I’m listing all my favorite books to read when traveling here. Over the years, I’ve compiled an extensive travel reading list that spans a wide range of destinations. As an avid historical fiction and realistic fiction reader, I often travel through a novel’s pages to my intended destination before stepping onto an airplane.
Suppose you want a window into a new destination’s complex history or cultural traditions. In that case, I highly recommend picking up a novel based in that region. To simplify that book search, I’ve listed the books under the countries we’ve traveled to—or want to travel to!
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60 Best Books to Read When Traveling
I’ve found that the best books to read while traveling help me gain insight into the history and culture of the country I’m going to or living in. I often discover a fascinating aspect of a country that I want to explore more.
These books might also give me a better context to understand a country’s present-day political climate or help bring to life some of the historical sites I visit.
Sometimes, I pick up a few words of the language through characters’ conversations in a novel, learn about traditional dishes to try, or gain an understanding of culturally appropriate etiquette that helps me avoid making any social faux pas.
Not only do I experience the pure enjoyment of reading and the vicarious travel experience of visiting another time and place, but I also come away feeling more prepared for my travels.
We’ve included links to Amazon (and Kindle) for convenience. But you can also buy books through Bookshop.org to support independent bookstores. I sometimes use a Kobo to save money, but I prefer reading a physical book!
Signing up for Kobo Plus is sometimes worth taking advantage of, but their selection is limited. Some of the books on this list fall under this subscription.
Tammy browsing books in a used bookstore in Busan, South Korea.
Cambodia
1. The Disappeared
Author:
Kim Echlin
Genre:
Historical Fiction
A story that covers the time of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, as well as the challenges faced by the country and the citizens’ resilience in the aftermath.
The novel bounces between the 21st and 12th centuries, telling the story of an excavation at Angkor Wat and tying it to the ancient kingdom of Cambodia under Jayavarman VII.
Depicts the treatment of First Nations People in Canada in the mid-20th century, including the issues of residential schools and the Indigenous communities’ experiences in hockey.
While the story initially begins with the protagonist, a Spanish woman, traveling from Spain to Peru, most of the novel is about Valdivia’s campaign to conquer Chile and establish the city of Santiago.
The novel follows the stories of two women from the end of the last dynasty and the start of the Chinese Republic, one of which depicts courtesan life.
The story depicts the beginning of the Croatian War of Independence and follows the challenges faced by a girl who survived the war, resided as a refugee in America, and returned to post-war Croatia.
The series’ first book follows Nefertiti from youth through her marriage to a controversial pharaoh who introduced monotheism during this period of Egyptian history.
It is set 157 years after The Pillars of the Earth story and follows the descendants of those characters through the start of the 100-year war and the plague.
Taking place in the latter half of the 16th century, it continues to follow the town of Kingsbridge while also focusing on the politics of the royal courts in England, Scotland, and France during the Protestant Reformation.
Set in the late 1700s and early 1800s, the Industrial Revolution comes to Kingsbridge, and the characters’ experiences and struggles are set against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars.
The novel follows the story of two sisters who take different approaches to surviving World War II. One billets a German soldier in her home, and the older joins the French resistance.
The story occurs in France during World War II and in Montana in 1983. It shows the role of the American Library in Paris during the war as it fought to stay open
The book is based on the life of pilot and author Antoine de Saint Exupery, who helped map some of the first international airmail routes and wrote The Little Prince.
The story revolves around a young German girl who has two dangerous secrets. After falling in love with reading, she steals banned books during World War II, and her family hides a Jewish man in their home.
The story is told from the perspective of a little girl growing up in a small German town in the early to mid-1900s. It chronicles her experiences being different from others and covers her attempt to aid Jewish people during World War II.
The novel follows a daughter’s journey to uncover her mother’s past during WW2 in Germany, which involved dealings with the resistance and an Obersturmfuhrer.
A mother-daughter writing team that chronicles their travels and self-discovery journey through France and Greece, with references from Greek mythology
35. I, Rigoberta Menchú: An Indian Woman in Guatemala
Author:
Rigoberta Menchú
Genre:
Biography
This Nobel Peace Prize laureate and human rights activist depicts her struggles as an Indigenous woman growing up in Guatemala in the latter half of the 1900s.
