Ever picked up a book that felt like an immediate best friend? Intrepid Express reader Kerynne Sbrocchi recommends a book that struck a chord with her own life journey…
“For those travellers, who like myself, travelled to Italy to research their ethnic heritage, I recommend Love Takes You Home, by Julie Capaldo. A truly heart-warming novel.
Intrepid Express reader Diana Hinterleitner reviews a book that illustrates the benefits of understanding those who live in worlds beyond our own…
“In March 2008 I started reading Nine Parts of Desire. It is a collection of stories by Geraldine Brooks, a prizewinning foreign correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, who spent six years covering the Middle East through wars, insurrections, and the volcanic upheaval of resurgent fundamentalism.
I find reading short stories great for filling in between novels. My friend Tracy and I had planned a trip to East Africa for August 2008, but closer to the time of booking we decided that we would travel to North Africa instead and made plans to visit Egypt and Morocco.
From a sublime icy slurp of a gelato to a simply delicious pizza, everything about Italy is full of flavour, so it’s no surprise that this book review from Express reader Kylie Sutherland comes with a warning, don’t read on an empty stomach…
“Dolce E Salata, by Marlena di Blasi, is a beautiful book chronicling an older American lady marrying a traditional Italian guy. It shares their mid-life adventures together, their move from Venice to the bittersweet countryside of Tuscany and the townspeople’s love of food and love of life itself.
“After living in Australia for almost eight years and never venturing outside of Perth, I decided I wanted to explore more of this beautiful continent and booked a trip to Sydney in my last university holidays. By chance, I happened to grab my second-hand copy of Looking for Alibrandi, by Melinda Marchetta as reading material for the flight.
What luck to be reading a book set in Sydney while travelling around Sydney! Looking for Alibrandi depicts the struggle for identity of a teenage Italian-Australian living in Sydney. The novel has a unique perspective for the traveller as it is written with the familiarity of the native Australian, as well as with the cultural observations of the outsider.
Mark Harrison admits to being an avid reader of all things travel related and gives us a few great book recommendations (particularly in relation to Italy, his all-time favourite travel destination)…
(1) Vroom with a View and Vroom by the Sea, by Australian Peter Moore, are terrific books in regard to uncovering some of Italy’s jewels. Written with a great dose of humour and a passion for travelling through Italy by Vesper, Peter entices the traveller to see Italy from a different perspective. Both books are ‘easy reading’ and not too large to carry in a backpack.
(2) When in Rome and See Naples and Die by transplanted Australian, Penelope Green, are also easy to carry in the backpack and offer a first-hand insight into two of Italia’s greatest cities. Penelope also writes about some of her own struggles to live in a foreign country.
Maybe this is not a book that inspired me to travel, but it is definitely a book that inspired me to read in English! I am a native German speaker (Swiss) and was on my first long (3 months) trip to Australia. I did bring some German books to read, but they did not last long.
As it is (or was then in 1990) nearly impossible to find German books in Australia, I had to start reading English. The first book I graped in a backpackers was called Queenie by Michael Korda and it was BIG - 650 pages! I had no idea what it was about, but I was in desperate need of reading, so I started it. The book was so exciting, I didn’t want to stop reading, I nearly stopped travelling to finish the book!
When travelling to Tibet, My Journey to Lhasa was a book Intrepid’s Anastasia Kozak simply had to take with her and following in the author’s footsteps was an adventure of the mind, body and spirit…
“Alexandra David-Nell’s bio makes impressive reading: a French traveller, writer, and mystic who was fluent in Sanscrit, Tibetan, and Buddhist philosophy. She was the first western woman to ever enter the forbidden city of Lhasa and receive an audience with the Dalai Lama. Disguised as a Tibetan pilgrim, she walked for four months in the middle of winter, oftentimes sleeping outdoors without even the protection of a tent and subsisting on the simple Tibetan staples of “tsampa”, barley flour, and yak butter tea. I brought her sensational account, My Journey to Lhasa, to read on my own adventure in Tibet, visiting famous monasteries from Lhasa to Kathmandu.
If your idea of good holiday reading is picking up a book that you can’t put down, then you might want to grab this recommendation from Express reader Penny Nikotin with two hands - The Year We Seized The day, by Elizabeth Best and Colin Bowles…
“Ever dreamed of undertaking a pilgrimage from the comfort of your own lounge chair? Well here’s your chance, as two Aussies embark on an epic 1000km (620 mile) journey by foot across the roof of Spain. The Camino Trail sees the authors pushed to their physical and emotional limits, burning hiking boot rubber and boasting oozing blisters to rival volcanic lava pools.
