We at Hennacornoelidays are nothing if not readers.  To us, reading and traveling go hand in hand.  You need to read in order to feel the need to travel.  Or maybe you need to read in order to enjoy the travel.  Either way, all three of us have our own tastes in books.  Henna likes the pretend and is currently taking a break from Harry Potter to read The Hobbit.  Corey’s tastes range from touching S & M tales (50 Shades) to romantic vampire stuff (Twilight) to juvenile fiction and a good tear jerker now and then.  And I am a sucker for violent mysteries with a flawed anti-hero as narrator (see anything by James Lee Burke or Walter Mosley).  I also seek out travel narratives.  My favorite writers of that genre include the very worldly (and often wordy) Paul Theroux and the domestic focused William Least Heat-Moon.  They are the true road and rail rock stars of the world.

There are, of course other, lesser known talents out there too.  What I would like to do over the next few days is highlight some of my favorite travel oriented books.  I am not going to attempt to rank them.  Some books (like Wild which is truly awesome) you may have heard of.  Others books will be less familiar.  But they are all worth your time.

First book on my recommended reading list is Walking to Vermont by Christopher S. Wren. 

A quick summary:  Distinguished former foreign correspondent and writer for the NY Times walks from his New York office to his retirement home in Vermont.  His path includes the AT and Long Trail.

What I liked best about it:  By walking at an unhurried rate he meets (and is repeatedly passed by) many an interesting hiker.  A lot of them take breathers to talk to a retired journalist.  Christopher is also honest about the daily rigor required to walk ten to twenty miles a day and then often camping out alone in the forest.  Other writers have written similar books (See Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods), but Christopher’s journey is light on the feet and has just enough introspection to make it feel unique.

NEXT UP:  William Least Heat-Moon’s River Horse