The Travelers' Tales Women's Travel List
The Travelers' Tales Guide to the Best Women's Travel Books
Here are twenty-two of our favorite women's travel books-remarkable for their passion, insight, and territory covered. These timeless stories of women's journeys reveal the countless ways women are empowered to discover the world and themselves through travel.
- Bury Me Standing
Isabel Fonseca
Gypsies are known for traveling endlessly and almost everywhere, yet they are among the world's most mysterious people. Fonseca lives and travels with them and lifts the curtain on this fascinating culture. (Vintage: 067973743X)
- Fifty Years of Europe
Jan Morris
A unique mosaic of a book by the incomparable Jan Morris, built of anecdotes, history, and personal recollections. Europe's dramatic last half a century is explored through Morris's individual, serious yet witty lens. A thorough, poignant and masterful book. (Villard Books: 0679416102)
- Give Me the World
Leila Hadley
Hadley originally published this memoir in 1958 but it is finding a whole new audience in its newly released edition. Most of her 18-month trek through Manila, Hong Kong, Siam, Singapore, India, and Damascus, is spent sailing on a schooner where she is a bona fide shipmate. With a remarkable eye for detail, luminous prose, and a keen sense of what makes for fascinating reading, Hadley's talent is unleashed in this intoxicating memoir. You won't be able to put it down. (Dunne Books: 0312198884)
- Go Girl!
Elaine Lee (ed.)
Maya Angelou, Alice Walker, and Gwendolyn Brooks are just a few of the African-American women who contribute to this unique collection. Part personal travel narrative, part guidebook for African-American women, Go Girl! showcases travel in its myriad nature: as fun and free-spirited, as adventurous and daring, as relaxing and escapist, and as pilgrimage and transformative. (Eighth Mountain Press: 0933377428)
- Italian Days
Barbara Grizutti Harrison
Harrison acts as Italian tour guide extraordinaire in this joyful journey down the Italian boot. Many things at once - passionate and informed, philosophical and descriptive, exhilarating and calming - Grizutti renders with lyrical prose one of the richest cultures in the world. (Atlantic Monthly Press: 0871137275)
- Kite Strings of the Southern Cross
Laurie Gough
This is a passionate and poetic travel narrative about Gough's return to a Fijian paradise, interwoven with tales of her other journeys around the world from Malaysia to Morocco. Her story is heartwarming, funny, and wise-a profound testament to the lessons of the road. Winner of the ForeWord Magazine Silver Medal for Best Travel Narrative. (Travelers' Tales: 1885211309)
- Maiden Voyages
Mary Morris and Larry O'Connor (eds.)
Arranged chronologically, covering vast time and territory, this marvelous collection showcases some of the best in women's travel writing over the past three hundred years. From Mary Wollstonecraft to Edith Wharton, Willa Cather to Annie Dillard, Maiden Voyages presents an ensemble of talent of the most impressive and inspirational kind-a collection destined to whet your own travel bug. (Vintage Books: 0679740309)
- My Journey to Lhasa
Alexandra David-Neel
This spirited adventure tells the story of Frenchwoman David-Neel, who made history in the early 1900s by walking, disguised as a male beggar, from China across Tibet and into the forbidden and fabled city of Lhasa. She was the first Western woman ever to enter the city. (Beacon Press: 080705903X)
- The Names of Things
Susan Brind Morrow
Morrow's deeply personal memoir, written in impressionistic vignettes, reveals the fascinating landscape of Egypt and her near-mystical love of language. Eloquent and enchanting, this is a marvelous read. (Broadway: 1573226807)
- Nothing to Declare
Mary Morris
This extraordinarily popular memoir merges compassionate and honest descriptions of Morris' Central American travels with a poignant, at times turbulent, and ultimately transformative inner journey. Living in the Mexican town of San Miguel de Allende, Morris interweaves reflections on her parents' difficult marriage and her own unfulfilling past relationships with stories of friendship, love, and her travels through Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua. (St. Martins Press: 0312199414)
- Out of Africa
Isak Dinesen
Dinesen ran a coffee plantation in Kenya in the early part of the twentieth century. This book portrays a strong, determined, and sensitive woman living in a strange and beguiling land-hunting lions by night, raising an orphaned antelope, and establishing an independent life among Africans and colonial adventurers. (Modern Library: 0679600213)
