Latest Posts
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Reading Travel Books by Women
Welcome to this site! Many of the travel books featured in book reviews in the mainstream media tend to be by men, although that is slowly changing. On this site, I will be highlighting travel books written by women (and… Continue reading
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Winter Pasture—One Woman’s Journey with China’s Kazakh Herders: Li Juan
Translated from Chinese by Jack Hargreaves and Yan YanPublished by Astra House, 2021, 320 pages Kazakh herders in China have been practicing their way of life for centuries. With their cattle, camels, sheep, and horses, they move from pasture to… Continue reading
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This Cold Heaven—Seven Seasons in Greenland: Gretel Ehrlich
Published by Vintage Books, 2001, 377 pages Greta Ehrich visited Greenland in the early 1990s. That was the first of many trips, as she fell under the spell of the place and its people. “My first trip to Greenland was… Continue reading
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Zaatar Days, Henna Nights—Adventures, Dreams, and Destinations Across the Middle East: Maliha Masood
Published by Hachette, 2007, 320 pages “Listen, are you breathing just a little, and calling it a life?” This quote from a poem by Mary Oliver obviously touched a chord with Maliha Masood, since she used it at the beginning of her… Continue reading
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Women Who Walk—How 20 Women from 16 Countries Came to Live in Portugal: Louise Ross
Published by Moyhill Publishing, 2018, 254 pages What motivates someone leave the country of their birth to live and work elsewhere? Louise Ross tries to answer this question by talking to 20 women from a variety of backgrounds who moved… Continue reading
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Shadow City—A Woman Walks Kabul: Taran N. Khan
Published by Penguin, 2019, 304 pages “The stories we tell are often crafted from imperfect memory, drawing on what we remember, forgetting the rest. This is also true of cities, where what we see is only that which is recalled,… Continue reading
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Bella Tuscany—The Sweet Life in Italy: Frances Mayes
Published by Broadway Books, 1999, 304 pages Good travel writing is not just about where to go and where to stay: it is about capturing the essence of a place, the things that make it different and familiar. Frances Mayes… Continue reading
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The Travel Gods Must Be Crazy—Wacky Encounters in Exotic Lands: Sudha Mahalingam
Published by Penguin India, 2019, 272 pages “How did I turn into that unwonted specimen—a middle-aged, middle-class mother of two from a conservative…background traveling solo, long before solo travel became fashionable among Indian women?” Sudha Mahalingam loves to travel but… Continue reading
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Black Woman Walking—A Different Experience of World Travel: Maureen Stone
Published by Gazelle Drake Publishing, 2002, 408 pages Black Woman Walking is a wide-ranging book—Maureen Stone is not just a hiker but also a sociologist. She travels widely and walks everywhere she possibly can, in Africa, the Americas, Asia, Australia, and… Continue reading
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Black Lamb and Grey Falcon—A Journey Through Yugoslavia: Rebecca West
Published by Penguin, 2007, 1,232 pages. First published in 1941 in two volumes. This book, first published in 1941, is a travel classic and a priceless source of information about what used to be Yugoslavia. Rebecca West travelled with her… Continue reading
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How to Climb Mont Blanc in a Skirt—A Handbook for the Lady Adventurer: Mick Conefrey
Published by ONEWorld Publications, 2011, 224 pages “Take every precaution and abandon all fear.” Mary Hall, c. 1905 Why is it, when asked to imagine an explorer, people inevitably think of a sunburned unshaven white man squinting into the sun?… Continue reading
Women's Travel Books 