Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Not travel guides, but like, personal-ish travel/road trip/inner-and-outer journey type travelly books. Any favorites?

John McPhee's books about his experiences experiencing the geology of the American west are fabulous. There are several books, all collected into Annals of the Former World. You have to want to read about geology, but they're a lot more than that too.

I haven't read these ones, but Simon Winchester has some travel memoirs. I love his other books (Map that Chnaged the World, etc) so they've been on my list to read.

I really liked Wild by Cheryl Strayed, although it's less travel book and more memoir. After her mother died and her life pretty much fell apart, she decided to hike the Pacific Crest Trail from California to Washington by herself. It made me cry a lot and want to go hiking.

McCarthy's Bar - very funny account of Pete McCarthy's travels around Ireland.

I love Bill Bryson's books. Yes, they're popular, but they make me actually laugh out loud and learn stuff.

http://www.randomhouse.com/features/billbryson/

In a Sunburnt Country (about Australia) and A Walk In The Woods (about the Appalachian Trail) are hysterical.

Lost in my Own Backyard by Tim Cahill which is about Yellowstone

I love all of Peter Hessler's books about China, I liked River Town the most closely followed by Country Driving: A Chinese Road Trip. I just finished reading Lost On Planet China by J Maarten Troost & really enjoyed it, it felt like a more relatable Chinese travelogue as the author, unlike Hessler, doesn't speak Chinese.

I love Bill Bryson. I've also really enjoyed all of J. Maarten Troost's books.

I also like most of Dave Gorman's travel books because he's always got a fun twist. The best is still Are You Dave Gorman?

Round Ireland with a Fridge by Tony Hawks is fun and I think really nailed the quirky friendliness of the people I met while travelling in Ireland. (Hmm... what does it say about me that two of my favorite travel books start with a drunken bet?)

The Big Twitch really appealed to my inner bird nerd.

I'm actually the buyer for the Travel Lit section at the bookstore where I work, so you'd think I'd have read more classics of the genre like Paul Theroux or Travels with Charlie, but I guess the funny/quirky stuff appeals to me more.

Bill Bryson is one of the few writer who can make me laugh out loud.

Oldies but goodies: Travels with Charley (Steinbeck) and The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin.

i also absolutely adored Kevin and I in India by Frank Kusy.

I came in here to suggest that book. Love it!

Along those lines, try 'No News at Throat Lake' by Lawrence Donegan, who was a Commotion with Lloyd Cole. it's a great read

i loved Badlands, by the guy who founded Lonely Planet... all about his travels to "dangerous" places, like North Korea and Iran, and such.

A Life on the Road, by Charles Kuralt.

But really, you should just listen to it...it's cooler that way, because he has the best voice. And it's great road-trip material.

Blue Highways & Travels With Charley are also good. But A Life on the Road is the best.

Smile When You're Lying by Chuck Thompson - great read about his experiences as a travel writer and all the BS that goes on in the industry. He comes across as a bit of a dick, but on the other hand that seems to be his thing. Good book regardless.

2nded! I have serious PCT fever after reading.
Also: Hiking the Continental Divide by Jennifer Hanson.

Bill Bryson is a very good writer. However, his book Mother Tongue was really badly researched so that would make me a little sceptical of the veracity of some of his work. That doesn't mean they're not witty and easy to read, though.

I forgot about Blue Highways - fantastic book.

Thanks! I ordered the Charles Kuralt one. I've read some Bill Bryson books, and I like him, but I wanna switch it up. It seems like the ones by women are either depressing or spiritual or both, huh?

Travels in Siberia by Ian Frazier is awesome. I also like Paul Theroux, although I know some people think he's an asparagus. I loved Ghost Train to the Eastern Star and Dark Star Safari.

Wild isn't spiritual, but it definitely is sad at times and it's emotional story. It's triumphant by the end, though, and there's humor through out.