- The Road from the Past
Ina Caro
This delightful tour of France blends the country's rich history with personal reflection. From the Provence to the Loire Valley to Paris, discover the multi-layered and fascinating ingredients that comprise this most colorful of countries. (Harvest Books: 0156003635)
- The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down
Anne Fadiman
A brilliant and tragic account of a culture clash between Eastern spirituality and Western medicine, in which the main victim is a little girl. Lia Lee, born to a family of Hmong immigrants from Laos, develops epilepsy as a baby, and immediately a terrible cycle of cultural misunderstanding and disagreement ensues. Masterfully researched, Fadiman relays this complex and heartbreaking story with immense compassion and respect for both sides. (Farrar Straus & Giroux: 0374525641)
- Teaching a Stone to Talk
Annie Dillard
With an evocative and wise style, Dillard emerges once again as a maverick of description, paying exquisite homage to detail-particularly natural and historical. The immensity and profundity of nature are never better realized, nor is the feeling of reverence, than in this remarkable collection of essays. (HarperCollins: 0060915412)
- Two Towns in Provence
M.F.K. Fisher
Fisher is hailed as "a national treasure" and represents the essence of France and gastronomy. This edition includes Fisher's classic and unforgettable portraits of Aix-en-Provence and Marseille, Map of Another Town and A Considerable Town. As always, Fisher blends together charming characters and memorable meals in this very personal reminiscence of two of her favorite towns in France. (Vintage Books: 0394716310)
- Unbeaten Tracks in Japan
Isabella Bird
From the foremother of today's women travelers - a classic tale from 1880 by the first woman to explore the interior of Japan. Experienced during a time when women did not explore alone, this is a groundbreaking book-illuminating a side of Japan little known today. Bird is remarkable and for those interested in women's travel, spirituality, and eastern culture - this is a must read. (Travelers' Tales: 1885211-570)
- Under the Tuscan Sun
Frances Mayes
Join Mayes and immerse yourself in the intoxicating culture of rural Tuscany-specifically, as it unfolds from her dream home, Bramasole, a once-abandoned villa in Cortona, where she and her partner, Ed, come for summers. Mayes transforms the day-to-day components of making a house a home-painting, gardening, tiling, and cooking - into sheer, soul-nourishing delight, and brings Italy's sights, smells, sounds, and tastes to irresistible life. (Broadway: 0767900383)
- West with the Night
Beryl Markham
A true explorer, Markham grew up in East Africa and became an African bush pilot in the 1930s. She was the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic from east to west, and in this inspirational and wise memoir, Markham recounts her discoveries, rescues, and narrow escapes. This is much more than a pilot's memoir - it is women's adventure at its finest. (North Point Press: 0865471185)
- A Woman's Passion for Travel
Marybeth Bond and Pamela Michael (eds.)
In the footsteps of the best-selling A Woman's World - this new collection of adventurous and inspirational stories showcases the best women's travel writing today. In these stories women seek adventure and find it-experiencing personal transformation along the way. Includes stories from Frances Mayes, Anne Lamott, Pam Houston, Mary Morris, Lindsy Van Gelder, and more. (Travelers' Tales: 1885211368)
- A Woman's World
Marybeth Bond (ed.)
This collection of stories inspires women to set out for adventure and make their own dreams real. The stories span continents, cross generations, and are written by every kind of traveler, from novice to adventurer. Winner of the Lowell Thomas Award for Best Travel Book. (Travelers' Tales: 1885211066)
- Women Travel
Natania Jansz, Miranda Davies, Emma Drew & Lori McDougall (eds.)
Over eighty contributors - including Margaret Atwood, Sara Wheeler, and Carla King - comprise this rich and varied collection of women's travel stories. Showcasing a remarkable range of experiences, voices, and destinations Women Travel offers a uniquely female perspective on world travel. (Rough Guides: 1858284597)
Return to The Travelers' Tales Women's Travel List
Bold and daring, great women adventurers wager risks and push their limits against the extremes. Whether trekking, tracking, hiking, rafting, flying, cycling, or climbing, these books confirm that women cross personal as well as physical boundaries in their search for adventure.
