Words That Inspire
BY JUNE DAGNALL
Words have a way of stirring our soul and these travel books are no different.
The worldwide pandemic has put a temporary halt on everyone’s travel plans. It’s the perfect time to embrace being an “armchair traveler”.
Let your mind get lost in the wonders of new destinations through the lens of a camera or the words of an author. When it is time to travel, you will have a renewed bucket list with places you might not had on your radar before.
In A Sunburned Country, by Bill Bryson
Bill Bryson is one of the most prolific and recognized names in travel writing. In a Sunburned Country takes us on a grand tour of Australia by car and train from east to west. It’s a place where interesting things happen all the time. Australia is the only island that is also a continent, and the only continent that is also a country. Its aboriginal people, a remote and mysterious race with a tragic history, have made it their home for hundreds of years. Australia has more things that can kill you in extremely nasty ways than anywhere else: sharks, crocodiles, the planet’s ten most deadly poisonous snakes, fluffy yet toxic caterpillars, sea shells that actually attack you, and the unbelievable box jellyfish.
Turn Right at Machu Picchu, by Mark Adams
In 1911, Hiram Bingham III climbed into the Andes Mountains of Peru and “discovered” Machu Picchu. While history has recast Bingham as a villain who stole both priceless artifacts and credit for finding the great archaeological site, Mark Adams set out to retrace the explorer’s perilous path in search of the truth, however he had never even slept in a tent. This book is the fascinating and funny account of Adams’ journey through some of the world’s most majestic, historic, and remote landscapes.
The Great Railway Bazaar by Paul Theroux
First published more than thirty years ago, Paul Theroux’s strange, unique, and hugely entertaining railway odyssey has become a modern classic of travel literature. Theroux recounts his early adventures on an unusual grand continental tour. Asia’s famous trains -- the Orient Express, the Khyber Pass Local, the Frontier Mail, the Golden Arrow to Kuala Lumpur, the Mandalay Express, the Trans-Siberian Express -- are the stars of a journey that takes him on a loop eastbound from London’s Victoria Station to Tokyo Central, then back from Japan on the Trans-Siberian. This fantastic chronicle is essential reading for both the passionate adventurer as well as the armchair traveler. Sometimes the journey is more important than the destination.
A Year of Living Danishly by Helen Russell
Denmark is officially the happiest nation on Earth. When Helen Russell is forced to move to rural Jutland, she sets out to discover what these secrets are. A Year of Living Danishly looks at where the Danes get it right, where they get it wrong, and how we might just benefit from living a little more Danishly ourselves.
Love with A Chance of Drowning by Torre DeRoche
Torre De Roche is a city girl looking for anything but love, however a chance encounter in a bar in San Francisco sparks an instant connection with an Argentinian man who unexpectedly sweeps her off her feet. The problem is that he is just about to cast the dock lines and voyage around the world on his small sailboat, and Torre is terrified of deep water. Torre determines that to keep the man of her dreams, she must embark on the voyage of her nightmares, so she waves goodbye to dry land and braces for a life changing journey that is both exhilarating and terrifying. This hilarious, harrowing, and poignant memoir is set against a backdrop of the world’s most beautiful and remote destinations. Equal parts love story and travel memoir this book is witty, charming and proof that sometimes risks are definitely worth taking.
Spirit Run: A 6,000-Mile Marathon Through North America’s Stolen Land by Noe Alvaraz
The son of working class Mexican immigrants flees a life of labor in fruit packing plants to run in a Native American marathon from Canada to Guatemala. Growing up in Yakima, Washington, Noé Álvarez worked at an apple packing plant alongside his mother, who “slouched over a conveyor belt of fruit, shoulder to shoulder with mothers conditioned to believe this was all they could do with their lives.” At nineteen, he learned about a Native American/First Nations movement called the Peace and Dignity Journeys, epic marathons meant to renew cultural connections across North America. Álvarez writes about a four month journey from Canada to Guatemala that pushed him to his limits. Running through mountains, deserts, and cities, and through the Mexican territory his parents left behind, Álvarez creates a new relationship with the land and the dream of a liberated future.
The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho
An international best seller, the story follows a young shepherd boy, Santiago, from Spain to Egypt. After having a recurring dream of finding treasure in Egypt, the young Andalusian shepherd sets out to make that dream a reality. Santiago’s journey teaches us about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, recognizing opportunity and learning to read the omens strewn along the path of life, and most importantly, to follow our dreams.
Footnotes: A Journey Round Britain in the Company of Great Writers by Peter Fiennes
Peter Fiennes follows in the footsteps of twelve inspirational writers, bringing modern Britain into focus by peering through the lens of the past. The journey starts in Dorset, shaped by the childhood visions of Enid Blyton, and ends with Charles Dickens on the train that took him to his final resting place in Westminster Abbey. From the wilds of Skye and Snowdon, to a big night out in Birmingham with J. B. Priestley and Beryl Bainbridge, this book is a series of evocative biographies, a lyrical visit into the past, and a quest to understand Britain through the books, journals and diaries of some of our greatest writers.