My Travel Memoir Reading List

One of my favorite travel books is ‘Dove’ the story of an American teenager who takes off to sail around the world with a couple of kittens on board.

On the voyage he meets tragedy, hope and his life partner, returning to life in the United States after 5 years. Dropping out of Stanford University after a brief trial run, debating whether to move to Canada… he and his young family moved to rural Montana to live off the land.

I read it in my early twenties, and later searched the Web for information on what had happened to the protagonists; 16 year old Robin Lee and his ‘met on the high seas’ wife Patti Ratterree… and their daughter, born two months after the end of the trip.

Did they live happily ever after ?

The story resonated with my own yearnings as a displaced twenty-something, having been forced out of a private University at age 21; a good Jesuit establishment that did have the kindness in their hearts to stick me with over $50k of loans and a lifetime struggle with debt.

With youth still on my side, I moved out of the conservative path I’d blindly put myself into not knowing any better, and tried to move into life.

I wanted adventure, I wanted love, I wanted to live a little rather than struggle with illness and difficulty after difficulty trying to survive in the U.S.

I wasn’t a sailor, but what did I know, what could I do? Salvation for me came in the form of travel – impulsively buying a ticket to Thailand on the advice of an old high school friend and spending nine weeks backpacking around South East Asia; Thailand, India and Nepal.

“Where’s Thailand?” I asked the nice travel agent .

After celebrating my 25th birthday in Katmandu, Nepal; funds were almost gone and the fun almost over. Back to the United States I went to try again to fit into the culture I was born and raised in.

Life always goes on and travel was forever imbedded into my heart.

Two travel memoirs I’ve recently read (loved both) are: “Travels with Charlie” and “Kiss of the Sunset Pig”. And yes, of course, I have read “Eat, Pray, Love”.

Throw in Jack Kerouac, Hunter S. Thompson’s “Hells Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs” – my other favorite travel book 20+ years ago – and “Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture” and you get a glimpse of my twenty-something yearnings, that ended with many years living and exploring life abroad.

I’m halfway through my current read (brilliant): Between Terror and Tourism: An Overland Journey Across North Africa by Michael Mewshaw.

Ones that I have been lame not to buy, download onto my Kindle or reserve at the local library (one of the awesome things of living in the U.S.) are as follows.

Many are recommendations from fellow travel writers I’ve grabbed off of some travel blogger groups.

I’ve included a link where all of the books can be purchased, for my later benefit as much as for yours!

The second set below I was kindly allowed to add to this page by the very talented writer Amy Gigi Alexander who is currently writing two memoirs; one on living with the Ngabe people (Panama, Costa Rica) and the other of her love of Calcutta, India.

1. Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven by Susan Jane Gilman.   Buy Here
2. My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell.   Buy Here
3. Down and Out in Paris & London by George Orwell.   Buy Here
4. The Flame Trees of Thika: Memories of an African Childhood by Elspeth Huxley.   Buy Here
5. In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson.   Buy Here
6. The Soccer War by Ryszard Kapuscinski.   Buy Here
7. Tramp Royale by Robert A. Heninlein.   Buy Here
8. Honeymoon with My Brother: A Memoir by Franz Wisner.   Buy Here
9. Arabian Sands by Wilfred Thesigner.   Buy Here
10. The Great Railway Bazaar by Paul Theroux.   Buy Here
11. Blue Highways: A Journey into America by William Least Heat-Moon.   Buy Here
12. Martin Eden by Jack London.   Buy Here
13. Hokkaido Highway Blues: Hitchhiking Japan by Will Ferguson.   Buy Here
14. No Mercy: A Journey Into the Heart of the Congo by Redmond O’Hanlon.   Buy Here
15. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed.   Buy Here

Amy says, “I have so many more I could add to this list, but here are the first ten that came to mind.. all books which help me write more deeply… and help me step out into the world in a bigger way, become more a of world citizen, appreciate diversity and adventure. Not to mention, what is most important to me: help me find the face of God in nature, other people, and in words themselves.”

1. Tim Cahill Jaguars Ripped my Flesh.
2. Jeff Greenwald Shopping for Buddhas.
3. Carson Mc Cullers The Heart is a Lonely Hunter.
4. David Downie From Paris to the Pyrenees.
5. Dervla Murphy The Ukimi Road.
6. Madeline L’Engle Walking on Water.
7. Simon Winchester Calcutta!
8. Carolyn See Living a Literary Life.
9. Beth Kephart Handling the Truth.
10. Virginia Woolf Travels with Virginia Woolf, edited by Jan Morris.

This one is free. It is a 110 page recount of me and the awesome teens favorite low-cost places to live and travel in South America with photographs and short recaps of special times we shared.

It contains some real gems of travel advice; great tips for those on a tight budget.

I first intended to sell “Cheap Places in South America & Budget Travel Tips” on Amazon as a kindle book but the hassle of marketing was more stress than it was worth, and I wanted to get stats of my old website South America Living up so decided to give it away.

You can download your free copy here. Cheers, Molly

P.S. There is a new website solely devoted to travel books of all kinds (guidebooks, literature, memoirs, etc.): The Global Bookshelf; Connecting Travelers to a World of Stories.

Gillian and her partner Jason have traveled the globe and are still out there living the life, referring to themselves as “serial expats”. I get it. Big time. 🙂 Follow on Facebook here: The Global Bookshelf Facebook Page.