The story alternates between 1993 and 1969 in Kerala, during a time of increasing Marxist popularity. It follows significant moments in the family’s life and reiterates its theme that “things can change in a day.”
The novel takes place in Northern India, mainly Srinagar, during WW2 and depicts the life of a woman from Wales on a missionary posting in the Himalayas.
Based on his own life, the author tells the story of an escaped Australian convict who ends up living in a Mumbai slum, befriending many of the locals, working as a doctor to help those in need, and becoming involved with a criminal organization.
The novel tells the life story of a Brahmin woman, born in the late 19th century in southern India, from her arranged marriage in her youth to her joys and sorrows raising children and grandchildren as a devout widow following the traditional expectations of Indian society.
42. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Author:
Mary Ann Shaffer and Anne Barrows
Genre:
Historical Fiction
This novel centers around a group of neighbors and friends on the island of Guernsey who create a fictional society to keep themselves safe during the German occupation in World War II. During an exchange of letters shortly after the war’s end, they draw in a new member from London
The story occurs during the turbulent days of the Renaissance, with Savonarola’s reign of terror. It follows a young woman through her marriage and affair with a painter, drawing her into a secret life.
The novel is set in 16th-century Venice and is about a Jewish midwife caught between duty and politics when she is called to work outside the Jewish Ghetto.
The novel takes place during the plague in Venice in the mid-16th century. It follows the methods of two doctors—a male Italian doctor and a female Ottoman doctor—and examines the work of the famous Italian architect of that era, Andrea Palladio.
The story portrays the life of a young girl as an apprentice geisha and her progressive introduction into this world, where she encounters some powerful men and learns about longing and love.
While the protagonist is an American who begins working for Diego Rivera, the novel focuses on the relationship between renowned artists Frieda Kahlo and Diego Rivera. The story is mainly set in Mexico during the rise of Communism in the 1930s.
The Moroccan-British author tells his fascinating and amusing story of moving his family from England to Morocco so they could renovate an old home in Casablanca. He recounts all the challenges and cultural differences they encountered in the process.
The author tells her personal story of moving to Fez and restoring an old riad to its former glory, including the difficulties and joys of immersing herself in a new and foreign culture.
The story alters between the present day and the 1960s. It tells the story of a Berber princess in the Sahara desert and an English woman on a Moroccan journey that connects her with the Tuareg people and their traditions.
The novel alternates between the present day and the early-mid 1940s, recounting the horrors inflicted upon the island during the Japanese occupation and following the life of a survivor who was forced to work in a Japanese brothel.
The novel is about an unmarried, pregnant young Korean woman in the early 20th century who takes the opportunity to marry a traveling Japanese minister and immigrate to Japan with him. The story depicts the struggles, prejudice, and racism her family faces there.
The novel is about a Sri Lankan forensic anthropologist raised abroad who returns to her homeland in the wake of a brutal civil war as part of an international human rights assignment to determine the source of the organized murders plaguing the nation.
Set in the 1920s in Sri Lanka (then known as Ceylon), the story follows two upper-class characters who don’t fit into the social expectations of the time and culture and must make difficult choices between happiness and duty.
The story follows a foreigner who moves to northern Thailand and begins investigating the imprisonment and death of an anthropologist who had previously worked in the region. This investigation leads him into contact with some of the northern hill tribes.
Set in 1579 in Constantinople, a Jewish midwife new to the city begins working with the women in the Sultan’s harem and encounters a kidnapped Jewish peasant forced into the harem looking for help to escape.
The story takes place in Kars during a period of political turbulence, where the protagonist looks into the suicides of girls who were forbidden to wear their headscarves at their school while also dealing with his personal relationship struggles.
The author provides a feminist twist on Ugandan folklore. She tells the story of a young motherless girl living with her grandparents as she grows up against a backdrop of political issues. She also references colonial Uganda in the 1930s with flashbacks to her grandmother’s youth.
The novel centers around a father and headmaster of a prestigious English school in Saigon during the 1960s, when there was an increasing threat of war. It follows the father and son as they each fall into troubles of their own—the father with gambling and the son with the Vietnamese authorities.
The story covers multiple generations of a family, depicting one generation’s struggle to survive during the Communist Land Reforms and the younger generation’s experience during and after the Vietnam War.
