GREAT TRAVEL NOVELS

Travel often requires patience; long flights and train rides, unexpected delays, and long open blocks of free time.  As such, travel not only becomes a chance to explore, but also to catch up on one's reading.  Most of these recommendations aren't fairly classified as travel literature, but there are several common travel-related themes.  For some, it is a life-changing journey, planned or unplanned, successful or not.  And for some, it is writing that helps capture the spirit of a place and time.  And all, these books make for quite simply a great way to pass the time when traveling.

ONE OF OUR FAVORITE BOOKS

Life of Pi

Life of Pi is a brilliant fictional novel published in 2001 about a 16 year old Indian kid who is adrift and lost in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on a small lifeboat, accompanied by some zoo animals including a 450-pound Bengal tiger.  Piscene (“Pi”) Molitor Patel is a curious kid who thinks deeply about religion at an early age, deciding to adhere to Christianity, Hindu, and Islam all at once, and that spirituality affects his experience while lost at sea.  It is a symbolically rich story about survival and the ambiguity of truth.  Click here for our review of Life of Pi.

A5 RECOMMENDATIONS ON THE BEST FICTION TRAVEL BOOKS

The Alchemist
An allegorical novel about finding treasure, and one of the most popular books of all time.
The Sheltering Sky
An American couple ventures to North Africa to repair their marriage and to find themselves.
Shantaram
An Australian convict escapes to hide in the crazy world of the slums of Bombay.
The Sun Also Rises
Hemingway's classic story of "Lost Generation" American expats in Spain.
The Martian
The best-selling novel about an astronaut accidentally abandoned on Mars.
The Time Traveler's Wife
A love story about a wife and her husband's genetic disorder of involuntary time travel.
The Harry Potter Series
The legendary adventures of the world's most famous boy wizard.
The Grapes of Wrath
John Steinbeck's epic novel of a desperate family migrating to California.
The Beach
A backpacker in Thailand discovers a secret and supposedly idyllic beach.
Jonathan Livingston Seagull
A 1970 novella about a sea gull who dreams about flying.
The Hobbit
A fantasy novel about a home-loving hobbit who gets pulled into an epic adventure.
What is the What
A soulful and historically accurate novel on the life of a Sudanese child refugee who migrated to the US. 
Memoirs of a Geisha
The fictional narrative of Chiyo Sakomoto, a geisha working in Kyoto before and after WWII.
The Prince of Tides
Best-selling author Pat Conroy's phenomenal novel about a South Carolina family.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
A humorous science fiction story about the world's best travel guide.

THE BEST IN HISTORICAL FICTION BOOKS

The Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett

Ready for an almost 1,000 page novel that is impossible to put down?  The Pillars of the Earth is an amazingly suspenseful and action-packed historically accurate story of the building of a majestic Gothic cathedral in an English town in the 12th century.  Probably Ken Follet’s most popular and celebrated book.  Click here for our review of The Pillars of the Earth.

Hawaii, by James Michener

James Michener was a hugely popular American author of more than 40 books, with approximately 75m-100m copies sold, known for epic, meticulously researched novels covering the lives of many generations in a family, focusing on a specific geographic setting and telling the story of that region’s history through that generation.  Hawaii is one of our favorites.  Click here for more information on Michener's Hawaii.

London, by Edward Rutherfurd

Edward Rutherfurd is also known for historical fiction, with similarly epic novels covering very long periods of time.  James Michener was in fact one of his most important influences.  His first novel, Sarum (1987) covered a ten-thousand year time span set in the area around Stonehenge and Salisbury, England, where he is from.  His other popular works include London, two books covering the history of Ireland, and several other New York Times best-selling similar novels on Russia, Paris, and New York.  Click here for our review of the historical fiction novel London.