Hello again! Welcome back to another *book* post. In this post, I will be sharing with you all some of my favorite travel novels memoirs to inspire wanderlust. These books take place in countries across the globe, and they share a look into lives of those near and far. When traveling isn’t an option, I always love to read a book that will give me insight into another place and culture. This is a great way to travel without leaving my apartment. Keep reading for a list of my favorite travel books that I highly recommend!
Wanderlust: A Love Affair with Five Continents (2011) by Elisabeth Eaves
This memoir details the travel adventures of a young woman who has made it her mission to explore and discover all the world has to offer. Elisabeth is always looking for her next adventure. She thrives in unplanned, semi-dangerous situations that force her to adapt to many cultural contexts. The protagonist hardly ever has a plan. Instead she lives in the moment, finding jobs, housing and hobbies wherever she goes. This memoir definitely inspired me to live more in the moment, and to travel and experience life without always planning everything down to the last detail.
In addition to the focus on spontaneity, I love that this memoir explores so many countries. Elisabeth finds herself living in countries ranging from Egypt, to Pakistan, to New Zealand; and in each location the protagonist is always in search of her next adventure, and her next boyfriend.
Although I did like this book, and I definitely want to travel everywhere Elisabeth did, I did find the focus on boyfriends (and always needing a boyfriend) to be a bit overwhelming. Unfortunately, at many points of the book I found myself not liking the protagonist. Additionally, I found much of her behavior to be unrelatable. Having said all this, I still recommend reading this memoir. It definitely has inspired me to travel and explore the world in a new way!
You can purchase Wanderlust here.
The Temporary Bride: A Memoir of Love and Food in Iran (2017) by Jennifer Klinec
I loved this memoir! It was so fun to read and I fully enjoyed it cover to cover. In The Temporary Bride, the author shares her experiences in Iran where she decided to travel in order learn traditional recipes. The memoir creates an image of Iran based around food and love. Throughout the book the reader comes to see and understand the beauty within the country. This, for me, is especially important, as in mainstream media Iran is often depicted in an entirely negative light.
This memoir truly allowed me to better understand Iranian culture. However, it is very important to keep in mind that this presentation of a country, its people and its cultures is explored through the eyes of a Westerner, and not a local. This book made me want to hop on a plane to Iran, and to experience for myself the beauty and diversity of the country.
You can purchase The Temporary Bride here.
Eat, Pray, Love (2006) by Elizabeth Gilbert
I didn’t expect to love this book. There’s been so much hype around it for years, and I truly thought that it would be poorly written. I was so wrong. This memoir was incredible and I enjoyed every word of it. Before reading Eat, Pray, Love, I read Gilbert’s newest novel, City of Girls, which I also greatly enjoyed. Gilbert is an amazing writer, and I can’t wait to get my hands on her other books.
Eat, Pray, Love tells the story of a recently divorced woman who travels to Italy, India and Indonesia to rebuild herself and to rediscover life’s pleasures. The author shares her experiences in each country, and also how her life and choices stray greatly from the “norm.” While reading this novel you’ll immediately want to get up and travel the world, and begin to live the unconventional, but wonderful, lifestyle of the author.
You can purchase Eat, Pray, Love here!
Lunch in Paris: A Delicious Love Story, with Recipes (2010) by Elizabeth Bard
I really liked this memoir, I thought it was sweet and well written. I did read it out of order, reading the sequel, Picnic in Provence, first. Even though I read the sequel first, and I already knew most of the details of Elizabeth’s life in France, I still enjoyed reading the backstory of her move to Paris, after falling in love with a Frenchman.
The memoir details Elizabeth’s life from the time she meets her future husband, Gwendal, and decides to make a life in France. Included in the book are major milestones like an engagement, marriage, death of a family member and learning French. Even though I found that I couldn’t relate to the author in many moments, overall, I think this memoir is a good read. It’s also a fast read, so you can definitely finish it in a day or two.
If you’re a cook then you’re in luck! Elizabeth also includes tons of recipes (both French and American) in this memoir.
You can purchase Lunch in Paris here.
Picnic in Provence: A Memoir with Recipes (2016) by Elizabeth Bard
This is the second memoir in a series by Elizabeth Bard. I read them out of order, accidentally reading Picnic in Provence before Lunch in Paris. You don’t necessarily need to read them in order, but it does make the story flow better.
Picnic in Provence details the move of American-born Elizabeth and her French husband, Gwendal, from Paris to a small, rural town in Provence. Throughout the memoir Elizabeth shares her adjustment to life in the small town. Together, they leave office life and open an ice cream shop in the countryside. All the while, Elizabeth also shares her favorite French recipes with the reader.
I really enjoyed this memoir. However, sometimes I did not enjoy the narrator. I found her to be a bit condescending towards Americans in her descriptions. When Elizabeth referred to Americans, it was usually to insult their eating habits. She also blamed her extra weight gain, and inability to be “thin like French women,” simply on being American. Personally, I think the perpetuation of cultural stereotypes is harmful. Painting a picture of an entire county being exactly the same is truly a disservice to the reader.
Despite the fact that I did not enjoy the depiction of Americans by Bard, I still recommend the memoir. It paints a beautiful picture of life in the French countryside, and she shows how a simpler, slower paced life may be exactly what many of us need.
You can purchase Picnic in Provence here.
