Do the words travel and wanderlust define everything you are and have become over the years?
If you just said ‘yes’, you’d agree that most of us travel to not just explore different places but to heal our broken souls and run away from the tedious routine of our lives. At the end of the day, will you remember the time spent slugging away at work or the memories of discovering a new destination? Climbing a mountain, lounging on a beach bed, reading your favorite book—these moments will be inculcated in your mind forever. Sometimes, you need to go off the grid to reconnect with your soul! And, if you don’t have the right gubbins filled in your backpack, your travel will become just another ‘fool’s errand’.
To get you packing and traveling, we’ve put together a list of great books that will keep you entertained and flipping through the pages anxiously.
1. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
By far the best-selling book by Coelho, a Brazilian author, ‘The Alchemist’ was first written in Portuguese and quickly became an international bestseller and translated into some 70 languages. Santiago’s adventure from Spain to Egypt will inspire and teach you about life, and how you must never stop chasing your dreams. One of our favorite quotes from this ‘nail-biter’ book is “And when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” You’d find many more quotes from the book that will kindle that fire in your spirit.
When the hills are calling you, grab a copy of ‘The Alchemist’ and embark on your journey with Santiago, and let him awake the ‘pneuma’ in you.
2. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Propelled by the same superb instinct for storytelling that made ‘Kite Runner’ a classic, this is another masterpiece by Khaled Hosseini, narrating an astonishing chronicle of 30 years of Afghan history. Hosseini brings you a deeply moving story of two women as they endure escalating dangers in the time of war. But, he never hovers over the trepidation of his characters’ lives. His portrayal of violence, misery, and abuse is made readable by his skilled and engaging storytelling style.
If you’re a fan of the suspense genre, you must get this book along with you on your next trip!
3. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
A heartache is the hardest to heal. Often it makes you feel as though you’ve lost yourself. In times like these, you must do two things: travel and read ‘Eat, Pray, Love’. This book is a guiding light for lost souls and a testament to how traveling could heal even the darkest scars in our life.
‘Eat, Pray, Love’ is about a woman who finds a rebound after a divorce not through short-term solutions, but through traveling across different countries and finding the soul that got lost deep inside herself. The character, Gilbert, after her divorce, flies to Italy and falls in love with the local Italian cuisine. She then finds her spirituality during her three-month stay in India. As the final stage of soul-searching, she travels to Bali, Indonesia and ends up finding her true love and soulmate. A book that enlightened many, they even made a movie adaptation of it starring the legendary Julia Roberts!
4. Without Reservations by Alice Steinbach
‘Without Reservations’ is a soulful travelogue about a woman’s journey through Europe on her own. In her travelogue, Alice talks about self-introspection and forages for answers to who she is, away from people and all the things that used to define her. She spins her narration on finding her soulmate in Paris – the city of love, learning English Village in the prestigious Oxford University, and befriending a young woman about to be married in Milan.
A must-read for any woman on a journey, this book is bound to make you question your independence, listen to your instinct and help you break free from society’s definition of being a woman.
5. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
A Pulitzer Prize winner, ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ was first published in 1960 and today it’s one of the all-time best-selling books! It is one of those books that everyone should read at least once in their lifetime. A story filled with compassion, hatred and deeply moving narration of the roots of human deportment. This classic literature novel will make you fall in love with the main protagonist, Atticus Finch, who takes a case to court and fights only on the grounds of humanity.
Get inspired and rediscover kindness and humanity with ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ as you’re rediscovering yourself on your expedition.
Few more you can pack in your travel bag:
- A Brief History Of Time by Stephen Hawking
- On The Road by Jack Kerouac
- The Shadow Of The Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
- The God Of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
- Conquering Mountains by Kristin Addis
- Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer
- The Backpacker by John Harris
- The Wild Places by Robert Mcfarlane
- The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger
- A Tale Of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
So there you go! An unputdownable docket of top-drawer, must-read books when you travel.
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