10 Books that Feature Travel

6. Less by Andrew Sean Greer apparently won the Pulitzer Prize. It has a 3.62 Goodreads average from 216,706 ratings.

Arthur Less is a failed novelist on the cusp of fifty. When his ex-boyfriend announces his wedding, Less decides to avoid the occasion by accepting a series of invitations to odd literary events that send him on a whirlwind trip around the world. As he flees from heartbreak and self-doubt, through absurd and poignant situations he finds himself he finally confronts the personal issues that has been getting in his way.

I’ve read a lot of mixed reviews on this one. I don’t know how much I’ll be able to relate the life experiences of a middle-aged author or the whole “American abroad” angle. I’m not usually a fan of “mad cap” humour… but I’ve also seen some reviews from people who didn’t think they would like this and ended up enjoying it, especially the ending.

Will I read it? Probably not.

7. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. For some reason, I thought this was a pure non-fiction self-help book.. I genuinely did not know it was a fiction story! Maybe because so many people go on about how “transformative” it is, and yet somehow I’d never manage to absorb what it is actually about! It has a 3.92 Goodreads average from over 3 million ratings!

This is the story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure. His quest will lead him to riches far different—and far more satisfying—than he ever imagined. Santiago’s journey teaches us about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, recognizing opportunity and learning to read the omens strewn along life’s path, and, most importantly, following our dreams.

But then I read some reviews and found lots of people who didn’t like it describe it as a self-help book dressed up in a badly written, trite and didactic fable. Now I really want an If Books Could Kill podcast episode on it!

Will I read it? Fuck no, I know I’ll hate it!

8. Euphoria by Lily King is a Goodreads Choice winner (2014) so I’m approaching with caution. It has 3.86 average from 97,111 Goodreads ratings.

In 1933 three young, gifted anthropologists are thrown together in the jungle of New Guinea. They are Nell Stone, fascinating, magnetic and famous for her controversial work studying South Pacific tribes, her intelligent and aggressive husband Fen, and Andrew Bankson, who stumbles into the lives of this strange couple and becomes totally enthralled. Within months the trio are producing their best ever work, but soon a firestorm of fierce love and jealousy begins to burn out of control, threatening their bonds, their careers, and, ultimately, their lives…

This sounded more interesting until I saw a few reviews remark on love triangles and romance between people who already had partners. I also find stories about 1930s anthropology very iffy because there is no getting away from the inherent racism there, and then it’s set in a jungle, which just makes me feel hot and itchy thinking about the bugs and humidity!

Will I read it? Probably not.

9. Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino is described as “surreal fiction”, and it has tags for magical realism, so we’re off to a good start! It was published in 1972 and translated from Italian. It has 4.11 average stars from 92,075 ratings.

“Kublai Khan does not necessarily believe everything Marco Polo says when he describes the cities visited on his expeditions, but the emperor of the Tartars does continue listening to the young Venetian with greater attention and curiosity than he shows any other messenger or explorer of his.” So begins Italo Calvino’s compilation of fragmentary urban images. As Marco tells the khan about Armilla, which “has nothing that makes it seem a city, except the water pipes that rise vertically where the houses should be and spread out horizontally where the floors should be,” the spider-web city of Octavia, and other marvelous burgs, it may be that he is creating them all out of his imagination, or perhaps he is recreating fine details of his native Venice over and over again, or perhaps he is simply recounting some of the myriad possible forms a city might take.

So this one is Literary and doesn’t have a conventional narrative style, some reviews say it’s more like short stories and might be better enjoyed if treated that way. I am intrigued.

Will I read it? Maybe! When I feel like a challenge, I’ll give it a go.

10. Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel is a book I’ve had in my TBR for a while now and I should get around to. I didn’t love Station Eleven, which has made me hesitate a bit. I currently has 4.06 average Goodreads rating from 275,899 ratings.

Spanning centuries and continents—from early 20th-century British Columbia to a moon colony in the far future—Sea of Tranquility follows three main characters whose lives mysteriously intersect across time. At least two of those are travelling.

I enjoyed Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell when I read that (like, 16 years ago!), and this sounds quite similar, so I should move this up my TBR list!

Will I read it? Yes, and I already own it.