Continental shelf
In the introduction to his 2011 collection, AA Gill is Further Away, the acerbic and endlessly entertaining writer and critic describes "a perverse snobbery about first-person travel writing: 'I'm here, and you, well, you're not here' . . . I'm always conscious that the first thing I have to do is to bring whoever picks up this page with me".
The best travel writing picks up the reader by exploring a destination's nuances and contradictions; it appeals to the intellect and the senses; it is part memoir, travelogue and cultural history. While it is impossible to create a definitive list of the must-read travel books, here are 10 memorable titles - in no particular order - by authors you must seek out.
VENICE
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Jan Morris
"Venice is a cheek-by-jowl, back-of-the-hand, under-the-counter, higgledy-piggledy, anecdotal city, and she is rich in piquant wrinkled things, like an assortment of bric-a-brac in the house of a wayward connoisseur, or parasites on an oyster-shell," wrote Morris in her 1960 love letter to La Serenissima, which has since been revised and has never been out of print. Critics condemn this early work for being overly sentimental and florid but it is a must-read for those who appreciate eloquent insight into a city that has enthralled travellers for centuries.
IN PATAGONIA
Bruce Chatwin
Chatwin set off in the mid-1970s for a six-month journey through South America and produced this peculiar and influential debut book. In Patagonia is a postmodern collage and it overturned the conventional travelogue with its 97 untitled segments, some only a paragraph in length. He explores myths - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid are mentioned throughout - and seeks out bizarre and eccentric characters including the Sect of the Brujeria, which makes waistcoats from dead Christians, and Thomas Bridges, who made it his life's work to construct a dictionary of the Yaghan Indian language.
THE GREAT RAILWAY BAZAAR
Paul Theroux
Picking a favourite Theroux title is like choosing a favourite child and while Bazaar is more than 35 years old, the best-seller has stood the test of time. The writer sets off from London on a four-month journey through Europe and Asia by train (and some essential flights), and the railway fanatic is in his element. He is a masterful observer who likes to see "countries with their trousers down", and he provides a cast of colourful characters. Theroux's writing is informative and lyrical. Simply the best. (It is also worth reading his account of his repeat journey three decades later, Ghost Train to the Eastern Star).
WILD
Cheryl Strayed
On a whim after spotting a hiking guide in a camping store, Strayed decides to tackle the arduous Pacific Crest Trail from California to Canada on her own over three gruelling months. She is broken after her mother's early death from cancer and has descended into drug addiction, crushing grief and self-loathing. Strayed has no idea what she is doing when she loads up her backpack, which she aptly calls "Monster", and sets off to save herself. This is travel memoir at its most powerful, brimming with sharp observations about her surrounds and her tormented inner self.
AMONG THE RUSSIANS
Colin Thubron
"I had been afraid of Russia ever since I could remember." So begins Thubron's journey through the USSR at the end of the Brezhnev era in a second-hand Morris Marina with the KGB in tow. There are few travel writers more highly regarded than this erudite Londoner who has spent his 45-year career exploring the Middle East, Russia and remote regions of China and Central Asia. His writing is dense and layered with history and anthropology. Thubron possesses an obsessive curiosity and can be fearless to the point of foolhardiness. This is the first in his quartet of books that feature Russia and is arguably the most satisfying.
TRACKS
Robyn Davidson
Davidson arrived in Alice Springs in the late 1970s "with a dog, $6 and a small suitcase full of inappropriate clothes". She intended to train a handful of camels before crossing the great desert to reach the west Australian coast with her beloved dog Diggity. This memoir recounts her epic 2700-kilometre trek as well as its transformative impact. She learns about solitude, resilience and inner peace. The writing is crisp, intimate and evocative. A film starring Mia Wasikowska as Davidson will be released this year.
FALLING OFF THE MAP: SOME LONELY PLACES OF THE WORLD
Pico Iyer
Published in the early '90s, this early work of Iyer's is showing its age, but read it as an insightful account of journeying to far-flung places such as North Korea - not much has changed there! - Paraguay, Iceland, Cuba and Bhutan. (He describes the loneliness of Australia, with its high, smiling, empty skies.) Iyer is as much a philosopher as a traveller and he has a contemplative, lyrical writing style. If you enjoy Falling, move on to The Global Soul.
DOWN UNDER
Bill Bryson
A less parochial choice would be Bryson's bestselling account of his journey on the Appalachian Trail, A Walk in the Woods, but his Australian sojourn is just as humorous. During his three trips here, including crossing the country on the Indian Pacific train, he is struck by how little is known about the continent on the international stage; he is especially gob-smacked that we managed to lose a prime minister (Harold Holt). Down Under is worth reading for Bryson's Canberra experience - John Howard is described as the "dullest man in Australia" - as well as his observations about our "unaccountably overlooked" indigenous population.
BLACK LAMB AND GREY FALCON
Rebecca West
After three trips to the former Yugoslavia in the late 1930s with Europe on the brink of war, the much-lauded British journalist and critic West produced this complex, meandering book. It is as weighty as the Old Testament and sometimes just as clunky, but West's five years of exhaustive research and a clear-headed determination to make sense of this volatile part of the world means it is also a classic of the genre. Given the horror that tore Yugoslavia apart in the 1990s, West's insight remains significant.
IN XANADU: A QUEST
William Dalrymple
At 22, Dalrymple left Cambridge where he studied history and set off to trace Marco Polo's 700-year-old route from Jerusalem to the site of Shangdu, aka Xanadu, in Inner Mongolia. He travelled the width of Asia, passing through Acre, Aleppo, Tabriz, Tashkurgan and other exotic locales. It is a rugged, dusty and fascinating journey and it launched his successful career as a travel writer and historian. A witty, knowledgeable and charming narrator, Dalrymple's other travel titles, City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi, From the Holy Mountain and The Age of Kali are equally compelling.
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