A Woman's World

Do I read mostly books by and about women? I guess so. Maybe as this blog unfolds I'll know for sure. About a month ago I picked up A Woman's World at the library. This is one of the Travellers' Tales series. I've read quite a few in that series - I can't really remember which but according to my usual habits, they'd be Tuscany, Provence, India, Ireland, Cuba, Italy and Greece, and I know I read one about the Equator. They are always books of true stories written by travellers, and there are actually nine in the series that are written entirely by women about their travels.

It's pretty rare for me to be reading a book for a month, but A Woman's World and most of the Travellers' Tales books really lend themselves to that sort of leisurely pace. They're rich in detail and the quality of writing is outstanding, often with stories by well-known travel writers like Pico Iyer and Paul Theroux. There are about 45 stories in this particular book.

My favourite was by Jan Haag about a walk she took in California's Salinas Valley. She got very hot and thirsty and thought about the travellers of long ago - how they were greeted so eagerly and offered hospitality and their stories were listened to with such interest - and she wished for a miracle like that. And it happened, in a most interesting way.

There are other great stories, about a couple trekking in Bhutan and finding a unique peace in a remote village, a twenty-year-old girl finishing a two-year solo sailing trip around the world and encountering a horrendous storm, a mom and daughter who go back to Mexico to visit the place where their father/grandpa was shot half a century before, and many more.

If you like travelling, even vicariously by armchair, be sure to pick up some Travellers' Tales sooner or later.