Top 10 Books To Read Before Travelling to Asia

books-to-read-travelingLike most backpackers I love reading a good book while traveling, whether I’m relaxing at a pool, beach, or waiting for a plane, bus, train, etc. Nothing beats having a good book to inspire traveling and get pumped up for the adventures ahead.

Here are 10 great books to read while traveling in Asia.

1. Lonely Planet Travel Guide Books

  • These are easily the best travel guide books out there. Each one filled with tons of travel advice, tips, prices, and destination information to inspire your travels and not get overwhelmed.

2. Malcolm Gladwell Books

  • Malcolm Gladwell is a British-Canadian journalist, bestselling author, and speaker. His books and articles are always interesting and often deal with the unexpected implications of research dealing the social sciences and he often dives into sociology, psychology, and social psychology.
    • The Tipping Point
    • Blink
    • Outliers
    • What The Dog Saw: And Other Adventures

3. Life of Pi by Yann Martel

  • The Life of Pi is a brilliant book and now a film that tells the story of the protagonist, named “Pi”, an Indian boy that explores issues of spirituality and practicality. When the ship he is on goes down he gets stranded on a boat in the Pacific Ocean with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker and they build a bond as they survive 227 days at sea.

4. First They Killed My Father by Loung Ung

  • First They Killed My Father is a 2000 nonfiction book written by a Cambodian author Loung Ung and tells the breath taking true story of her survival during the Khmer Rouge years. It’s a short book, but will take a while to read, because of the brutality shown in the tale.

5. Damage Done: Twelve Years of Hell in a Bangkok Prison by Warren Fellows

  • Damage Done tells the story of Warren Fellows In 1978 when he was convicted of heroin trafficking between Thailand and Australia. He was sentenced to life in Bang Kwang prison in Thailand. This story tells of his brutal 12 years behind Thai bars and the human rights abuse and awful conditions that he endured.

6. The Alchemist by Paolo Ceolho

  • The Alchemist follows Santiago, a young shepherd who dreams of a treasure and takes off on a journey to Egypt. This remarkable story of Santiago finds ways to teach us about listening to our hearts, how to read the omens of our life’s path, and how to follow our dreams.

7. On the Road by Jack Kerouac

  • On the Road is a brilliant novel by famous American beat writer Jack Kerouac. The story is based on the actual travels of Kerouac and his friends across America. The story deals mainly with the protagonist’s life with jazz, poetry, sex, and drug use.

8. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress: A Novel by Dai Sijie

  • The Novel, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress is a semi-autobiographical tale of two Chinese city boys that are exiled to a remote village high in the mountains to go through re-education during China’s infamous Cultural Revolution.

9. Oracle Bones by Peter Hessler

  • Peter Hessler explores lives of a handful of ordinary people to explain the human side of China’s fast transformation and its links to the Western world.  He makes some great connections between ancient and the present China.

10. The Beach By Alex Garland

  • The Beach tells a story about backpackers traveling in Thailand in search of a legendary, idyllic beach untouched by tourism. It’s every backpacker’s dream to find a place like this, and the story is so vivid and fun to read, and it’s a great way to get inspired to travel.

 

Nate Sterling is an experienced travel writer and backpacker.  He writes to inspire all travelers to experience all that Asia has to offer.  He has written many useful travel articles for Cover-More New Zealand and UK.