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Reading Travel Books by Women
Welcome to this site! Many of the travel books featured in book reviews in the mainstream media tend to be by men, although that is slowly changing. On this site, I will be highlighting travel books written by women (and… Continue reading
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Dancing with Cuba—A Memoir of the Revolution: Alma Guillermoprieto
Published by Pantheon, 2004, 290 pages Alma Guillermoprieto is a Mexican journalist who started out wanting to be a dancer. As a young woman, she trained in New York and then spent six months in Cuba in 1970 teaching modern dance. This… Continue reading
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Tales of a Female Nomad—Living at Large in the World: Rita Golden Gelman
Published by Crown, 2001, 320 pages When her marriage starts to disintegrate, Rita Golden Gelman decides to go to Mexico on her own to take a break and think things through. Never having traveled on her own, she is nervous… Continue reading
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A House in Fez—Building a Life in the Ancient Heart of Morocco: Suzanna Clarke
Published by Ebury Press / Simon & Schuster, 2008, 295 pages How many times have you been to a place and dreamed about what it would be like to settle down there? Suzanna Clarke fell in love with Medina, the… Continue reading
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Tigers in Red Weather: Ruth Padel
Published by Little, Brown / Abacus, 2005, 448 pages This is a travel book with a difference: it is also a call for the conservation of wildlife ⎯ tigers in particular ⎯ and wild spaces. Ruth Padel is a single… Continue reading
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Wild by Nature—From Siberia to Australia: Sarah Maquis
Published by Thomas Dunne Books / Allen & Unwin, 2014, 272 pages I love the way Sarah Maquis begins this book: “Put on your shoes. We’re going walking.” And walk she does, equipped with a backpack and a cart, through… Continue reading
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Writing on the Road—Campervan Love and the Joy of Solitude: Sue Reid Sexton
Published by Waverley Books, 2016, 288 pages If you’ve ever dreamed of buying a campervan and disappearing into the wilderness, this book is for you. It has everything you ever wanted to know about them and then some: buying the… Continue reading
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Terra Incognita—Travels in Antarctica: Sara Wheeler
Published by Random House, 1998, 350 pages I was intrigued by this book for two reasons: one, that it is a woman’s account of a trip to the Antarctic—a change from all the books written about the explorations of men… Continue reading
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Why LA? Pourquoi Paris? An Artistic Pairing of Two Iconic Cities: Diane Ratican
With illustrations by Nick Lu and Eric GiriatPublished by Illustre Books, 2014, 256 pages “When you fall in love with a city, it is forever.” This quote from Toni Morrison encapsulates the spirit of this delightful book. Diane Ratican has… Continue reading
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Revolutionary Ride—On the Road in Search of the Real Iran: Lois Pryce
Published by Nicholas Brealey Publishing, 2017, 287 pages One evening in Kensington, London, Lois Pryce finds a note left on her motorcycle from a man called Habib: “I have seen your motorbike and I think you have travelled to many… Continue reading
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Patagonian Road—A Year Alone Through Latin America: Kate McCahill
Published by Santa Fe Writer’s Project, 2017, 350 pages Inspired by Paul Theroux’s travel book, The Old Patagonian Express, Kate McCahill decides to take a year off and travel through Latin America. Unlike Theroux, she is determined to spend time in… Continue reading
Women's Travel Books 