
I love to travel (I've been to about 15 countries) and I love to walk (I've walked a whole marathon.) I want to do that giant walk across Spain sometime (Camino de Santiago). With that in mind, I gravitate towards books on travel and the rare books about hiking/walking.
Lately I've noticed a mini-trend of travel books about women going (mostly) solo on incredible trips that are not just physical, but also emotional. I'll bet you've heard of the first two: Wild by Cheryl Strayed and Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. But then I also read Tracks by Robyn Davidson and Phenomenal by Leigh Ann Henion and I really started to see a theme. And it's not a theme I see in books about men out trekking across the world. You don't get the same level of introspection and emotional catharsis in Bill Bryson's books or Tim Cahill's. Why is that? Is it because the woman traveling alone is so unexpected and even occasionally dangerous, that the emotions are heightened along with the danger and unusualness of the situation? Reading about Cheryl hiking in the Pacific Coast mountains is such a different experience than Bryson and Katz attacking the Appalachian trial. It's hard to be funny when you're alone and afraid. And when you're alone, you can face things that are more easily suppressed in company. In fact, sometimes you get to face things that you'd rather not.



I do love travel, and the idea of following in these footsteps, even just a little, is tempting, although the danger is still very real (and I don't like camping that isn't car camping, so I lean towards Eat Pray Love or Phenomenal to emulate.) But I have found I do very much enjoy the travel book that isn't just a "we went there, we saw this" list of places, but instead is a deeper communing with nature and the world. Are there others? I do hope this mini-trend continues. In the meantime, these books are great to listen to while you walk. Maybe they'll inspire you to get out, experience nature, and think a bit.
2 comments:
i'd be too chicken to travel alone for a long journey or trek. This is a very thoughtful post. Thanks.
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great idea for a post! I really like books about travel too especially when coupled with some self-discovery.
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