Travel Reads

The only thing better than a good trip is a good book to take along with you. While I do like re-reading books I also love new ones. I’ve let a randomizer choose my destination, done a bit of research, and chosen some books which I have yet to read that I think would suit the vacation. Let’s go!

#1. Central African Republic

This is a sub-Saharan country which is rather more war-torn than any country would like to be, to say the least. As far as I can see tourists visit either the major cities or they go on safari in the national reserves. Although my dream is to see Namibian lions, going on safari and seeing all sorts of African animals in the wild would be a dream come true. For this trip I’ve chosen Dark Age: Political Odyssey of Bokassa by Brian Titley. I have to admit that normally I don’t care to read history books that haven’t been updated within the past ten years, simply because this practice was drilled into me by my university professors. “If I see a citation from an article over ten years old I’m docking points!” Still, despite having been published in 1997 this book has just a little over a four star rating on Good Reads. Considering I know very little about the Central African Republic, I think this is probably a good starting point.

#2. Jersey

No, not New Jersey. This one is a British Island just off the coast of France. It along with Guernsey was subject to German occuptation during the second world war. There are a load of historical sites including the old German Underground Hospital, Elizabeth Palace, the military museum, and all sorts of natural attractions so I’m really spoiled for choice in terms of what to do on this island. In terms of reading material, I had a book while I was in England that I never got to read entitled Living with the Enemy by Roy McLoughlin, which documents first hand accounts of the occupation. I would love to get it back and read it!

#3. Ecuador

Ecuador is another country which I know very little about, but I know that there are a lot of Incan ruins which I would love to see. I’d like to visit and know more about the pre-colonial periods, especially those group of nations who apparently were thriving and had a complexly interconnected society between themselves before the Inca even arrived. In attempting to find a book about them I’ve discovered that there’s very few books which deal with even Ecuadorian Incan history let alone Ecuadorian pre-Incan periods. Most of the books are post-Columbus. It’s a shame, I wanted to learn more about these pre-Incan confederations! I’ve thus chosen a true-story novel called The Queen of Water by Laura Resau and Maria Virginia Farinango as my book of choice for this trip. It’s Maria’s story of how she was taken from her indigenous village at seven to serve an upper class family in Ecuador.

#4. Guam

I know a bit more about Guam than I do Ecuador or CAR, but that’s still not a lot. To be fair, though, if I was visiting Guam I would probably be spending most of my time at a beach in between visits to Chamorro villages and latte stones. For this visit I’ve chosen Attitude 13 by Tanya Taimanglo which is a book of short stories, most of which are from the view of the Chamorro, the indigenous people of Guam. Tanya is Chamorro so I think her stories will offer an intimate perspective of her home island.

#5. Western Sahara

I didn’t even know this was a country, I thought it was a geographical area which contained many nations! It is apparently a disputed territory, and so it’s not the safest place to be. That said, tourists often visit the coastal areas in search of shipwrecks and to participate in water sports like kite surfing. Both sound like a great time to me so that’s exactly what I would be doing! To gain a better understanding of this country I’ve chosen a book written by investigative journalists called Silent Territory: Sever Stories on Western Sahara by Fredrik Laurin &Lars Schmidt.

I always love a good book recommendation, so if you have any that you’ve read in your travels leave the title and author in the comments! Wash your hands, wear a mask, and be safe gentle reader!