Words that transport

These 10 new travel books are a wonderful way to immerse yourself in a destination

Agood travel book can feel both like a trip already taken but also one you cannot wait to take. Here’s a selection of recent titles on travel and destinations, from the wildernesses of India to the adventures of an early historical feminist.

The Land Of Moonlit Snow

Highlights from this book include a set of rules for sustainable tourism in the introduction, handdrawn maps at the beginning of each chapter, a guide section with 25 detailed itineraries and even a few local contacts — all put together after six years of the author trekking and exploring the Himalayas. It’s a practical book, and it’s possible to actually use it on your own trekking adventures to the Himalayas.

The Cobra’s Gaze: Exploring India’s Wild Heritage

(Aleph Book Company)

(Tranquebar)

In a recent interview, Alter spoke about exploring the idea of the “hunter’s trance”, that moment of connectedness between the hunter and prey, and the “naturalist trance”, an almost mystical experience — a shared consciousness. This rich, layered book teems with life and is written with an enquiring, curious mind.

Vagabond Princess: The

Great Adventures of Gulbadan

This book introduces us to a princess who “travelled, crossed the seas, was showered with gold and diamonds, and led an adventurous life”. In Gulbadan, you find an early historical feminist with a thirst for both adventure and travel.

Airplane Mode: An Irreverent History of Travel

(Context)

A sharp and witty look at the history of travel, and the politics and consumerism around it, Habib examines, among other things, the origins and implications of the word “wanderlust”, and how it’s fed into the consumerist discourse around travel, tourism and capitalism. (Juggernaut)

The Long Strider in Jehangir’s Hindustan

(Speaking Tiger)

As the title suggests, you get two travelogues in one. It tells the story of Thomas Coryate, an eccentric Englishman who walked from his village in Somerset to the court of Emperor Jehangir in Mughal India. And then there is the journey that authors Moraes and Srivatsa make as they follow Coryate’s footsteps from 400 years ago. A personal book, the thread of a third journey runs through it — of Moraes battling, and coming to terms with, his illness.

A Stranger In Your Own City

(Penguin)

The Iraqiborn journalist gives us an account of a country and its people, caught in wars and uprisings, turbulence and political upheaval. A fearless and exhaustive account that is also immensely personal and moving.

The Sherpa Trail

Tenzin Norgay remains perhaps one of the best known Sherpas — becoming, along with Edmund Hillary, the first known people to climb Mount Everest. In this book, we are taken to Darjeeling, to the heart of the story of the pioneering Sherpas in the region, and their legacy.

Journey to the End of the Empire

(Speaking Tiger)

An exploration of the Tibetan borderlands, this is both an ode to the landscape and an empathetic and moving portrayal of its people. As he travels, poet and musician Ezell bears witness to Tibet’s politics, its turbulent past and uncertain present, offering, along with the magnificent beauty of the land, its looming and dark shadows.

The Britannias: An Archipelago’s Tale

(Allen Lane)

(Roli)

Shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for NonFiction, this volume is a an extraordinary exploration of the British isles. The author travelled with a circus to Thanet, stayed at a kelp growing laboratory on Rathlin, and participated in a women’s retreat on Iona, to capture the diversity and colourful history of the archipelago.

Globetrotting: Writers Walk the World

(Notting Hill Publications)

An anthology by “walkerwriters” — authors who travelled the world on foot — here you’ll find contributions from Herman Melville, Edith Wharton, Mark Twain, Rabindranath Tagore, D.H. Lawrence and Matsuo Bashō, among others, travelling with them to Japan and London, Rome and China, Kiev and Ghana. A paean to travelling, the book attempts to answer the question asked by Thomas Jefferson: why do we walk?