Africa
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Loitering with Intent—Diary of a Happy Traveller: Ritu Menon
Published by Speaking Tiger Books, 2016, 248 pages Ritu Menon does not like to travel alone for pleasure, as she announces in the first line of this book. She likes to explore places with her friends. Loitering with Intent is an… Continue reading
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Moving Mountains—Intrepid Women Climbers and the Peaks Named in Their Honour: Rosemary J. Brown
Published by The History Press, 2026, 282 pages If you are asked to name mountaineers who have climbed some of the tallest peaks in the world, do you think mainly of climbers who are men? If you do, you are… Continue reading
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Stories of the Sahara: Sanmao
Translated from Chinese by Mike FuPublished by Bloomsbury Publishing, 1976, 416 pages Sanmao, a Taiwanese writer, had always been attracted to the desert. In the early 1970s, she and her Spanish partner José moved to El Aaiún, the capital of… Continue reading
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Food on the Move—Dining on the Legendary Railway Journeys of the World: edited by Sharon Hudgins
Published by Reaktion Books, 2019, 256 pages There is something magical about sitting on a train, eating well while staring out of the window at a constantly changing vista. So when I came across this book that combines two of… Continue reading
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Following Nellie Bly—Her Record-Breaking Race Around the World: Rosemary J. Brown
Published by Pen & Sword Books Ltd., 2021, 184 pages “I want to go around [the world] in eighty days or less. I think I can beat Phileas Fogg’s record. May I try it?” The idea came from Nellie Bly,… 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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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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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
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The Shooting Star—A Girl, Her Backpack and the World: Shivya Nath
Published by Penguin, 2018, 201 pages The Shooting Star starts with Shivya Nath deep in the Amazon rainforest (around the border between Ecuador and Peru), taking part in a shamanic cleansing ritual that involves drinking ayahuasca, an Amazonian plant that is… Continue reading
Women's Travel Books 