Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

The Lady and the Monk. Four Seasons in Kyoto.

The Lady and the Monk. Four Seasons in Kyoto.

by Pico Iyer

When Pico Iyer decided to go to Kyoto and live in a monastery, he did so to learn about Zen Buddhism from the inside, to get to know Kyoto, one of the loveliest old cities in the world, and to find out something about Japanese culture today -- not the world of businessmen and production lines, but the traditional world of changing seasons and the silence of temples, of the images woven through literature, of the... (more)

In Xanadu

by William Dalrymple

'William Dalrymple has written a delightful book of travels ... a brilliant debut.' - PHILIP GLAZEBROOK, Spectator 'A splendid piece of British eccentricity with all manner of echoes: Freya Stark, Peter Fleming, Robert Byron ... Dalrymple is plainly either brilliant, or bonkers, or both.' - ALAN FRANKS, The Times ' In Xanadu is so uncommonly satisfying because of the rare skill with which William... (more)

A Yank Back to England

The Prodigal Tourist Returns

by Denis Lipman

Denis Lipman left London's East End for Washington, DC more than 20 years ago, but made an annual pilgrimage year after year to visit aging parents, a pair of cantankerous, real-life Cockneys. He endured the visits as best he could. Enter an American wife. Not content with a grin-and-bear-it attitude, she declares that since the trip to England was inevitable, it was to be enjoyed: see things, go places! Against... (more)

Blood River

by Tim Butcher

Published to rave reviews in the United Kingdom and named a Richard & Judy Book Club selection—the only work of nonfiction on the 2008 list— Blood River is the harrowing and audacious story of Tim Butcher's journey in the Congo and his retracing of renowned explorer H. M. Stanley's famous 1874 expedition in which he mapped the Congo River. When Daily Telegraph correspondent Tim Butcher was sent to Africa in... (more)

Travels with Charley

by John Steinbeck

7 compact discs (8 hr., 30 min.) The chronicle of Steinbeck's journey across America with his dog Charley. Narrated by Ron McLarty, unabridged.

The world of Venice

by Jan Morris

A fascinating exploration of the history, sights, seasons, arts, food, and people of an incomparable city. "A highly intelligent portrait of an eccentric city, written in powerful prose and enlivened by many curious mosaics of information...a beautiful book to read and to possess" (The Observer). New Foreword by the Author. Index.

Riding the Iron Rooster

By Train Through China

by Paul Theroux

Paul Theroux, the author of the train travel classics The Great Railway Bazaar and The Old Patagonian Express, takes to the rails once again in this account of his epic journey through China. He hops aboard as part of a tour group in London and sets out for China's border. He then spends a year traversing the country, where he pieces together a fascinating snapshot of a unique moment in history. From the barren... (more)

Along the Inca Road: A Woman's Journey into an Ancient Empire (Adventure Press)

Along the Inca Road: A Woman's Journey into an Ancient Empire (Adventure Press)

by Karin Mu?ller

In its heyday, the Royal Inca Highway was an extraordinary feat of engineering. Meriting comparisons to the Great Wall of China, legend has it that the route was built not by men, but by the gods. An essential component of the far-flung Inca Empire, the original course of the 3200 mile Inca Road remains a source of speculation. Along the Inca Road is the dramatic account of Karin Muller's seven-month adventure... (more)

Great Railway Bazaar: Book 1

The Great Railway Bazaar

by Paul Theroux

In this unique and hugely entertaining railway odyssey, Theroux vividly recounts his travels--and the people, places, and landscapes he encountered--on the Orient Express, the Khyber Mail, and the Trans-Siberian Express, through such countries as Turkey, Iran, India, Southeast Asia, Japan, and the Soviet Union.

A Voyage Long and Strange

Rediscovering the New World

by Tony Horwitz

The bestselling author of Blue Latitudes takes us on a thrilling and eye-opening voyage to pre-Mayflower America On a chance visit to Plymouth Rock, Tony Horwitz realizes he’s mislaid more than a century of American history, from Columbus’s sail in 1492 to Jamestown’s founding in 16-oh-something. Did nothing happen in between? Determined to find out, he embarks on a journey of rediscovery, following in the... (more)

French Milk

by Lucy Knisley

Through delightful drawings, photographs, and musings, twenty-three-year-old Lucy Knisley documents a six-week trip she and her mother took to Paris when each was facing a milestone birthday. With a quirky flat in the fifth arrondissement as their home base, they set out to explore all the city has to offer, watching fireworks over the Eiffel Tower on New Year's Eve, visiting Oscar Wilde's grave, loafing at cafés,... (more)

