Travel reading: books that take you somewhere

A book can take you somewhere long before you pack a bag, and it can keep you there long after you return. For many travelers, reading and travel are two halves of the same habit: each feeds the other, and each makes the other richer.

A genre as old as travel

Wikipedia's article on travel literature describes a genre encompassing outdoor literature, guide books, nature writing and travel memoirs, written in many forms over many centuries, from poems and journals to books and online blogs. It notes that one of the earliest known records of traveling for the pleasure of it, and writing about it, is an account of climbing a mountain simply to see the view from the top. People have been writing about journeys for as long as they have been taking them.

Reading before you go

Reading before a trip builds anticipation and understanding. A history of the region explains the monuments you will see. A book on its food will send you to the right markets. A novel set there gives you a feeling for its streets, its weather and its people. Even a book of photographs can help you notice more when you arrive.

• Start with a general history, then something more personal and vivid.
• Read writers from the place itself, not only visitors writing about it.
• Look for books on a theme you care about: nature, architecture, music, food.

Reading while you travel

A book on the road is good company on long journeys and quiet evenings. Reading a novel set in the city where you are staying, or a history of the ruins you visited that afternoon, connects the page with the place in a way that is hard to achieve at home. Travelers often trade books with one another, and many guesthouses keep shelves of books left behind by previous guests.

Reading after you return

Coming home can feel flat. Reading about where you have been keeps the journey alive, fills in what you did not understand at the time, and often plants the seed of the next trip.

Guidebooks versus narrative

Guidebooks and travel narratives do different jobs, and it helps to have both.

• Guidebooks are practical tools: maps, transport, sights, history in brief. Their practical details date quickly, so check them against official sources before relying on them.
• Narratives tell stories: a writer's journey, encounters, reflections. They rarely help with bus timetables, but they convey the feeling of a place in a way a guidebook cannot.

Use the guidebook for planning and the narrative for understanding.

Novels set in a place

Fiction can be the most vivid window into a place. A good novel shows how people speak, eat, argue, celebrate and grieve. When choosing one, look for novels by authors from the place, set in the period you are curious about, or recommended by local booksellers. Reading them on location, in a café on the very street the characters walked, is one of the pleasures of travel.

Keeping a reading journal

A reading journal is a simple notebook where you record what you read, when and where, along with favorite passages, questions and ideas for future trips. Over the years it becomes a record of your curiosity and a map of places you want to go. It pairs naturally with a travel notebook; the page on getting started in travel writing explains why writing things down on the road matters.

Finding bookshops abroad

Bookshops are wonderful places to visit on the road. Local bookshops often have sections on regional history, nature and writers, and booksellers are usually glad to recommend. Many cities have secondhand bookshops, market stalls and shops selling books in several languages. Even if you cannot read the local language, browsing the covers, the maps and the shelves tells you something about the place.

• Ask booksellers for local writers in translation.
• Look for maps, local walking guides and regional nature guides.
• Pick up a small book as a souvenir; it weighs less than most trinkets and lasts longer.

A reading life and a traveling life

Reading widely makes you a more curious traveler, and travel makes you a more attentive reader. If you are looking for somewhere to go next, the essay on ways to choose a destination suggests reading as a source of inspiration, and What defines a culture? offers a way to think about the places books take you.