Published: July 02, 2008 03:08 pm            

Library Shelf 07-02-08

If gas prices have you down, take a short trip to the public library to get your fill of great travel writing. The following books are all top choice travelogues from all different kinds of perspectives: pleasure, investigations, reporting, and sport.

My favorite African travelogues include “Chasing the Mountain of Light: Across India on the Trail of the Koh-i-Noor Diamond” by Kevin Rushby and his book about Yemen, “Eating the Flowers of Paradise: A Journey through the Drug Fields of Ethiopia and Yemen.”

Other African travelogues are “Looking for Lovedu: A Woman’s Journey Across Africa” by Ann Jones and “Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Cape Town” by Paul Theroux.

Excellent European destination books include one on moving to Spain in “Driving Over Lemons: An Optimist in Andalucía” and walking in Spain in “Travels with My Donkey: One Man and His ass on a Pilgrimage to Santiago” by Tim Moore.

I really like Tim Moore, so when he did the grand tour of Europe, I followed in “The Grand Tour: The European Adventure of a Continental Drifter.” A great Irish adventure is “Round Ireland with a Fridge” by Tony Hawks.

For Asian travel I recommend “Honeymoon in Purdah: An Iranian Journey” by Alison Wearing, “Mirrors of the Unseen: Journeys in Iran” by Jason Elliot, “An Unexpected Light: Travels in Afghanistan” by Jason Elliot and “Where the Pavement Ends: One Woman’s Bicycle Trip Through Mongolia, China and Vietnam” by Erika Warmbrunn.

For the Americas, try “Rowing to Latitude: Journeys Along the Arctic’s Edge” by Jill Fredston, “Scraping Heaven: A Family’s Journey Along the Continental Divide” by Cindy Ross, “God’s Middle Finger: Into the Lawless Heart of the Sierra Madre” by Richard Grant, “Evolution’s Captain: The Dark Fate of the Man Who Sailed Charles Darwin Around the World” by Peter Nichols and “Searching for El Dorado: A Journey into the South American Rain Forest on the Tail of the World’s Largest Gold Rush” by Marc Herman.

This short list is just a small example of fantastic travel books at the library, so save some gas and read books. Ask your librarian for more suggestions if you finish these.

        

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