My favourite travel writer is Paul Theroux and I’ve read all of his travel accounts.
Most of the stuff on the bookshelves at bookstores today strikes me as fluffy, banal “pop-travel” with stupid titles like, “A Monkey Forged my Passport” or “Hey, That’s my Tuk-tuk!!” I’m not really into reading this McTravel writing…
I’m looking for honest, non-gimmicky, insightful stuff.
Any ideas?
Herodotus seemed like a pretty honest guy.
Is his writing any good?
I highly recommend Tim Cahill’s collection Jaguars Ripped My Flesh; the title is a joke on the kind of pop adventure/travel thing you mention, and his writing is great.
I do recall seeing that title, actually. If the title is meant to mock then that is a step in the right direction. Thanks for the suggestion.
Is Bill Bryson too gimicky for you? I don’t care for Theroux but I love everything by Bryson.
That’s interesting. We’re polar opposites.
I’ve read some Bryson and I cringe at the risk of sounding like a snob but I did find it a bit light. Fun, but light.
What, about Theroux’s work, did you not care for?
Try Jan Morris. Wonderful stuff, with a twist involving Ms. Morris’ background.
Here’s a partial list of her books from Wiki (I found their list the easiest to copy).
[QUOTE
Manhattan '45
Coronation Everest
In Search of England
Last Letters from Hav (novel)
Fifty Years of Europe: An Album
The Venetian Empire (1980)
Fisher’s Face
Oxford (1965)
The Oxford Book of Oxford (editor)
The Matter of Wales: Epic Views of a Small Country
Spain
Lincoln: A Foreigner’s Quest
Conundrum
Coast to Coast: A Journey Across 1950s America
Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere
Hong Kong
The World: Life and Travel 1950–2000
Pleasures of a Tangled Life (1989)
Pax Britannica trilogy:
Heaven’s Command
The Climax of an Empire
Farewell the Trumpets
A Writer’s House in Wales (2002)
[/QUOTE]
A fun travel blog, Leif Pettersen’s Killing Batteries. He’s a writer for Lonely Planet, documenting some ‘lesser’ venues, such as Romania and Moldova, and has done extensive freelance work as well.
Thanks straykat23, I’ll have to look into those titles.
I found Bryson cringworthy as well.
If Theroux is your game, you might try some of his own recommendations found in his writing. Graham Greene’s Journey Without Maps is a great read, as is Twain’s The Innocents Abroad. I haven’t read him but Theroux thought highly of Bruce Chatwin. I also think Darwin’s The Voyage of the Beagle is a rollicking tale, but obviously something you’re going to enjoy more if you like reading of this history of evolutionary zoology. Of contemporary writers, I like John McPhee, and have a hard time coming up with others who aren’t derivative, at least at book length. (Kevin Patterson’s The Water In Between is an interesting read, but frustrating insofar that Patterson is basically a self-deprecating idiot.) You might check out the “Best American” series (The Best American Travel Writing) which is an annual digest of short travel nonfiction.
Stranger
Cool, thanks very much.
The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific
Very good read!
Oliver Sack’s thing from his trip to Oaxaca-- “Oaxaca Journal”?
Something called “Travels with my Donkey” or something-- can’t remember the author’s name but about his trip to Santiago with a donkey. Not deep but hilarious and definitely not moronic.
Mark Twain started as a travel writer, if I recall correctly.
His info might be a few hundred years out of date, but it has been rumored that he’s a pretty good writer. 
Looking over his Wiki page, it looks like he wrote:
Roughing It - travel to the old west
The Innocents Abroad - Europe and the Middle East
A Tramp Abroad - Europe Part 2
And possibly “Old Times on the Mississippi” is a travel log as well.
You might want to try Dervla Murphy, who has been travelling and writing since before the new generation of fluff producing backpackers were born.
I’ve read Pillars of Hercules and started The Great Railway Bazaar. I guess I just find his style a bit off putting and frankly, just not all that interesting. I’ve done a fair amount of traveling and I knew of Paul Theroux as one of the most famous travel writers. I suppose I had really high expectations and was disappointed at what I found to be a somewhat curmudgeonly narrative.
I think we’re looking for different things in travel writing. Paul Theroux seems to have a fairly polarizing style, people either love him or hate him.
I was going to recommend McCarthy’s Bar, but if you didn’t care for Bryson, you probably wouldn’t like it either. It so happens that my favorite bar in San Luis Obispo is McCarthy’s.
Damn, someone help me out. I know there are people out there who like Bryson. I’ve read almost everything he’s written. I really liked Graham Greene’s Travels with My Aunt. I agree that The Voyage of the Beagle is a terrific read, but I managed to pick it up while in Patagonia after having gone to the Galapagos, so I found it particularly compelling. I couldn’t force myself to read The Old Patagonian Express because of the aforementioned reason even though I’ve actually been on the train. By the way, I found Travels in a Thin Country by Sara Wheeler pretty mediocre as well.
I’ve read both Roughing It and Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain. They were OK, kind of a tough read, but mostly gave me insight on his really fascinating life.
Of course, in the same string of logic, Henry James was a travel writer of sorts, specifically in his published journals and letters. Wiki includes a list of 4: A Little Tour in France (1884), English Hours (1905), The American Scene (1907), and Italian Hours (1909). I’m sure there are more but I don’t have my book (yes, I own a copy of "The Portable Henry James - it was for a class) with me here at work.
Again, may be a little dated, but not the worst writer…I would definitely call him “non-gimmicky”.
Brendon Small
I’ve read a number of Robert Kaplan’s works. Definitely not light-hearted like Bryson, he’s more into historical detail and geopolitics and has more of a reportive bent to his writings. Some of his analysis seems heavy-handed but still thought-provoking.
Balkan Ghosts: A Journey Through History
Mediterranean Winter: The Pleasures of History and Landscape in Tunisia, Sicily, Dalmatia, and Greece
Eastward to Tartary: Travels in the Balkans, the Middle East, and the Caucasus
The Ends of the Earth: From Togo to Turkmenistan, from Iran to Cambodia - A Journey to the Frontiers of Anarchy
Surrender or Starve: Travels in Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia, and Eritrea
Also currently reading Gary Geddes Kingdom of Ten Thousand Things: An Impossible Journey from Kabul to Chiapas where he retraces the steps of a 5th century buddhist monk from Afghanistan through to China and onto (supposedly) the New World. More personal that Kaplan, but also more superficial.
You might like Motoring with Mohamed by Eric Hansen, covering his travels in Yemen in the late 1970s.
Pico Iyer. Funny no one mentioned him in the first 19 posts.