If you don’t know it, I live in Toronto, which in the past year feels like it has been in perpetual lockdown. Like so many adventurer plans have been put on hold, like for the whole of 2021. This has meant I’ve had to seek out more local places to explore. There are always great sites of interest that we take for granted, because they are so close those. It has also meant that there has been more time for catching up on the growing reading list. This has got me thinking about my favourite travel related books. Here is my list, which I will be adding to as I recollect and finish reading from my pile.

• Songlines by Bruce Chatwin
• Wild by Cheryl Strayed
• Hiking the West Coast of Vancouver Island
• Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay
• The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Unfavourite Travel Books

This list is not create controversy, but I feel some of my unfavourite travel books are worth mentioning. You can decide for yourself

• In Patagonia by Bruce Chatwin
  • This book was recommended to a week before I set off to Patagonia, by someone who loved it. I tried to cram it on the flight to Santiago, but decided not to push it. Sleep and living my own experience was more important. I picked it back up upon my return. In retrospect, I’m glad I didn’t read prior to the trip. The writing reflects the writer’s upbringing and the time of which he experienced, 1974. Neither are POVs I can relate to. Many of the tales felt fabricated and it turns out there is truth to this – since he painted a negative spin on much of his experience, I’m not sure he was enjoying himself. And it makes whole compilation historical fiction. Another odd aspect, was for the amount of walking and hiking he did, there are few recounts of these experiences and even fewer details. This casts more doubt to the truths.