So I am a MASSIVE bookworm and devour books by the day. I have compiled a list of my loved books as well as books about countries I’ve visited. Please comment and add your favourites as I’m always after new reading material
While I love reading actual books, my Kindle is much more practical for travelling and I am now a total convert to e-readers. Any old literature is also free as the copyright has run out and most online books are often cheaper than your bookshop equivalent.
While my love for a real good-smelling book will never dwindle, I definitely recommend travelling with a Kindle.
You can buy yours here on Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 
For more useful and practical backpacking items, have a read of my list of essentials
(Updated July 2017)
Sri Lanka
The Elephant Complex – John Gimlette – A extremely readable history which explains the complexities of the Civil War so well
Mosquito – Roma Tearne – fictional book set during the civil war
When Memory Dies – Ambalavaner Sivanandan – fictional book set during the civil war
Anil’s Ghost – Michael Ondaatje- fictional book set during the civil war
Tamil Tigress – Niromi de Soyza – autobiography of a former female soldier in the Tamil Tigers
For more information about Sri Lanka read this
India
Shantaram – Gregory David Robert (first book I read and decided I needed to visit India!) – Epic adventure story that is also true!
A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth- Family orientated drama concerning arranged marriages and religion issues
A Fine Balance -Rohinton Mistry – Heartbreaking and important
The Palace of Illusions – Chitra Divakaruni – Tale of the Mahabharata, one of the oldest, most epic stories in the Hindu religion told from a female perspective
Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie – Fantasy story set during India’s independence
Holy Cow – Sarah Macdonald – Autobiographical book concerning India’s spiritual and religious elements
The Jungle Book – Rudyard Kipling – Children’s story of jungle adventures about a boy growing up with wolves
A Passage to India – E.M.Forster – short novel depicting the beginning of the end of the British Empire in India
The Far Pavilions – M.M.Kaye – Adventure, love, war, religion – one of my favourite books of all time.
Shadow of the Moon – M.M.Kaye – fictional story about the lead up to the First Afghan War
City of Djinns – William Dalrymple – extremely readable history of Delhi, this book feels like it’s a fictional story
Thinking about solo travel in India? Read this
Thailand
The Beach – Alex Garland (Thailand) – backpacker tales from Thailand
Forget You Had a Daughter – Sandra Gregory – Autobiography about an English teacher who served time in Thailand’s notorious Kong Klem prison, nicknamed the ‘Bangkok Hilton’
Travel – All Countries
A Thousand Splendid Suns – Khaled Hosseini
The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
Eat Pray Love – Elizabeth Gilbert (Italy, India, Bali) – don’t watch the movie but do read this book! Touches on dealing with depression as well as travel
The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared – Jonas Jonasson (Worldwide and humorous!)
First They Killed My Father – Loung Ang (Cambodia)
The Quiet American – Graham Greene (Vietnam)
House of the Spirits – Isabel Allende (South America)
The Diary of a Young Girl – Anne Frank (WW2)
Catch 22 – Joseph Heller (USA- WW2)
Uncle Tom’s Cabin – Harriet Beecher Stowe (USA)
The Island – Victoria Hislop (Crete – Greece)
Modern
Gone Girl – Gillian Flynn
The Goldfinch – Donna Tart
The Versions of Us – Laura Barnatt
Nocturnal Animals – Austin Wright
The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climber Out of the Window and Disappeared – Jonas Jonasson
Adventure Stories
The Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson
Robinson Crusoe – Daniel Defoe
The Moonstone and The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
Dracula – Bram Stoker
Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
Old Classics
Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
The Forsyte Saga – John Galsworthy
Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
The Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne
Tender is the Night – F Scott Fitzgerald
The Beautiful and Damned – F Scott Fitzgerald
Tess of the d’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde
