Travel Books I've Been Reading

During our road trip out to Colorado and back home to Minnesota, I read two travel books. My favorite was Whatever You Do, Don't Run: True Tales of a Botswana Safari Guide by Peter Allison. He writes humorous, easy to read stories about the people he meets in Africa, the tourists he guides, and the wildlife he loves. I definitely recommend this book for anyone with an interest in travel, and in particular, African wildlife.

The other book was Lynette Chiang's The Handsomest Man in Cuba: An Escapade. Riding her bike through Cuba, the author meets a wide variety of characters and through her descriptions, makes you feel like you met them, too. She is a talented writer and her story is actually making me consider a biking trip of my own. I can't imagine a better way to meet the locals.

I also tried reading No Touch Monkey!: And Other Travel Lessons Learned Too Late by Ayun Halliday, but I couldn't make myself finish the book. The same thing happened last summer when I tried to read Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia.

I'm trying to follow the saying "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all", but you can get an idea of my opinions if you read the negative reviews for Eat Pray Love and No Touch Monkey on Amazon.com.