Best Travel Books to Inspire Wanderlust
- Megan Noel Opava
- Jun 16, 2024
- 5 min read
1. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer (nonfiction)
5 stars
A man who never fit in anywhere takes to the road. He ends up in the Alaskan wilderness trying to survive in an old bus. Reads like a novel. Heartbreaking. Raw. One of my favorite journalists. This book inspires you to drop everything and disappear while also needing to hold your loved ones close. Always have a back up plan before it’s too late.
2. Recursion by Blake Crouch (sci-fi)
5++ stars
Time traveling using the mind and creating several realities and dimensions overlayed on top of one another. A secret lab on a platform far out in the middle of the ocean. False Memory Syndrome is spreading rapidly. Makes you evaluate memory and where we stand in the world. What are the outer limits of consciousness?
3. The New Wilderness by Diane Cook (adventure dystopian)
5 stars
A science experiment brings a small group of people to live in the last stretch of wilderness. Here they must be nomadic, always on the move and fully living off the land. Everyone else in the world is in a crowded city where doctors are illegal because the population is too high. A book for those that love the desert and camping. One of the best adventure novels I’ve experienced.
4. The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien (fantasy)
5+++++ stars
I feel this book doesn’t need a description except for masterpiece. A hobbit named Frodo inherits a powerful ring with the power to destroy the world. Him and eight others must deliver the ring to Mount Doom so they can destroy it in the fires. They cross Middle-earth on an epic journey. I’ve heard people say it can be a difficult read, but I didn’t find that so. My tip is never continue if you don’t know who a character is. It’s perfectly alright to flip back and forth to stay on track.
5. Dark Matter by Blake Crouch (sci-fi)
5++ stars
An abandoned building where top scientists once worked. Multi-dimensional. Traveling between realms. An imposter. Science. The imagination of the different worlds combined with the heart racing plot had me floored. The urgency and curiosity keeps you flipping pages until the early morning.
6. The Dark Tower series by Stephen King (sci-fi fantasy)
5+++++ stars
Only the greatest series ever written in my humble opinion. An unlikely group must travel across a post-apocalyptic wasteland in another realm. There are billy bumblers and lobstrosities and thinnies. It was a wild ride. A mash up of sci-fi, fantasy, and thriller. The way everything weaves together. Commentary on humanity throughout history and in different worlds. Friendship. Desperation. Adventure.
7. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (historical thriller)
5 stars
Hidden clues are embedded in the works of Leonardo Da Vinci for all to see, but our ingeniously disguised. Following a trail of riddles, the characters travel all over the world. Secret societies. Conspiracies. A heart pumping race to the truth.
8. American Gods by Neil Gaiman (fantasy)
5+++++ stars
All the gods of the world. For a god to exist all they need is to be created by thought, but some become forgotten. There’s the Gods of old, your traditional ones in paintings. There’s the new gods such as television and cell phones. A traveling, desperate, journey of cosmic intensity.
9. The Stand by Stephen King (character driven thriller)
5 stars
Good vs. Evil. A pandemic hits and how the characters escaped. Post-apocalyptic. Follows the path of characters from all over the country. Found family. Strength. When everything is stripped away, what will transcend out of the ashes? Personally, I loved the uncut version, but I’m also a huge Stephen King fan. Others have found it full of “too much extra detail”.
10. The Anomaly by Michael Rutger (adventure horror)
5++ stars
If you like secrets and what’s hiding underground as much as I do then this book will be one of your top favorites. The suspense and the horror and the claustrophobia and the not knowing. A group of YouTubers who expose conspiracy theories take a trip down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon to find this ancient cave. Well, they find it and what ensues is ancient terrifying madness.
11. How High We Go in The Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu (dystopian literature)
5+ stars
A collection of interconnected fables from around the world. A scientist whose battling her own demons studies the changing climate’s effect in Antarctica. She discovers an ancient civilization frozen in the ice. As it melts away a virus is released. A story of immense loss. Heartbreak. Passing away is so normal that funeral homes and burial/disposal places are everywhere you look. What does it mean to be conscious?
12. Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy (adventure literature)
5++++ stars
Survival, hopelessness, danger, adventure, wandering steps, and passion. A woman is tracking the last Arctic terns as all the animals have been going extinct. She finds one of the last fishing vessels left to take her along their migration. (Fishing has become almost illegal) A beautiful story of growth and hanging onto the last feather of hope. What’s the point of living if everything around us is dying?
13. The Navajo Nightmare by David Sodergren and Steve Stred (extreme horror)
5 stars
A religious, western, nightmare. A couple with tumultuous pasts start a new in a small town, but a group of bandits find them. A pact with a demon. Gruesome. Tortured. Heartbreaking. Can never escape pain. Must set out into the desert.
14. Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain (nonfiction memoir)
Following Anthony Bordain’s rise to success starting from the bottom. Behind the scenes of kitchen culture. The personalities, food sourcing, and overall debauchery. Will make you want to go out and try all the adventurous foods from everywhere.
15. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mendel (post-apocalyptic)
Shakespeare meets a devastating flu pandemic. Kirsten travels the country with a band of actors and musicians. Trying to provide a little bit of light in a suffering world. There are other post-apocalyptic novels that I enjoyed a good deal more than this one, but I still enjoyed it.
16. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children series by Ransom Riggs (YA fantasy)
5+ stars
I was obsessed with this series and ran to get each copy as they came out. Children born with peculiarities, some of which can be very dangerous. An island with abandoned ruins. Stuck in time. Traveling to save lives. Time jumping to avoid death. The author used old, eerie photographs to help inspire the story. Creative. Imaginative. Secrets. What’s hidden just out of site?
17. A Walk in The Woods by Bill Bryson (nonfiction)
Bryson’s experience section hiking the Appalachian Trail. His hilarious, quirky, hardy friends he makes along the way. His personal development of being in the wilderness and overcoming his physical and emotional barriers. It’ll make you want to hit the trail.
With all my book recommendations, please check any trigger warnings if you need to. Some of these books are extreme! Even the books that aren’t marked extreme can still contain material some readers wouldn’t want to experience. Thank you so much for reading my blog! If you enjoy my work please consider using one of the links on my website next time you make a purchase on Amazon as I make a tiny commission each time. Subscribe on the home page to be notified when I write new blogs.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Comments