What to Read Next

Book Lust to Go
by Nancy Pearl

I was number one on the waiting list for this book at the library.  Surely that comes as no surprise as I am a librarian who loves travel writing.  What did come as a surprise to me was the fact that I had read many of the recommended titles in here.  I would flip from section to section wondering if a certain book was in there and sure enough it was.  But that having been said, there is lots more for me to read.  Where to start, where to start?  Nancy Pearl is so thorough in her recommendations I am nearly completely overwhelmed.

The first places that come to mind, are ones that I haven't visited yet--Burma is one.  Finding George Orwell in Burma is one that has crossed my radar before, so it looks like a good place to start.  Siberia is another.  Though it isn't in this book yet, Travels in Siberia has turned up on many best of lists this year meaning it is now on my TBR.  Canada on the page remains mostly unexplored for me aside from several fiction series (Louise Penny, Giles Blunt, Inger Ash Wolfe),  but several of the books mentioned are travels through small towns in the Canadian mid-west.  That to me sounds completely enchanting and a trip I intend to take soon with Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw to start followed by Welcome Home: Travels in Small Town Canada.

Another area I need to flesh out in order to be truly well read/traveled would be classic travel literature.  A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush is on my list as is In Patagonia and the various works of Paul Theroux.  I had intended to read Theroux but so many criticized him as being grumpy and disenchanted with travel and the world.  For me travel literature is full of the joy of experience, discovery, exploration.  The idea of reading someone who just complains the entire time...well that sounds like travel companions I have had in the past and not an experience I wanted to repeat voluntarily so I have avoided him.  Several early works, however, are must reads and come highly recommended so onto the list they go.

The list is already a long one and I keep finding more and more to add to it as I continue to flip through this book.  Not all of them will capture my imagination.  I won't want to travel with all of the authors, but to find out I must set out on the journey and I absolutely cannot wait.