All Over the Place: Adventures in Travel, True Love, and Petty Theft (2017) by Geraldine DeRuiter
This memoir will not tell you where to find the best pizza in Italy, how to get the cheapest plane tickets, or even give you any form of travel advice or recommendations. Instead, All Over the Place tells the story of how one woman became a travel blogger and overcame (to some extent) her fears of being lost.
After losing her job, Geraldine decides to become a travel blogger and document her excursions around the world with her husband, Rand. Geraldine is not your typical travel blogger. While the memoir does touch on many of her trips and experiences, it more-so tells her own personal life story. I would say that this book is a hybrid between travel memoir and biography, but either way, I really enjoyed it.
You can purchase All Over the Place here.
What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding (2014) by Kristin Newman
This memoir tells the story of a Hollywood television writer who spends her 20s, 30s and part of her 40s traveling the world, while most of her friends are starting families. I enjoyed this memoir, but the reviews on Goodreads are very hit or miss. While I did find Kristin’s stories to be amusing, many readers found her to be a little self-obsessed, and they believed that the memoir lacked travel detail and depth. To be clear, Kristin’s memoir definitely focuses on her romantic escapades across the globe, and less on her travel itineraries, plans and reviews. You will learn about the many places Kristin visits during her travels, but they are all explained in relation to her many relationships. Kristin is always in search of an international adventure, but mostly when the adventure includes an attractive, foreign man.
Overall, I think What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding is an entertaining read. Reading about Kristin’s life, told through her international relationships, is definitely a great way to spend an afternoon. I honestly can’t tell if she would be an amazing travel partner, or a really terrible one, so please read this memoir and let me know what you think!
You can purchase What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding here.
Life, Love, and a Hijacking: My Pan Am Memoir (2014) by Wendy Sue Knecht
Life, Love, and a Hijacking: My Pan Am Memoir is a wonderful memoir. It details the life of a flight attendant on Pan Am, an iconic US airline that had its heyday for the better part of the 1900s. Unfortunately, Pan Am went bankrupt and was purchased by Delta quite a few years before I was born, and I was never able to experience the airline. From Wendy’s memoir is seems like I did indeed miss a lot.
Wendy’s memoir will really make you consider becoming a flight attendant and traveling the world. The benefits (free flights for your family + discounts galore) seem absolutely incredible. Of course, there are negatives as well, and Wendy shares some horror stories such as dealing with difficult passengers, long work days, and tragic accidents. As a disclaimer, I am terrified to fly, but while reading Wendy’s book I still found myself considering becoming a flight attendant.
Wendy’s stories are entertaining, and her trips around the world are enviable. I highly recommend reading this memoir – you’ll definitely learn a lot about the flight attendant experience!
You can purchase Life, Love, and a Hijacking: My Pan Am Memoir here!
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead (2019) by Olga Tokarczuk
This novel, originally published in Polish in 2009, is a little dark. However, it’s worth a read! Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead is an engrossing murder mystery that provides a vivid look into life in rural Poland, as well as a taste of local politics. The story takes place in an extremely rural village on the Polish/Czech border, and focuses on the murders of both humans and animals. To further complicate the murder investigations, the novel takes place in the middle of winter, thus isolating the small village even more from the local authorities. The protagonist, Janina, is complex, and her eccentric nature mixed with her own personal struggles makes her unreliable, but all the while trustworthy. Throughout the novel, Janina makes the reader contemplate the rights of both humans and animals, as well as the value of life.
I know what you’re thinking, why would a murder mystery inspire me to visit Poland? But trust me, you’ll want to explore the rural towns for yourself! You can purchase the Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead here. The novel was also the winner of the 2018 Nobel Prize for Literature!
Honorable Mention
Under the Tuscan Sun (1997) by Frances Mayes
Let me start off my saying I did not enjoy this memoir. However, I’ve decided to include it since it is considered a “travel memoir classic” and a “must read” by many. I think my main issues with this memoir is that I found it to be boring, filled with fluffy, unnecessary descriptions, and I also found the protagonist to be self-obsessed and unrelatable.
The premise of the memoir is that the protagonist, a college Professor, buys a home in a small town in Italy to remodel. The next 300 pages are pretty much all long descriptions of the work done on the house.
The author doesn’t show, she tells. The descriptions are far too long and technical (I don’t need a four page explanation about ripping up an old floor). I also found her to be condescending towards the workers and locals in the town. The author and her husband don’t really do any of the remodel themselves, they hire people to do all of the work for them. Because of this, we get whiny descriptions about how the work is done – and also stereotypical complaints about how things “move slower” outside of the U.S. The author also mentions her childhood cook, Willie Bell, probably 15 times – and this further leads to my annoyance of her privileged, out of touch lifestyle.
Basically this book is dry. It’s the account of a privileged, middle-aged woman who moves to Italy and has a lot of work done for her while she buys shoes and cooks. Maybe I’m being too harsh, but I didn’t learn anything about Italy and this is definitely not a “travel memoir.”
If I were you I would skip this memoir, but if you feel so inclined you can purchase it here.
Thanks for reading! For more book recommendations check out my Best Books to Read on Vacation post!
♡Kate
Note: This post includes affiliate links from Amazon! Read our disclosure here.
[…] For many, 2021 will likely also be a year of limited travel. Therefore, now is a great time to gift travel novels to allow your friends and family to “travel” from home. Two of my favorites are What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding and Wanderlust: A Love Affair with Five Continents. For a complete list of my favorite travel novels to inspire wanderlust, click here. […]