Traveling alone is wonderful, it gives you freedom to schedule and “unschedule” your journey as you want, it gives you independence and confidence. By traveling solo, I had the opportunity to easily meet people and sometimes follow them for a while, to take breaks on days when I did not feel like moving, and to visit everything I wanted at my own pace. The downside of traveling by yourself though is that it does get lonely sometimes. When I have a long bus ride, when the weather is horrible and I don’t want to go outside or when I feel home-sick, I am always happy to at least have a good book by my side. Time flies quickly with a great novel, and you feel less alone accompanied by the words of a talented writer. I always bring a book with me in my travels, but I also try to visit local bookstores whenever I am abroad in a big city, that way I take home a little souvenir, the book I choose often becomes a cherished travel companion, and ultimately a happy memory on my shelves when I am back home.
Here is a list of ten books that have traveled with me and that have impacted me in a way, whether they motivated me, consoled me or made me think about deeper subjects than my own personal traveling issues.
The book: La Peste, Albert Camus (The Plague in English)
Where: Senegal
When: 2016
What it’s about: It tells the story of a plague sweeping the French Algerian city of Oran. It asks a number of questions relating to the nature of destiny and the human condition. (Wikipedia)
Why it was a good travel companion: All of Camus’s novels hold a dear place in my heart. He is one of the writers who made me want to study Literature, and I like to revisit his work from time to time. La Peste is one of his finest works. I get lost in this book and forget about time passing. I loved to re-read it while sitting under a baobab in Senegal. For a while, that book even managed to make me forget about the unbearable summer heat.
The book: On the Road, Jack Kerouac
Where: USA and Canada
When: Always
What it’s about: Based on the travels of Kerouac and his friends across the United States (…) with its protagonists living life against a backdrop of jazz, poetry, and drug use. (Wikipedia)
Why it was a good travel companion: If that novel is not the ultimate road-trip Beatnik book, then I do not know a single thing about anything. Kerouac is the one who made me want to go on the road, to find myself out there in the wild. Although I don’t appreciate the way women are depicted in that novel, I still relate to being young and lost and on a quest to discover the world, to explore, to forget about rules… But this book is also about coming back home, to our roots, to ourselves, which never ceases to remind me where I am from, and that being home is as important as exploring the road.
The book: Romancero Gitano, Federico Garcia Lorca (Gypsy Ballads in English)
Where: Spain
When: 2016
What it’s about: It is a poetry collection that tackles topics such as love, death and nature.
Why it was a good travel companion: When you love poetry and are living in Spain, reading the country’s most famous poet is (almost) unavoidable. The words of Lorca nursed me on nights when I did not feel good, they softly rocked me when I missed my country and the made me day-dream about pure love while sitting in a Spanish park, surrounded by birds, trees and the delicious feel of an autumn breeze.
The book: Women, Charles Bukowski
Where: Cuba
When: 2006
What it’s about: Novel (…) starring (Bukowski’s) semi-autobiographical character Henry Chinaski. Women is centered on Chinaski’s later life, as a celebrated poet and writer. (Wikipedia)
Why it was a good travel companion: Because sometimes I just need to read something crazy, a book that will keep me awake and alert. Bukowski’s prose is nothing short of intense and passionate, a perfect fit to the busy city of Havana. Reading to the pace of the Cuban capital was a fun exercise!
The book: L’homme rapaillé, Gaston Miron
Where: Nepal
When: 2017
What it’s about: It is a poetry collection tackling topics such as love, politics, and the French-speaking province of Quebec, Canada.
Why it was a good travel companion: Simply because it reminded me of home. Miron is probably Quebec’s most famous and greatest poet of all times, and when I read his work, I am immediately transported back to my beloved province. Nepal was a difficult travel for me, and having Gaston Miron’s poetry collection with me comforted me, and helped me in my decision to come home earlier than planned. Reading about the streets of Montreal is so vivid, so true. Sometimes before sleeping, I was looking at those verses and felt like I too was walking around my own city, even though I was at the other end of the planet at a different time.
The book: The New York Trilogy, Paul Auster
Where: USA
When: 2006
What it’s about:The New York Trilogy is a particular form of postmodern detective fiction which still uses well-known elements of the detective novel (…) but also creates a new form that links “the traditional features of the genre with the experimental, metafictional and ironic features of postmodernism.” (Wikipedia)
Why it was a good travel companion: Oh! Simply because the three stories comprised in this book are some of the best fiction I have ever read. It is that type of book that I can read again and again at different points of my life. Having the chance to actually read this wonderful trilogy in NYC felt so meta; as if I was in the actual pages of the stories, as if I was a character myself.
The book: L’amour dure trois ans, Frédéric Beigbeder (Love Lasts Three Years in English)
Where: France
When: 2010
What it’s about: The title says it all. It’s about love, break-ups, marriage, infidelity, self-reflection, human nature…
Why it was a good travel companion: It’s so French! There something about reading French authors while actually being in France. Everything makes more sense. Furthermore, they say that Paris is the city of love. Which may or may not be accurate. Yet Paris is also a city that holds a plethora of unfaithful spouses, and that Beigbeder novel showcases that fact quite well.
The book: Bright Shiny Morning, James Frey
Where: Iceland
When: 2017
What it’s about: Set in Los Angeles, it follows the lives of several characters: a married couple, both celebrities, named Amberton and Casey; a young couple, Maddie and Dylan; a Mexican-American maid named Esperanza; a homeless man of Venice named Old Man Joe. (Wikipedia)
Why it was a good travel companion: Simply because James Frey is a contemporary writer that I adore. I had actually read that book back when it was first published (2008), and felt like, close to ten years later, it was a good time to read it again in a whole other setting. Reading this story set in hot and sunny Los Angeles while freezing in grey Iceland made for quite an interesting contrast! I guess that it made me feel warmer.
The book: The Essential Neruda, Pablo Neruda
Where: Tunisia
When: 2018-2019
What it’s about: It’s a compilation of poems by Neruda, both in their original Spanish and their English translation.
Why it was a good travel companion: Because it’s my favourite! Since I knew that I would be gone for a long time (more than a year), I wanted to have the best poetry with me. Neruda’s words are soothing, even salvaging. I love how he writes about love and nature in such a simple yet intricate manner. His love songs make me dream and ache and smile always. I will never get tired of reading the great Pablo!
The book: Tropic of Cancer, Henry Miller
Where: Dominican Republic
When: 2007
What it’s about: This “novel by Henry Miller … has been described as “notorious for its candid sexuality” and as responsible for the “free speech that we now take for granted in literature””. (Wikipedia)
Why it was a good travel companion: It’s… hum… hot? I feel like reading Miller under a very warm sun is a perfect match. This novel is sexy and raw for sure, but it is also a revolutionary and intellectual work of art since it truly changed the way writers write nowadays, without being afraid of censorship. This book is brilliant, superbly written, and a classic that people should not shy away from reading.
Bittersweet Travel Memories 