Travel Books: Explore The World With The Olferts

Looks like we won’t be able to travel out of Canada for a while so I thought it might be fun for Everyday Tourist readers to share some of their favourite travel reads. Leila Olfert who has travelled extensively with her husband Charles, recently shared with me the following recommendations.

Charles really loved the Bibliotheca Alexandrina by Snohetta Architects and thought it was interesting to compare it to Calgary’s new Central Library by the same firm.

Egypt to Cuba

When we were in Egypt, we both read Cleopatra by Margaret George. It is a really big book but thankfully we had it on our Kindles! Based on the Egypt of 200 BC, it set us up for some very unrealistic expectations of Alexandria.

While in India, we both read Holy Cow! by Sarah MacDonald. This is a funny adventure of MacDonald's quest to find peace in a land of chaos and contradiction. Also from India, was Private India by Ashwin Sanghi and James Patterson. This story takes place in Mumbai. Even though the book isn't a great literary work, it was fun to read this while we were in Mumbai. Charles also read "Shantaram" which was recommended by our Indian travel agent. It's an epic adventure that covers many of the grittier aspects of life in India.

Naked Came the Manatee, edited by Carl Hiassen was a book we read in Cuba - about Cuba. This book includes just about all the famous Florida authors at the time.

Each had been challenged to write a chapter of a book, but they couldn't write their chapter until the one before it had been published. They then had a week to write the next chapter.

As you can imagine, the story takes many twists and turns! We were told later that it was a wonder we got it into the country as it was very controversial. The goal is to get the severed head of a famous person who could change the course of history. Guess who that was?

Hawaii to Russia

Moloka'i by Alan Brennert is a story about the Hawaiin island in the days of the leper colony. We had just been there so we could visualize where locations were.

Charles re-read Hawaii by James Michener during that trip which added a lot of texture. This book talks a lot about the complex relationship between the Japanese and the Hawaiin islands which of course features the Pacific war prominently.

We had recently been to Sai-Pan and Tinian (a small island where the atomic bombs were assembled and delivered to Hiroshima and Nagasaki) and it really helped give these another level of reality. Charles also read Tales of the South Pacific by Michener when we were in Tahiti. These books are dated and slow moving, but the detail is incredible.

Another author who loves the detail and history is Edward Rutherford. Charles first read Russka when we were in Russia. It really helps you understand the character of the Russian people. He has also written great books about Paris and London.

Iceland to Mexico City

Names for the Sea by Sarah Moss is a diary of a family who move to Reykjavik for a year on a teaching assignment. It talks of daily life and it's intricacies but it also speaks of the magic of Iceland - the Aurora Borealis, visiting volcanoes, meeting people who talk to elves and swimming in geothermal heated outdoor pools. We visited there in winter and now want to return to experience this magical place in the summer, when the roads are not so icy!

There are also books we read as a result of having travelled. Greg Illes is an American author who writes about the American South - particularly Louisiana and Mississippi. We first heard about Greg from a helicopter pilot we met at the very end of the Mississippi delta These are really intense mystery stories that typically occur around Nathez, Mississippi.

On that same trip we traveled to a specific place as a result of a book.

We made a side trip during this Highway 61 Blues road trip to go to New Iberia, Louisiana, only because Charles wanted to experience the Bayou area that is the domain of Dave Robicheaux in the series of novels by James Lee Burke. It was a wonderful detour.

We stayed in a private plantation B&B for a few nights, got a private tour of the bayou canals by hanging out on the docks and spent an evening with Cajun zydeco music in a local bar. It was all too much fun. We played a lot of CCR on the car radio (i.e. Born on the bayou and Cotton Fields). There are lots more blogs related to music travel (as you well know).

After Mexico City, Charles read Aztec (by Gary Jennings) on the recommendation of our Mexico City architect friend. It's a 1000 page epic covering the many civilizations in Central America before and during their first encounters with the Spanish. He finished the book in Puerto Rico which made it quite meaningful.