wanderlust Archives - Beach Bum Adventure

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 – I recently lost my original Kindle and got the Paperwhite one for Christmas. It’s super light and the battery lasts for such a long time.

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