- Annapurna
Arlene Blum
An inspiring chronicle of the first all-women ascent of a major Himalayan peak. This 1978 expedition of thirteen women had a dramatic impact upon the world of women's high adventure travel, and changed perceptions of women's endurance. An intimate portrait of an extraordinary team of women, this is a moving story of daring and determination, with an outcome that is both tragic and triumphant. Recently published in a twentieth anniversary edition. (Sierra Club: 1578050227)
- Climbing High
Lene Gammelgaard
Gammelgaard was the first Scandinavian woman to reach the summit of Mt. Everest. In this account of her climb, she details both her triumph and the horrendous and deadly blizzard of 1996 that overshadowed her remarkable feat. (Seal Press: 1580050239)
- East Along the Equator
Helen Winternitz
Penetrating equatorial Africa has never been easy, and this account of a woman's journey up the Congo River from Kinshasa to Kisangani will confirm that travel there is as difficult as ever. Her great adventure is fraught with peril from an unseaworthy vessel, corrupt officials, thieves, and the dangers of disease along the river. The political landscape has changed since the book was written, but the challenges remain the same. (Grove/Atlantic: 0871131625)
- A Lady in the Rocky Mountains
Isabella Bird
Bird is considered the foremother of modern women travel writers. Taking her doctor's advice, she left England at the age of 22 to travel as a cure for her ill health. In the winter of 1873, Bird ventured alone, mostly on horseback, through the Rocky Mountain wilderness. She befriended desperados, herded cattle at a hard gallop, fell through ice, got lost in snowstorms, and lived in a cabin so cold her ink froze as she wrote. This is classic women's travel at its most adventurous. (University of Oklahoma Press: 0806113286)
- Leading Out
Rachel da Silva (ed.)
A collection of riveting mountaineering tales. Included within this collection are engaging historical accounts by early women climbers - Gwen Moffat, Collete Richard, Dorothy Pilley - and contemporary women daring to climb mountains all over the world. This is an extraordinary tribute to women's unyielding strength, passion, and spirit. (Seal Press: 1580050107)
- Miles from Nowhere
Barbara Savage
A classic for touring cyclists, Savage tells a spirited, heartwarming and wonderfully down-to-earth tale of the 23,000 mile, round-the-world bicycle trip she took with her partner, Larry. The joie de vivre, humor, and spunk captured in this epic journey will motivate any would-be adventurer to set out and see the world - or, at the very least, to follow their dreams. (Mountaineers Books: 0898861098)
- Muddling Through Madagascar
Dervla Murphy
A funny and playful story of a mother-daughter trip around Madagascar, in which a large number of mishaps befall them. Humor and honesty triumph in Murphy's accounting, which seamlessly interweaves rich and fascinating history, lore, and basic information about this huge East African island. (Overlook Press: 087951342X)
- Point Last Seen
Hannah Nyala
The art of tracking emerges as a metaphor for finding one's own path in this harrowing story of Nyala's journey toward survival and independence. With two kids in tow, Nyala escapes an abusive husband and finds work as a professional tracker at a national park. Exceptionally perceptive, Point Last Seen reveals the terror of family violence while illuminating the intricacies of tracking - the importance of observing every nuance - and the ways in which this skill became life-saving for Nyala and her children. (Penguin USA: 0140274634)
- Polar Dream
Helen Thayer
Told it could never be done, Thayer, at the age of fifty, became the first woman to ski solo to the North Pole. With her beloved husky Charlie, Thayer traveled 345 miles in 27 days and confronted her fears and a few polar bears along the way. A remarkable adventure and a testament to the bond between a woman and her dog. (Delta: 0385312628)
- Shooting the Boh
Tracy Johnston
Johnston participated in the first descent of the wild Boh River in Borneo. Dealing with extreme rapids, giant leeches, incapacitating foot rot, hot flashes, and a back problem, Johnston takes the reader on an intense and empowering ride. (Vintage Books: 0679740104)
- Solo
Susan Fox Rogers (ed.)
An insightful collection of writing which ought to inspire anyone considering venturing into the great outdoors alone. From Montana to Ladakh, New Zealand to Alaska, each story offers honest and probing journeys geared both inward toward greater self-awareness, and outward toward the magnificent, wild parts of the earth. (Seal Press: 1878067745)
- Tents in the Clouds
Monica Jackson and Elizabeth Stark
Written almost half a century ago, here's a timeless look at the first all-women expedition into the Himalayas. In this compelling and spirited tale, Jackson, Stark, and Evelyn Camrass make the first ascent of an unknown peak over 22,000 feet. It's a marvelous, engaging adventure rendered in vivid detail, putting a new spin on the history of mountaineering, and providing a great background to compare and contrast the sport forty years ago and today. (Seal Press: 1580050336)
- Terra Incognita
Sara Wheeler
In this engaging book, Wheeler brings alive the past by weaving her own adventures in Antarctica with those of explorers from the past (Shackleton, Scott, Amundsen), giving insights into the lives of men and women who bravely work under isolated and difficult conditions year round. (Modern Library: 0375753389)
- Tracks
Robyn Davidson
This is a completely marvelous story of a woman, her dog, and four camels crossing the stark and isolated Australian Outback. As she faces the challenges of the desert, Davidson discovers resources within herself that mirror the riches of the vast land she traverses. Davidson emerges as a heroine who combines sensitivity and extraordinary courage. (Vintage: 0679762876)
- Women in the Wild
Lucy McCauley (ed.)
