Comments on: Books like these.

By: Brian Thacker

Brian Thacker — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:22:11 +0000

Hi Renee

And a jolly Christmas to you, too.

I still haven’t read sideways yet and I feel quite guilty because I know Patrick and have shared a few beers with him!

cheers
brian

By: Renee Guymer

Renee Guymer — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:17:40 +0000

Other than your books (which are slowly but surely filling up my bookshelf!) a great travel book is “Sideways” by Patrick O’Neill.. It’s the story of his travels over 3 different periods of his life. It starts off sounding a little pretentious in its references to literature but is a great read.. I also like it because it deals a fair bit with South America- there don’t seem to be too many books written about that continent yet.

“Holy Cow” by Sarah Macdonald is also a great read- an honest and insighful look into the religions and cultures of India..

Thanks for the list of travel books! I’m always trying to find new ones that are as entertaining as yours!

Merry Christmas! Renee

By: Brian Thacker

Brian Thacker — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 05:32:44 +0000

Hi Lee
I’m not quite a hippy, but would love to contribute to the next book
All the best
Brian

By: Lee Mylne

Lee Mylne — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 12:08:49 +0000

Hey Brian, thanks for the plug for Best Foot Forward. We hope to do another anthology sometime soon! And will attempt to get some more old hippies to contribute…
cheers
Lee

By: Brian Thacker

Brian Thacker — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 09:20:57 +0000

Epiphanie, you are at least in the ‘middle’ of reading some great books there. I’m also in the middle of reading The Art of Travel, but can’t quite remember where I put it down (maybe on another train somewhere).

Sam that book sounds great – I just checked it out on Amazon. I might be slack and just go see the film, though

By: Sam

Sam — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 18:32:56 +0000

I read When Heaven and Earth Changed Places by Le Ly Hayslip and couldn’t put it down. Ok, so it came out in 93 but I wasn’t into reading for pleasure back then. It could sort if be considered a travel book in that the author is traveling within Vietnam giving an account of what it was like growing up there during what the Vietnamese call the American War. I don’t recall learning anything about the Vietnam war growing up in AU and wanted to learn a little about it in a non text book way. Le Ly tells her story beautifully without taking sides. I read this book on my way to Vietnam and it helped me understand more about the country and its people than I would have understood otherwise.
Sleeping Around is on my Christmas wish list.

By: Epiphanie

Epiphanie — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 14:47:36 +0000

This has been the year of starting books and not finishing them (yet) for me…

I did manage to get through Dreams of my Father by Barack Obama, which takes place in Indonesia, Hawaii, Los Angeles, Chicago, Western Europe and Kenya, so while it’s not all that descriptive it is inspired by the cultures it is set in.

I also managed to finish Sleeping Around, despite my habit of reading like 20 pages of a book and not finishing it!

I’m reading:
‘Falling off the Map: Some lonely places around the world’ by Pico Iyer (which is so good I want to eat it),
‘Spain’ by Jan Morris
‘On the Road’ by Kerouac,
The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton,
Dark Star Safari and Ghost Train to the Eastern Star,
The Travellers’ Tales’ Best Travel Writing 09,
Mirrors of the Unseen by [I forget the author's name - it's all about Iran],
Vagabonding by Rolf Potts,
and Rule No. 5: No Sex on the Bus by YOU!

All of the above-mentioned books are really good, and the fact that I haven’t finished them says something about me and my reading habits rather than their quality. I would recommend and any and all of them to anyone.

Merry Xmas Brian! *<:oD

By: Amanda Callahan

Amanda Callahan — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 11:42:17 +0000

I did read one very very funny and entertaining travel book this year. It was called, I think… Sleeping around

You better have another one for 2010 or there will be trouble!

Merry Christmas Brian

Amanda Callahan