Running to the Mountain: A Midlife Adventure

Running to the Mountain: A Midlife Adventure

by Jon Katz

Jon Katz, a respected journalist, father, and husband, was turning fifty. His writing career had taken a dubious turn, his wife had a demanding career of her own, his daughter was preparing to leave home for college, and he had become used to a sedentary lifestyle. Wonderfully witty and insightful, Running to the Mountain chronicles Katz's hunger for change and his search for renewed purpose and meaning in his... (more)

Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why

Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why

by Laurence Gonzales

"Unique among survival books...stunning...enthralling. Deep Survival makes compelling, and chilling, reading."—Penelope Purdy, Denver Post After her plane crashes, a seventeen-year-old girl spends eleven days walking through the Peruvian jungle. Against all odds, with no food, shelter, or equipment, she gets out. A better-equipped group of adult survivors of the same crash sits down and dies. What makes... (more)

A Wolverine Is Eating My Leg (Vintage Departures)

A Wolverine Is Eating My Leg (Vintage Departures)

by Tim Cahill

Cahill is great! He is the P.J. O'Rourke of the outdoors! Fearless and hell-bent on overcoming all obstacles in his path, Cahill takes us to the oddest and scariest adventures nature has to offer.

Round Ireland With a Fridge

by Tony Hawks

Have you ever made a drunken ben? Worse, still, have you eveer tried to win one? In attempting to hitchhike round Ireland wich a fridge, Tony Hawks did both, and his foolhardiness led him to one of the best experiences of his life. Joined by his trusty traveling companion-cum-domestic appliance, he made his way from Dublin to Donegal, from Sligo through Mayo, Galway, Clare, Kerry, Cork, Wexford, Wicklow--and... (more)

The Best of Granta Travel

Appealing to both those who like to travel and those who just like to read about travel, this book features entries about various locations in part memoir, part reportage and part good old-fashioned story. Many of the world's best writers are featured in this edition.

Breaking the Limit: One Woman's Motorcycle Journey Through North America

Breaking the Limit: One Woman's Motorcycle Journey Through North America

by Karen Larsen

reaking the Limit is one woman's account of riding her motorcycle from New Jersey to Alaska and back. Realizing that years of work and travel in other people's countries made her a stranger in her own, and with an invitation to meet her biological father for the first time, Karen Larsen set out on a fifteen-thousand-mile trip with nothing but her motorcycle and the barest of essentials. Larsen's journey tests the... (more)

The Nasty Bits: Collected Varietal Cuts, Usable Trim, Scraps, and Bones

The Nasty Bits: Collected Varietal Cuts, Usable Trim, Scraps, and Bones

by Anthony Bourdain

In the multiweek New York Times bestseller The Nasty Bits , bestselling chef and No Reservations host Anthony Bourdain serves up a well-seasoned hellbroth of candid, often outrageous stories from his worldwide misadventures. Whether surviving a lethal hot pot in Chengdu, splurging on New York’s priciest sushi, or singing the praises of Ecuadorian line cooks and Hell’s Kitchen dives, Bourdain is as... (more)

Baghdad without a Map and Other Misadventures in Arabia

Baghdad without a Map and Other Misadventures in Arabia

by Tony Horwitz

A journalist chronicles his travels throughout the Middle East, discussing Cairo's seedy nightclubs, paid assassins in Libya, a mourner at the Ayatollah's funeral, and more. Reprint. 25,000 first printing. NYT.

Dark Star Safari

Overland from Cairo to Capetown

by Paul Theroux

In the travel-writing tradition that made Paul Theroux"s reputation, Dark Star Safari is a rich and insightful book whose itinerary is Africa, from Cairo to Cape Town: down the Nile, through Sudan and Ethiopia, to Kenya, Uganda, and ultimately to the tip of South Africa. Going by train, dugout canoe, "chicken bus," and cattle truck, Theroux passes through some of the most beautiful — and often life-threatening —... (more)

Shelfari Book Activity

Browse Subjects: travel writing

Top Books

by Pico Iyer

by William Dalrymple

The Prodigal Tourist Returns

by Denis Lipman

by Tim Butcher

by John Steinbeck

by Jan Morris

By Train Through China

by Paul Theroux

by Karin Mu?ller

by Paul Theroux

Rediscovering the New World

by Tony Horwitz

by Lucy Knisley

by Jon Katz

by Laurence Gonzales

by Tim Cahill

by Tony Hawks

by Karen Larsen

by Anthony Bourdain

by Tony Horwitz

Overland from Cairo to Capetown

by Paul Theroux