A first-rate collection of women's adventure stories in which they foray into the wilderness kayaking, flying, swimming, hiking, camping and climbing around the globe. Includes stories by Annie Dillard, Jane Goodall, Alice Walker, Louise Erdrich, Robyn Davidson, Tracy Johnston, Gretel Erlich, and Terry Tempest Williams. (Travelers' Tales: 188521121X)
- Zero Three Bravo
Mariana Gosnell
A gift for those who love to fly, Gosnell traveled across America in her single-engine plane. She stops off at familiar and unfamiliar places, hiking, backpacking, exploring new terrain when the weather permitted. A risk-taker, Gosnell saw America the way few do. You will surely be seduced by her enthusiasm for flight. (Touchstone Publications: 0671892088)
Return to The Travelers' Tales Women's Travel List
In the following diverse collection of books, women explore and become mindful on the spiritual path. From personal pilgrimages to spiritual awakenings, these courageous and thoughtful writers discover travel of the most personal kind - journeys of the soul.
- Between the Earth and the Sky
Jamie Zeppa
With the decision of marriage or graduate school ahead of her, Zeppa decides that neither are her course in life and accepts a position to teach English in the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan. This coming-of-age memoir provides a fascinating portrait of the culture, sharing the celebrations and sorrows of the people while she reveals her own love and commitment to a country she comes to claim as her own. (Riverhead: 157322118X)
- Crossing to Avalon
Jean Shinoda Bolen, Ph.D.
Upon the invitation of a stranger, Bolen undertakes an extraordinary midlife journey to sacred sites around the world. From Chartres to Glastonbury, from Iona to Findhorn, Bolen voyages on both an outer and inner pilgrimage, which she shares with humor, intelligence and wisdom. This many-leveled journey combines Bolen's ideas, research, and feelings, celebrating both the mystery of the feminine and the spirit of adventure. (HarperSanFrancisco: 0062502727)
- Canyon Solitude
Patricia McCairen
McCairen was the first woman since the 1950s to travel solo down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. This inspirational book is a must read for rafters, hikers, and anyone thinking of embarking on a solo adventure in the wild. (Seal Press: 1580050077)
- Dakota
Kathleen Norris
Norris brings to life the heart of America in this evocative book. A tribute to the Great Plains and their power to transform human spirits, Norris reexamines her heritage, religion, language, and the land itself. Self- discovery, spirituality, and geography come together in this very personal story. (Houghton Mifflin: 039571091X)
- Islands, the Universe, Home
Gretel Ehrlich
A gorgeous and evocative collection of essays in tribute to the power, beauty, and mystery of the Wyoming wild. Ehrlich, a native Californian, renders with keen and poetic observance the cycles of life on her ranch, gleaning wisdom from nature and its ongoing paradoxes. (Penguin USA: 0140109072)
- The Last Wild Edge
Susan Zwinger
Merging a poetic sensibility with a naturalist eye, Zwinger compresses twelve years of travel through the Arctic, Canada, and the Northwest into a reflective narrative of memoir and natural history. Full of joyful enthusiasm, as well as passionate concern for endangered old-growth forests, The Last Wild Edge provides an intimate exploration into the subject close to Zwinger's heart: the wild. (Johnson Books: 1555662412)
- Long, Quiet Highway
Natalie Goldberg
Honesty and illumination mark this compelling story of Natalie Goldberg's spiritual awakening. Always from the heart, Goldberg shares her passion for writing, her journey into Zen Buddhism, marital ups and downs, the tapestry of a suburban childhood, and her ongoing pledge to a spiritual practice. A lucid and luminous memoir about finding one's true path. (Bantam Doubleday Dell: 0553373153)
- Refuge
Terry Tempest Williams
This evocative and disturbing story interweaves the illnesses and deaths of Williams' mother and grandmother from cancer with the Great Salt Lake's record heights that same year, and its devastating impact upon the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge. In this intimate portrait of place and family, love and loss, we discover that Williams' family witnessed nuclear bomb tests when she was a child, which Williams is convinced led to her mother's and grandmother's cancer. A haunting yet beautiful journey of personal and political impact. (Vintage Books: 0679740244)
