The Wild Places by Robert Macfarlane

I had discovered books by Robert Macfarlane (“Macfarlane”) quite by accident. I had attended a panel on travel writing in a Literature Festival and as part of the discussion, William Dalrymple (“Dalrymple”), one of my favorite authors, described  Macfarlane ’s writing as “Prose that he (i.e. Dalrymple) can only dream of writing”. It took me a while but I picked up  Macfarlane’s first book, Mountains of the Mind, and finally understood what  Dalrymple  meant by his statement. It was a beautiful prose combined with adventures, mountains and stories to create a sublime read.  Macfarlane’s “The Wild Places” was my second book and I loved it even more than his first one.

The Wild Places by Robert Macfarlane

Meghalaya – The Green Unknown: Travels in the Khasi Hills by Patrick Rogers

I stumbled upon this awesome book quite by chance. Off late I have been trying to read more of lesser known Indian authors or lessor known books on India and came across this book on Kindle Unlimited. Intrigued by the setting of the book and the authors love for the living root bridges, I decided to give it a try.

Pic courtesy – Amazon and Kindle Unlimited

Afghanistan – The Places In Between by Rory Stewart

I started my travel reading project with the first country on the list – Afghanistan. Originally I had decided to read one travel related book on each country written by a local author. But an initial research online yielded quite a few interesting book suggestions, and I couldn’t make up my mind. Finally my sisters’ Afghan colleagues’ came to my rescue and based on her recommendation I decided to read – Earth and Ashes by Atiq Rahimi and The Places In Between by Rory Stewart.

The Places in Between by Rory Stewart. Pic courtesy – Amazon