My favorite books to read whenever I want to escape to another place.
One of my favorite things to do when I’m in-between trips is to read and escape to far away places. I’m always asking friends for recommendations, so I thought I’d share a few of my own favorite travel-focused books.
To Shake the Sleeping Self by Jedidiah Jenkins
“Traveling alone, you get to be whoever you want… you can leave your story behind. If you’ve broken hearts, the new place doesn’t know. If you’ve lost trust in people and yourself, the new place doesn’t know… Just feeling like your past isn’t a vice to hold you in place can be very freeing. Feeling like your family and the expectations and the traditions and the judgments are absent… it can fill your veins with possibility and fire.”
This autobiographical memoir seemed to say every single thing that I had been thinking. It’s written by Jed, a twenty-something who leaves behind a comfortable job to bike from the coast of Oregon to Patagonia, South America. He’s an exceptional thinker and conveys his innermost thoughts with such eloquence and grace it’s astounding.
“We are not going in circles, we are going upwards. The path is a spiral; we have already climbed many steps.”
One of my all-time favorites, this novel inspires travel in order to discover the deepest parts of your soul. It focuses on Siddhartha, a young man who leaves his home in search of new religion.
“There was nowhere to go but everywhere, so just keep on rolling under the stars.”
This book will make you want to grab the nearest 1950’s classic car, your best friend, and roadtrip across the United States. It follows young Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty as they travel across the USA in the ’50s and get into all sorts of trouble.
“We are travelers on a cosmic journey, stardust, swirling and dancing in the eddies and whirlpools of infinity. Life is eternal. We have stopped for a moment to encounter each other, to meet, to love, to share. This is a precious moment. It is a little parenthesis in eternity.”
The Alchemist follows the journey of Santiago, a young shepherd looking for more in this life. It’s a mix of a fable and self-help book, and is full of quotable text that might just inspire you. The book has beautiful descriptions of Southern Spain, Morocco, and the African desert, which made me want to book a flight to Marrakesh ASAP.
Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman
“He came. He left. Nothing else had changed. I had not changed. The world hadn’t changed. Yet nothing would be the same. All that remains is dreammaking and strange remembrance.”
This tender tale is set in a small town in Italy and tells a story of summer love that will leave you dreaming of warm sun and lemonade in the Tuscan countryside.
A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
“But Paris was a very old city and we were young and nothing was simple there, not even poverty, nor sudden money, nor the moonlight, nor right and wrong nor the breathing of someone who lay beside you in the moonlight.”
This autobiographical novel takes place in the 1920’s during Hemingway’s time living in Paris. It’s a beautiful book about the ups and downs of living in a new fantastic city, and features the likes of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Gertrude Stein, whom Hemingway was friends with.
“His conviction that everything happened for a reason, and would come to good, gave him laughing equanimity even in hard times.”
Though not really a travel book, this biography tells the story of Louie Zamperini, a former Olympic runner who would become a P.O.W. in Japan during WWII. It’s an incredible tale of resilience through one of the most unimaginable situations. It will help make you realize that even in the toughest of times, things could be much worse – and they will get better.
These are some of my all-time favorite books – but I’m always looking for more recommendations! Comment below some of your favorites!
