Top 17 Travel Books to Read in 2017
Once again, we’ve asked fellow travellers for their top picks of great travel reads for 2017. If there’s one resolution to adopt this year, it’s keeping your backpack or bookshelf well stocked with books that are bound to inspire new adventures and keep you company along the journey.
1. Atlas Obscura: An Explorers Guide to the World’s Hidden Wonders by Foer, Thuras and Morton
(Suggested by: Nicola, Editor-in-Chief of Anew Traveller)
This book is perfect for the traveller seeking a new experience. Detailing over 700 of the world’s most unique places, this read is bound to leave you with some serious wanderlust. Get ready to beef up your bucket list.
2. Blue Highways by William Least Heat-Moon
(Suggested by: Cristiano)
Capturing the essence of the quinteseential all American road-trip, Blue Highways takes readers through a journey across small town USA. While the author details his adventures and discoveries, it’s his encounters with locals and descriptions of the people that he meets along his journey that make this book such a fantastic read.
3. Travel As Transformation: Conquer the Limits of Culture to Discover Your Own Identity by Gregory Diehl
(Suggested by: Jason)
Much more than an autobiography, author Gregory Diehl invites readers to join him on his worldy travels and in doing so poses questions around how travel can influence one’s perception of self. Having lived, worked and travelled to 45 countries around the globe by age 28, Diehl is certainly no stranger to the travel experience. However, it’s the influence of travel on one’s identity that intrugues this author, and in detailing his journey, readers can’t help but reflect on their own experiences.
Gate of India. Credit: Daniel Mennerich, Flickr
4. Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
(Suggested by: Erick)
After having fled a maximum security prison in Australia, Lin arrives in Bombay and enters life in the dark underworld of the city. He strives to find love and meaning, however after falling in with the local mafia, his search leads him down a road of war, prison torture, and murder. This masterpiece eloquently details the complexities of the human experience, while at it’s core expressing a deep love for India.
5. On the Move: A Life by Oliver Sacks
(Suggested by: Daniel)
This autobiography sees an ever-restless Oliver Sacks from his early childhood to present day, exploring along the way his obsession for motercycles and speed, his experiences as a young neurologist ni the 1960s, and his love affairs, both romantic and intellectual. “On the Move is the story of a brilliantly unconventional physician and writer–and of the man who has illuminated the many ways that the brain makes us human.”
6. The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World by Eric Weiner
(Suggested by: Kira)
Using travel, psychology, science and humour, this book explores not what happiness is, but where it is. Traversing the globe from America to Europe to India, the author seeks “un-unhappiness”, exploring both likely and unlikely places. Readers should have their travel bucket lists at the ready.
7. The Best American Travel Writing 2016 by Bill Bryson
(Suggested by: Camilla)
In this collection, contributors explore the different reasons why they travel, detailing both their experiences and lessons learned. While each journey is unique, one commonality resonates throughout this novel: all travellers come back with stories.
Grand Canyon at sunrise. Credit: Moyan Brenn, Flickr
8. Long Way Down by Charley Boorman and Ewan McGregor
(Suggested by: Griffith)
In this read, fellow actors and motorcycle fanatics Charley Boorman and Ewan McGregor detail their cross-continent journey of Africa. Through both exciting moments and challenges, the authors maintain their trademark sense of humour.
9. The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood
(Suggested by: Lisa Marie)
“Imagining a world where citizens take turns as prisoners and jailers, the prophetic Margaret Atwood delivers a hilarious yet harrowing tale about liberty, power, and the irrepressibility of the human appetite.”
10. Mutant Message Down Under by Marlo Morgan
(Suggested by: Leanne)
This fictional account of an American woman’s journey through the Australian Outback introduces readers to the unique culture of a tribe of nomadic Aborigines. Joining the tribe on a four-month walkabout, the woman witnesses how the group thrives in harmony with the plants and animals around them. In travelling with this unique community, the woman witnesses the ancient wisdom and philosophy of a culture more than 50,000 years old.
11. On the Road by Jack Kerouac
(Suggested by: Chris)
This classic American travel novel follows two friends on their cross-country roadtrips. At it’s core, the book is one about freedom and the search for authenticity in an ever-changing world.
12. The Curve of Time by M. Wylie Blanchet
(Suggested by: Julia)
In 1927, the recently widowed Murial Wylie Blanchet packed her 5 children along with her on a 25-foot boat that cruised the coastal waters of British Columbia, Canada. Repeating the same voyage each summer, Blanchet takes on every position on-board, guiding her crew through a series of challenging and remarkable encounters with weather and wildlife. This autobiography is a compelling tale of her journeys.
British Columbia Coast. Credit: Gordon Hunter, Flickr.
13. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
(Suggested by: Caitlin, Senior Editor at Anew Traveller)
This apocolyptic tale begins in modern day Toronto, at the moment the Georgian Flu hit. Navigating the next 20 years and locales from L.A. to south-east Asia to the landscapes of the Great Lakes region, the book follows several characters as they cope with the near extinction of mankind and the challenges that come with it. A powerful and haunting tale written by an impressive contemporary literary voice.
14. Between the Woods and the Water by Patrick Leigh Fermor
(Suggested by: Victoria, Senior Editor at Anew Traveller)
The story of a travel writer’s youthful journey across Europe during the 1930s. While the book provides a coherent understanding of the dramatic political and social events unfolding across the continent at this time, joy for readers can still be found in the exploration of picturesque landscapes, castles, and villages detailed on each page.
15. The Shadow of the Sun by Ryszard Kapuscinski
(Suggested by: Cristiano)
Poland’s most celebrated foreign correspondent details his experiences from 40 years spent on the African continent. While a visitor himself, Kapuscinski is able to recount the great social and political changes he witnesses through the lens of an African. At it’s core, the book is an expert account of humanity.
16. Life & Times of Michael K by J.M. Coetzee
(Suggested by: Angèle)
In the midst of Apartheid, Michael K sets out to bring his mother back to her rural home in South Africa. On the way she dies, leaving him alone in the anarchic world of civil war. Feeling imprisoned, Michael is cannot bear confinement and escapes, determined to live with dignity. The novel delves to the darkest corners of human emotion and experience.
17. The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen
(Suggested by: Sam)
The Snow Leopard is an introspective account of a journey through the Himalayas to the Tibetan plateau to study wild blue sheep and perhaps even the elusive snow leopard. Matthiessen’s expedition is paralleled by a deepening spiritual quest in which he continues to confront the depths of life and beyond.
What are your favourite travel books? Share them with us in the comments below!
Latest posts by Anew Traveller Editors (see all)
- Is Delhi the most polluted city on Earth? Not quite - November 10, 2017
- Google Maps is Coming to the Faroe Islands — Thanks to Sheep - November 3, 2017
- Everything You Need to Know About Halloween 2017 - October 28, 2017
Almost all the tea houses in 
