7 Travel-Inspiring Books

A great book can transport us to a different world and make us fall in love with a place. It can also be an excellent resource for trip planning. I asked members of the Stratford Reads Facebook Group what novels inspired them to travel to a particular country. Here are some of their responses.

To read more about these books, or how to purchase, just click on the book title or photo.

7 Travel-Inspiring Reads

1. "100 Days of Happiness" by Fausto Brizzi

While telling the story of the main character’s last 100 days of life, living the way he always should have and making every moment count, Fausto Brizzi paints a beautiful picture of the Italian landscape.

2. "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

A tale of the island of Guernsey during the German Occupation, and of a society as extraordinary as its name.

3. "The Languedoc Trilogy" by Kate Mosse

Kate Mosse paints a vivid picture of southwest France in this historical fiction series.

4. "Wild" by Cheryl Strayed

From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail. A memoir describing a 1,100-mile hike and journey of self-discovery on the Pacific Crest Trail through California and Oregon and into Washington.

5. "Shantaram" by Gregory David Roberts

Based on a true story of a man who breaks out of a maximum-security prison in Australia and flees to the underworld of Bombay where he works as a doctor in the city’s poorest slums.

6. "Two Steps Forward" by Graeme Simsion and Anne Buist

A story about two misfits who walk along the Camino de Santiago from France to Spain to find themselves and, perhaps, each other along the way.

7. "Two Trees Make a Forest" by Jessica J. Lee

A magical description of Taiwan. Interlacing a personal narrative with Taiwan's history and terrain, Two Trees Make a Forest is an intimate examination of the human relationship with geography and nature, and offers an exploration of one woman's search for history and belonging amidst an ever-shifting landscape.