- The Road from Coorain
Jill Kerr Conway
The remarkable and moving story of Conway's life, written with breath-taking grace, clarity, and authenticity. From a childhood in New South Wales and Australia, to her successful life as a career woman in the United States, Conway relays her painful and inspiring journey toward an original, independent life. (Vintage Books: 0679724362)
- Talking to High Monks in the Snow
Lydia Minatoya
A luminous journey into mystery and confusion, grace and discovery. When Minatoya loses her teaching job in the United States, she comes into an exhilarating freedom never before tasted; with it, she travels to Asia to teach and Japan to visit relatives - a trip that becomes a renewing and transformative spiritual adventure. (HarperCollins: 0060923725)
- 36 Views of Mount Fuji
Cathy N. Davidson
An evocative, genuine, and extraordinarily textured travel memoir, drawn from Davidson's ten years of living and working in Japan. Her effort to understand the heart of the country yields the culture's infinite, nuanced layers, and leads Davidson along a rich and rewarding personal journey. Witty and honest and terrifically original. (Plume: 0452272408)
- A Woman's Path
Lucy McCauley, Amy G. Carlson & Jennifer Leo (eds.)
Around the globe and across religions, these tales of discovery offer an uncommon look at personal transformation. Inspiring and insightful, this collection invites all women to step outside their everyday lives and be open to an awakening. Authors include: Maya Angelou, Anne Lamott, Linda Ellerbee, Sue Bender, Natalie Goldberg, Joan Halifax, Kim Chernin, Diane Ackerman, and more. (Travelers' Tales: 1885211481)
Return to The Travelers' Tales Women's Travel List
With tips and advise from the five following books, every woman traveler will be assured a safe, healthy, and daring journey. Go forth and be bold!
- The Fearless Shopper
Kathy Borrus
The Fearless Shopper prepares you to take on the world with tips, wisdom, and anecdotes, from back alley bargaining to the best in cybershopping. As a professional buyer for the Smithsonian, Borrus roamed the world looking for treasures and striking great bargains. In this unique and spirited book, she shares her shopping secrets with you. An extensive regional buyers guide reveals the best markets and stores, local specialties, and places to strike the best deals on the planet. (Travelers' Tales: 1885211392)
- Gutsy Women
Marybeth Bond
Bond, whose A Woman's World won the Lowell Thomas Award for Best Travel Book, provides an indispensable pocket guide with travel tips for women on the road. Now there is no excuse for not pursuing that elusive dream that takes you out of the neighborhood and onto the road toward unknown destinations. You'll love this book for the short trip or the year-long odyssey. (Travelers' Tales: 1885211155)
- A Journey of One's Own
Thalia Zepatos
For any woman who wants to travel but fears traveling alone, Thalia Zepatos has compiled an enthusiastic, wise, and honest book that addresses concerns of particular pertinence to solo women travelers: safety issues, health concerns, sexual harassment, and cultural dynamics. Superbly organized, interweaving personal travel essays with practical topics, Zepatos acts as an encouraging, warm, and inspirational guide and teacher. (Eighth Mountain Press: 0933377363)
- The Packing Book
Judith Gilford
Who among us, even the most seasoned of travelers, couldn't use a bit of packing assistance? This is the perfect book with which to learn - or remember - to pack light without forgetting a thing. Complete with packing check lists for a multitude of outings - with children or without, to climates hot or cold, terrains high or low - Gilford doesn't miss a beat. She provides advice on everything from packing for medical needs, to how to fold clothes for minimal wrinkling, to what to do about those inevitable travel stains. A great resource. (Ten Speed Press: 1580080219)
- Safety & Security for Women Who Travel
Sheila and Peter Laufer
Safety is the #1 concern of women travelers. This invaluable book will help readers travel the world safely and with confidence. Learn how to: spot a scam artist; avoid sexual predators; determine when a treat is real; find a trustworthy guide; have fun in spite of travel snafus. (Travelers' Tales: 1885211295)
Return to The Travelers' Tales Women's Travel List
|
