Books like To Walk It Is To See It — picked by fans

This book was an integral resource when I began to write my book. It helped me shape the structure of my book.

F. Scott Fitzgerald once said, “If you have anything to say, anything you feel nobody has ever said before, you have got to feel it so desperately that you will find some way to say it that nobody has ever found before, so that the thing you have to say and the way of saying it blend as one matter—as indissolubly as if they were conceived together.”

This, and other books I've read, did this. My favorite books of all time have inventive structures. And reading these helped me find mine.

I loved this book because it was as much about the author's inner journey as it was the outer one. I loved both aspects of this book.

I love books that give you almost a window into the soul of the writer. Robyn shares her thoughts and experience so well as she makes her way solo 2,000 miles in the Australian Outback. I loved her bravery. This was an epic trip. As one of the first adventure books I had read, it got me hooked. This was a book that made an impact. 

Nearly every line of this memoir stopped me in my tracks.

I read most of it at a local café, teacup in hand, blinking back tears more times than I care to admit. Gilbert's precision and beauty on the page are simply breathtaking. She doesn't describe the world so much as conjure it, and she pulled me in until her cobbled Roman streets and dusty Indian pathways felt like my own. I tasted that whole pizza with her, felt the sun’s warmth on her shoulders, and ached through each layered heartbreak as though it were mine.

She doesn't merely tell her story. She throws open the door to her innermost self and refuses to let you look away. I wept. I laughed. And when the last page came, I sat quietly for a long moment, reluctant to leave her and her world behind.

I absolutely loved this book and could have finished it in 2 sittings! But I wanted the book and the author’s journey to linger, so I paced myself. It’s one of my favorite travel memoirs ever. 

I have traveled to Europe many times and love it more each time I visit, so when I was taken with the cover, I was eager to share Steinbach's adventure. Sometimes I’ve traveled alone and know how lonely it can be. Being with Alice was a pleasure. I loved her voice and instantly felt like she was my friend. I’d been to all the places she visited and loved going back with her.

When I finished the book, I felt as if I was returning from a trip. Beautifully written.

What sets this book apart is its writing style and is pretty much what you'd expect from Bourdain: direct, honest, and irreverent.

He doesn't sugarcoat his opinions, and his sense of humor keeps things fun along the way. And of course, there's food. Lots of it and his passion for it. He’s always on the hunt for the best local bites, and whether he’s slurping noodles from a street cart in Southeast Asia or savoring a long, indulgent meal in Paris, his enthusiasm is contagious. He’s clearly a foodie, as am I, and great food is always the best part of a travel story.

The book is organized by region, which I really liked, with each section packed with stories, tips, and recommendations to inspire your next adventure. 

I read Almost Somewhere in just two sittings because I couldn’t wait to return to the trail.

I am a life-long hiker in her sixties and I couldn’t believe how much I identified with the self-doubt and misgivings of the twenty-something author on her journey. Roberts writes beautifully, and shares honest, raw reflections on almost every page and I felt every sore muscle, frustration, and joy.

The stunning descriptions of the trail give readers the sense that they’re there beside the author kicking up pebbles with her, but there is so much more to the story. The ups and downs and the surprises remind us that it’s not completing the trek that counts, it’s all that happens and changes us along the way.

For readers with wanderlust who long to hit the road, Gap Year Girl is a pleasure to read.

It is the author’s travel adventure memoir about how she and her husband, late Baby Boomers, retraced their backpacking travels abroad from much earlier years. Bohr describes what it’s like to kiss your job goodbye, sell your possessions, pack your bags, and take off on a quest for adventure.

Readers will be intrigued and inspired by this account of a couple’s experiences on an unconventional, past-the-blush-of-youth quest. Bohr blends the details of travel, culture, and history with humor and the intimacy of her life.

She shares that seven weeks into their journey, homesickness hit them hard in a cold, ancient village in southwestern France, but they rallied and went on to continue their adventure. 

I read this book thirty years ago and was fascinated by the author’s description of Central America and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

So much, in fact, that I’ve traveled to San Miguel twice. I loved the book so much that I re-read it after visiting the town for the first time. This book captures the spiritual quality of Mexico. It drew me in and wouldn’t let go.

The author's inner musings as a young woman spoke to me, as did her vivid descriptions of the village and those she meets over the course of a year. They are so alive that I felt I really knew them. The braiding of her inner journey with her physical journey is beautifully crafted and written.

Mary Morris's travel narratives are essential reading for any woman thinking about traveling alone.

Huizinga’s book was first published more than 100 years ago, in 1919, but it retains its value as a sparkling and original evocation of the world of late medieval Europe: its values, its thought, its violence, and – one of its great strengths - its visual arts. This last is not surprising, since the author’s main focus is on the Netherlands and northern France, where oil painting, the realistic portrait, and the landscape began in European art. The book has been translated into English more than once, with significantly different titles: in 1924 as The Waning of the Middle Ages, then – 72 years later! - as The Autumn of the Middle Ages. In 2020 there appeared yet another version - Autumntide of the Middle Ages. The book is ever young.

I first met Simon Schama in 1963, when he joined me as an undergraduate reading History at Christ’s College Cambridge. Both of us decided to undertake research on the Low Countries, but in an international context: in my case, Spain and the Netherlands between 1550 and 1650; in Simon’s case, France and the Netherlands between 1770 and 1815, leading to his brilliant first book, Patriots and Liberators (a study of what the expansion of Revolutionary France meant for an occupied country.) This led him to analyse the social and cultural history of the country before occupation, using visual as well as written sources to recreate the mental state of a complex society. The embarrassment of Riches tells of bloody uprisings and beached whales, of the cult of hygiene and the plague of tobacco, of thrifty housewives and profligate tulip-speculators. It shows how the Dutch celebrated themselves and how they were… show more.