I’ve never been one for New Year’s resolutions, but this year I did want to challenge myself in a few ways. I’ve been wanting to work more on this blog and my travel writing, and I’ve also set a higher goal on Goodreads this year than last year. Between these two things I saw an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone, so I came up with this One Year of Travel Memoirs project –Â every month this year I’ll read a different travel memoir or autobiography – and I’m really excited to get started!
In addition to helping with my reading goal, I’m looking forward to learning more about travel writing and traveling from this little project. Maybe in some small way it will help me become a better writer for this blog. I imagine that even if it doesn’t, I’ll find some interesting new places to add to my list and a lot of travel inspiration through this experience!
Every month I’ll post a review about the book I read, and a little information about its globetrotting author and the places he or she wrote about. I have all twelve books picked out, and I’ve started the first (Under a Lucky Star) already. Stay tuned for a review in a few weeks!
I tried to choose them with some diversity (I have an equal number of male and female writers, and a variety of destinations) but there are fewer travel memoirs/autobiographies of travelers than you would think! Most of mine are also not very recent – I wanted to choose ones that have at least somewhat stood the test of time.
Here’s my full list of 12 books for the year:
Under a Lucky Star – Roy Chapman Andrews – Review here
Out of Africa – Isak Dinesen (really Karen von Blixen) – Review here
Travels of Ibn Battutah – Ibn Battutah
West with the Night – Beryl Markham
Motorcycle Diaries (Diarios de motocicleta) – Ernesto “Che” Guevara
I Married Adventure – Osa Johnson
The Sea and the Jungle – H.M. Tomlinson
The Cruel Way – Ella Maillart
Travels of Marco Polo – Marco Polo
Perseus in the Wind – Freya Stark
Innocents Abroad – Mark Twain
A Woman’s Journey Around the World – Ida Pfeiffer
Thankyou for sharing helpful information
I really liked the blog. Very Informative.Thank you for sharing it!