Coincident with our recent travel plans and the Armchair Traveler challenge (and my travel later today to Nebraska to help middle daughter move into her dorm), The Literary Saloon brought to my attention a list of The 86 Greatest Travel Books of All Time in the new issue of Condé Nast Traveler. The magazine also lists bookstores worth a trip but, sadly, none are in the cities we will be visiting next year.
I’ve read a few of the books on the list, compiled by 45 travel writers, but most of those I would not have necessarily considered “travel books.” The ones I’ve read are de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America, Hunter Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (!), The Long Walk, and Rory Stewart’s The Places in Between (one of my 2006 books of the year). Several others have been on my “I should pick that up someday” list for a while.
I should also point out National Geographic Traveler‘s Ultimate Travel Library. It is broken down by continent or region. It was, in fact, a source of some of the books I’m hoping to read in the Armchair Traveler challenge.
Writing and travel broaden your ass if not your mind and I like to write standing up.
