After two summers of pandemic pause, travelers can once again embrace their usual plans and slip a book into the suitcase that quietly confirms what they want to see in a week or two. This summer’s picks span a spectrum from timeless travel literature to fresh voices, from historical takes to bold, imaginative journeys. The selection invites readers to roam from the couch to distant shores with the same sense of adventure and discovery.
Jan Morris. black cock
This landmark travel memoir first appeared in 1960, capturing a city at a moment when it still felt whole and unscathed by mass tourism. It blends melancholy with curiosity, restraint with longing. Morris later wrote about World War II and climbed Everest, but this work remains a deeply subjective, romantic, and expressive portrait. It presents a city not as a mere place, but as a living experience that lingers long after the journey ends.
Williams Atkins. Random House Literature
The desert’s allure, as explored by Lawrence of Arabia, left a lasting imprint on Atkins. He traverses vast, varied landscapes—from Saudi Arabia to Australia—seeking moments of quiet connection with the self. The journeys touch on deserts, dry shores, and even modern rituals like Burning Man in Nevada, offering reflections on how humanity treats the planet while inviting readers to consider their own paths through vast spaces.
Joseph Saramago. alphaguara
Between late 1979 and mid-1980, Saramago took an unplanned countrywide voyage that blends public monuments with intimate landscapes. The narrative centers on encounters with art and history while allowing small stories and the emotional terrain of travel to unfold. For the Portuguese Nobel laureate, travel becomes a route to happiness and insight. This new edition marks the author’s centennial with a fresh look at his reflective journeys.
Javier Back. Plaza and Janes
Published posthumously, this volume stands as a powerful testament from a celebrated Spanish travel writer. In 2019, while facing illness, Reverte undertook a final trek with his characteristic wit intact. The aim is to probe the boundary between West and East, tracing a route from Istanbul to Dubai, across Turkey and Iran, listening to echoes from travelers who came before.
Alastair Bonnett. Black Books
From island visions inspired by Treasure Island to urgent questions about small, fragile lands, Bonnett catalogs islands for science, tourism, and the consequences of human activity. Some islands hold radioactive memories; others hint at new ideas for housing, while some become prisons or mental refuges. The book presents a thoughtful meditation on isolation, discovery, and the cost of curiosity.
Leoncio Robles. skyline
Instead of chasing a fabled kingdom, Robles observes Myanmar during a time of political upheaval. The narrative follows the author as he engages with ordinary people amid crises of governance, corruption, and frequent political shocks. It is a portrait of a nation in transition, seen through the eyes of someone who seeks to understand hope amidst uncertainty.
Javier Cacho. forcola
This reprint revisits the biography of a polar explorer who rose to prominence during the era of epic polar quests. At the turn of the 20th century, as Amundsen outpaced Scott in the South Pole contest, this Irish adventurer pursued routes across frozen seas. Although he did not reach every goal, his survival and leadership helped preserve his crew on the ship Endurance, marking one of the era’s final great ice-bound journeys.
Fanny Stevenson. confluence
Much has been noted about Robert Louis Stevenson’s voyage to the South Seas; less is known about the voyage’s intimate logistics. He sought warmer air for his tuberculosis, and the voyage to Samoa on the Janet Nichol involved careful planning with Fanny Osbourne, who would become his wife. Her diary documents the last days of Tusitala, the affectionate name locals gave the author, preserving a deeply human portrait of travel, love, and endurance.
Paul Theroux. pocket size
Theroux, a towering figure in travel writing and a devotee of train journeys, embarked in 1979 on a transamerican odyssey from Boston to Esquel in Patagonia. He crossed Mexico, visited Machu Picchu, wandered the Brazilian jungles, and encountered Borges in Buenos Aires. Reaching his ultimate destination revealed to him the sense of edge and completion—an end of a long road, a beginning of another kind of journey.
VV.AA. MS Literary Adventures
Exactly a century after Ulysses, MS publishing launched a collection that celebrates the novel as a map of cities. The Dublin setting of 1904 comes alive through evocative scenes of Sherlock Holmes’ London, Pérez Galdós’ Madrid, and Barcelona’s gold fever. The edition invites readers to trace Leopold Bloom’s footsteps and explore literary geography through celebrated portraits and cityscapes.
Ladislaus E. Almasy. Wind Versions
Count Laszlo Almasy, famed for his role in a celebrated film adaptation, emerges here as a driver of exploration and memory. A car pilot and WWII explorer, he swims through the Sahara, discovering the fabled Zarzura oasis and ancient rock art in the Cueva de los Nadadores. His chronicles, originally published in Hungarian in 1934, capture a life spent chasing distant horizons and the thrill of discovery.
Charmian Clift. leopard
Stepping away from the bustle, the Durrells’ island life in Corfu became a beacon for bohemian living. Charmian Clift and George Johnston, along with their children, fostered a legendary sense of sunlit freedom that drew artists and writers, including Leonard Cohen, to Hydra. Clift’s account preserves the mood of those days in a voice that feels intimate, immediate, and alive.
Francisco Carrión. Peninsula
A decade of reporting in Cairo frames Carrión’s narrative as he threads together millions of lives into a single, urgent portrait. From President Sisi to everyday drivers, the book maps social textures during a sprawling urban dynamic, weaving encounters into a human tapestry that captures traffic, power, and the pulse of a city at once ancient and modern.
Andrés Cota Hiriart. asteroid
A Mexican zoologist who travels not just to reach places but to meet beings. His quest spans the Americas for axolotls, anacondas, and crocodiles, then heads to Asia for orangutans and Komodo dragons. With humor, warmth, and a scientist’s curiosity, Cota Hiriart becomes a memoirist of wild places and wild ideas alike.
RM Ballantyne. Zenda / Edhasa
A playful nod to classic adventure, this novel invites young readers to imagine maps, distant shores, and future travel adventures. The Coral Island, set in Polynesia, becomes a canvas where boys chase horizons and a girl’s resilience would have often changed the balance of such stories. The foreword offers a modern lens on this enduring voyage of imagination.