Travel Writing Memoirs

Throughout history, precious stones have inspired passions and poetry, quests and curses, sacred writings and unsacred actions. Blending adventure travel, geology, exciting new research and her own irresistible charm, Finlay has fashioned a treasure hunt for some of the most valuable, glamorous, and mysterious substances on earth. Jewels is a unique and often exhilarating voyage through history, across cultures, deep into the earth's mantle, and up to the glittering heights of fame, power and wealth.

Early one May, Sam Neumann arrived in the breathtaking wilderness of Denali, Alaska with a smile on his face and adventure in his heart. But less than 24 hours later, both had evaporated as he stood behind the counter of a filthy gas station - his new place of employment - and tried to piece together what exactly had gone wrong.

One of Haiti’s most renowned daughters returns to her homeland, taking listeners on a stunning, exquisitely rendered journey beyond the hedonistic surface of Carnival and into its deep heart. Edwidge Danticat had long been scared off from Carnival by a loved one, who spun tales of people dislocating hips from gyrating with too much abandon, losing their voices from singing too loudly, going deaf from the clamor of immense speakers, and being punched, stabbed, pummeled, or fondled by other lustful revelers. Now an adult, she resolves to return and exorcise her Carnival demons.

Annette Joseph's years in Italy revealed this truth: Italy, in all its multifaceted, glorious history and culture has to be experienced in full. Over almost three decades, Italy has fed, entertained, confused, excited, lured, promised, lied, satisfied, occasionally disappointed, and utterly enchanted her. She's left, but can't stay away - she'll always return. Always. Just like a beloved partner....

A chronicle of life on the resplendent island. Adele Barker and her son, Noah, settled into the central highlands of Sri Lanka for an 18-month sojourn, immersing themselves in the customs, cultures, and landscapes of the island: its elephants, birds, and monkeys; its hot curries and sweet mangoes; the cacophony of its markets; the resonant evening chants from its temples. When, having returned home to Tucson, Barker awakes on December 26, 2004, to see televised images of the island's southern shore disappearing into the ocean, she decides she must go back.

From a magical childhood in Kenya, through misery at an American high school, to rescue by an inspirational teacher in England, Victoria Whitworth weaves a sublimely rich narrative, which is both an ode to her beloved Greece and Corfu, and a highly original exploration of myth and legend. Her adventures in the often weird and unsettling world of a Corinth English language school, and the shattering experience of her rape by a Greek taxi driver, lead Victoria to question some deeply familiar stories.

In 1943, Austrian adventurer Heinrich Harrer escaped from a British internment camp in India and traveled through the rugged Himalayas seeking refuge from the war. He ended up in the Forbidden City of Lhasa in Tibet, with no money or permission to be in the country. His intelligence and his European ways intrigued the curious young Dalai Lama, and Harrer became his tutor and trusted confidant.

Simon Kuper has experienced Paris both as a human being and as a journalist. He has grown middle-aged there, eaten the croissants, seen his wife through life-threatening cancer, taken his children to countless football matches on freezing Saturday mornings in the city's notorious banlieues, and in 2015 lived through two terrorist attacks on their neighbourhood. Over two decades of becoming something of a cantankerous Parisian himself, Kuper has watched the city change.

This classic essay from Jon Krakauer is now available as an unabridged audiobook download. This essay is also included in the Classic Krakauer collection. From the best-selling author of Missoula and Into the Wild: a selection of the singular investigative journalism that made Krakauer famous, covering topics from avalanches on Mt. Everest to a volcano in Washington state; from a wilderness therapy program for teens to an extraordinary cave in New Mexico so unearthly that is used by NASA to better understand Mars.

When Susan quit her job in London and set sail off the south coast of England on her beloved sailboat, Isean, she was unaware this spontaneous departure would lead to a three-year journey spanning several countries across the continent. With only the very basics on board, resourcefulness becomes an unexpected source of joy and contentment. But for all the physical and navigational challenges of her journey, the other side of her story reveals a more important change - an inner journey - that took place along the way.

Rachel is finding it increasingly difficult to ignore her sister’s derision, society’s silent wagging finger, and her father’s advancing years. She’s traveled the world, but now finds herself at a crossroads at an age where most people would stop globetrotting and settle. She’s never been one to conform to the nine-to-five lifestyle, so why should she start now? Was it wrong to love the freedom and independence a single life provided, to put off the search for Mr. Right and the children? Perhaps she could find the time for one last adventure.

Not so long ago, two carefree 18-year-olds hitchhiked across a country of wide-open highways and wide-open people. Ride with them on this nostalgic look back at "America of the Big Heart". It was 1961, before the deaths of JFK and MLK and before Vietnam.

Joan Didion has always kept notebooks: of overheard dialogue, observations, interviews, drafts of essays and articles. Here is one such draft that traces a road trip she took with her husband, John Gregory Dunne, in June 1970, through Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. She interviews prominent local figures, describes motels, diners, a deserted reptile farm, a visit with Walker Percy, a ladies' brunch at the Mississippi Broadcasters' Convention.

Helen Olson and her husband, Elmer, retired in their late forties to sail the Pacific Ocean and Oceania from 1979-1989 on a fifty-foot yacht they built themselves. "Sailing Elysium" is a personal account of that ten-year adventure, as they immersed themselves in the cultures and traditions of the local people, venturing to twenty-seven major stay-overs in twenty-one countries.

Essential life lessons from the world's most famous monk. Through a beautiful collection of autobiographical stories and teachings, At Home in the World tells the remarkable life of the beloved Zen Master, Thich Nhat Hanh. With his signature clarity and warmth, he shares tales from his childhood in rural Vietnam through to his travels teaching the world the art of mindfulness.

In 2021, the itinerant writer took six long-distance trips, to Big Sky, Montana, St. Pete Beach, Florida, as well as various locations in Switzerland, during a year in which travel was otherwise restricted, curtailed, and people were induced, if not forced, to rein in their nomadic instincts. "Altered States: My Surreal Journey Through Pandemia, 2021 by Bruce W. Perry is the story of one man's revelatory journey through a locked-down world. "Leaving rural Vermont and embracing his nomadic nature, the author brings readers along his various trips to Switzerland, Montana, and Florida during ...

Edited by Krishna Ramanujan and Guillermo Rodríguez, Journeys offers access to Ramanujan's personal diaries and journals, providing a window into his creative process. It will include literary entries from his travels, his thoughts on writing, poetry drafts, and dreams. His diaries and journals served as fertile ground where he planted the seeds for much of his published work....

With the first world war raging across Europe, Shackleton's expedition to cross the South Pole became trapped by ice. Their ship, the Endurance, was crushed and the men were forced to survive in and escape from one of the world's most hostile environments. An incredible mission and an incredible escape. This is the story of one of the greatest sea journeys ever made.

In 2012, facing the death of his father and impending fatherhood, Toby Ferris set off on a seemingly quixotic mission to track down and look at - in situ - every painting still in existence by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, the most influential and important artist of Northern Renaissance painting. The result of that pursuit is a remarkable journey through major European cities and across continents. As Ferris takes a keen analytical eye to the paintings, each piece brings new revelations about Bruegel’s art, and gives way to meditations on mortality, fatherhood, and life.

A surreal, high-wire act of narrative nonfiction that redefines the genre, Avoid the Day is part detective story, part memoir, and part meditation on the meaning of life - all told with a dark pulse of existential horror. What emerges is an unforgettable study of mortality and the artist’s journey.