A Parrot in the Pepper Tree: Chris Stewart

Published by Sort of Books, 2003, 240 pages. Many of us dream of giving up the rat race and living the simple life in a community far removed from the hustle of cities. These remain dreams for most of us, but not for Chris Stewart and his wife Ana. In 1988, they moved to Alpujarras …

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Terra Australis: Great Adventures in the Circumnavigation of Australia—Matthew Flinders, ed. Tim Flannery

Published by Text Publishing / Non Basic Stock Line, 2000, 312 pages. I first heard of Matthew Flinders in July 2014 when a friend, Heather Wicks, told me that she was going to London for the unveiling of his statue. Flinders was her fourth great-uncle, who had been the first European to sail around Australia. …

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Deep South—Four Seasons on Back Roads: Paul Theroux

Published by Eamon Dolan / Mariner Books, 2015, 464 pages. Like Paul Theroux, travellers often go in search of adventure in other countries before exploring their own. Having travelled to remote corners throughout the world, he sets out to discover a part of his own country—the United States—that he knows mostly through its fiction. The …

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Pilgrimage to the End of the World—The Road to Santiago de Compostela: Conrad Rudolph

Published by University of Chicago Press, 2004, 144 pages. At a time when more and more people are moving away from religion, this book takes you back to the essence of faith. Conrad Rudolph is not particularly religious, but decides to make the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, walking all the way, staying in gîtes …

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Wild—From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail: Cheryl Strayed

Published by Thorndike Press / Penguin Random House, 2012, 315 pages. This is an amazing book about a woman’s journey to heal herself. Cheryl Strayed’s world collapses when she loses her beloved mother to cancer. Her marriage to a man she loves breaks up. And without her mother to hold them together, her family drifts …

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