen: The journals of Fanny Parkes, a fascinating insight into 19th century Raj life. She was an enlightened woman but nevertheless of her time. Worth having on you when you are next in India.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Probably the Rolling Stones of the genre but Michael Palin's books are very good reads. I know he had a large production team finding him "genuine" local experiences that a normal traveller wouldn't do, like visiting a primary school class in Nepal or meeting the king of Mali or what have you, but he does combine tales of those experiences with a well observed commentary on the way of life and idiosyncracies of the countries he visits, with just enough historical or factual stuff where context is needed to set scenes without making it sound like a wikipedia entry or travel guide. That's the sort of balance that works best for me.

[Doraemon]

I am a big fan of travel books. As well as some of those mentioned above my favourites include:

The river at the centre of the world - Simon Winchester (about the Yangtse)
River Town - Peter Hessler (perhaps not a travel book as such, as it is about living in China rather than a journey)
The roads to Sata - Alan Booth (In some ways a prequel to Hokkaido Highway Blues)

[Nefertiti2]

big fan of Jonathan Raban. Old Glory is great. I also like Passage to Juneau and Driving Home, his selection of essays.

another US travel book I like is Blue Highways by William Least Heat Moon

[San Bernardhinault]

Possibly a fair point, but if you're going to make one exception to your unwritten rule I'd heartily recommend Round Ireland with a Fridge by Tony Hawks.

I'm not totally opposed - Hokkaido Highway Blues is certainly heading in that direction. But that style seems to have displaced most of the traditional travel writing and a lot of it is on a fairly narrow spectrum between "writing for Sunday Times readers" and "writing for Radio 4 listeners".

[Wouter D]

Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing

[Toby Gymshorts]

I'm generally not so much a fan of modern comedic-travel writing that seems to have been triggered by Bill Bryson and feels entirely designed to be read on the radio with little vignettes lightheartedly mocking the locals.

Possibly a fair point, but if you're going to make one exception to your unwritten rule I'd heartily recommend Round Ireland with a Fridge by Tony Hawks.

[San Bernardhinault]

One of my favourite genres is reading peoples' tales of their grand, epic, or utterly stupid journeys. I don't know why it appeals to me so much, but it also seems to trigger some great writers. I think these days I mostly enjoy long-since written pieces, travelling when it was difficult, and getting a contemporary history. I'm generally not so much a fan of modern comedic-travel writing that seems to have been triggered by Bill Bryson and feels entirely designed to be read on the radio with little vignettes lightheartedly mocking the locals. Tim Moore recreating the 1914 Giro D'Italia on a very old bike is fun enough to read, but leaves very little impression.

A sort of Top 10 (some of these are in a sort of grey zone between history, travel and politics):

A Short Walk In The Hindu Kush by Eric Newby
A Time Of Gifts - Patrick Leigh Fermor
In Xanadu - William Dalrymple
Imperium - Ryszard Kapusinski
Eastern Approaches - Fitzroy Maclean
Old Glory - Jonathan Raban
High Albania - Edith Durham
Hokkaido Highway Blues - Will Ferguson
Trieste And The Meaning of Nowhere - Jan Morris
Blood River - Tim Butcher