05 April,2025 05:13 PM IST | Mumbai | Nandini Varma
Books are the perfect travel companion for your holiday getaways. Representation pic/iStock
. Notes from a Small Island: Bill Bryson's humour comes alive in this memoir from his stay in Britain, through Dover, all the way into John O'Groats. He writes about little differences and preferences that separate the British way of living from the American - the ability of British locals to get excited by hot beverages, the English distances, open moors of the north, guesthouses, the small pleasures in puddings, cake, seaside rock, milky tea, and HP sauce. Although some of Bryson's ideas are of an older time, one stays back for the English quirks and charm.
Also read: Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K Jerome
. Sunita De Souza Goes to Sydney and Other Stories: Travelling to a new country can remind us of what it means to be an outsider in a modern world. Roanna Gonsalves's short story collection helps us navigate this emotion. She zooms into the lives inside the homes of Indian immigrants in Australia, as they search for their voices in a continent so vastly distinct from their own. These stories are packed with ordinary events - looking for Sichuan peppercorn for a recipe, learning about tea towels that wipe dishes, engaging in a long conversation with a beautician in the city. We learn about dreams as well as trials of the old and new immigrants.
Also read: All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld
. A Fortune-Teller Told Me: Earthbound Travels in the Far East: What happens when a fortune-teller you met in Hong Kong warns you against flying so you don't run the risk of dying? When Italian journalist Tiziano Terzani was advised so, he took the prophecy as an opportunity rather than a mere word of caution. In his book, he offers a lucid account of his travels across Asia (through Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar, Japan) by land and sea, once even on an elephant's back. Terzani believes that the short span of a flight cannot offer an understanding of the world the way, for instance, a long train ride with a local family does.
Also read: A Beginner's Guide to Japan by Pico Iyer
. Out of Africa: A classic memoir by the Danish writer Karen Blixen, who went by her pseudonym Isak Dinesen, takes us to her coffee farm at the foot of the Ngong Hills in Kenya, where she lived for 17 years. Dinesen writes about the natives, her lover after a broken marriage, and the stories she narrated at the farm. Readers are with Dinesen when she waxes lyrical about the beauty of the place - the long stretch of Eucalyptus trees, 129 buffaloes emerging out of the morning mist, and flamingos at the lake. Her prose is evocative and stunning.
Also read: Looking for Transwonderland by Noo Saro-Wiwa
. Travels with Charley: In Search of America: A desire to reconnect with his country takes the novelist John
Steinbeck on a journey across America, with his French poodle, in a truck with a camper top. They travel from Maine to California. Along the way, Steinbeck encounters a host of fascinating characters as he searches for a nation and, introspectively, for himself. He notices how different one state is from the other in the way people treat each other, witnesses a startling event in Texas, meets potato pickers from Canada, irrational border authorities, and a diner waitress. He often wonders if progress resembles destruction.
Also read: The Old Patagonian Express by Paul Theroux
All titles are available at leading bookstores and e-stores
