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Where a Great Book Takes You
By Beth Garcia
A
great book offers more than
just a departure from everyday life and
a mindless way to pass time. Wonderfully
written pieces bring readers close to
the experiences, emotions and extraordinary
adventures of the novels' protagonists.
Whether they are trekking through the
Alaskan wilderness or climbing the steepest
trails to lost Asian cities, these novel
adventurers not only entertain readers,
but bring out the explorer in all of us. Those needing inspiration for their
next daring adventure, look no further
than these rousing, travel-inspiring tales
of adventure travel.
"Into
the Wild" by John Krakauer
Where: America's West Coast, Alaska
Wilderness
When: 1990-92
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Alaskan
Mountains |
"Into
the Wild" follows the true story
of 24-year-old Christopher McCandless,
a young American man who sets out into
the North American wilderness after graduating
college in the early 90s.
The heartbreaking story chronicles McCandless
as in 1990, at the age of 22, he donates
his life saving to charity and takes off
for a solo adventure, covering areas of
California, South Dakota, Mexico and the
Alaskan wilderness.
After harrowing adventures crossing the
Mexico-U.S. border and canoeing the Colorado
River, McCandless takes off on Stampede
Trail in Alaska with several pounds of
rice, a .22 caliber rifle and few supplies.
The wildly descriptive story tells just
how McCandless fights to survive in the
barren Alaskan wilderness among the animals
and minimal flora. However, the story
begins and ends in tragedy in 1992, when
McCandless' body is found inside a run-down
bus, beaten by the odds and expansiveness
of the Alaskan rough country.
"Seven
Years in Tibet" by Heinrich
Harrer
Where: Lhasa, Tibet; Northern India
When: 1939-51
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|
Tibetan
Hillside |
Mountaineer
Heinrich Harrer chronicles his seven years
living in the colorfully sacred city of
Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, serving as
close confident and friend to the 14th
Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso. The autobiographical
account of those years during World War
II follows the Austrian and his mountaineering
partner Peter Aufschnaiter as they are
imprisoned while trekking in Northern
India in 1939.
The two eventually escape in 1944 to nearby
Tibet, finding their way across the mountainous
landscape of the Asian country to its
hidden capital. The book details the rich
and vivid beauty of Lhasa, with its religious
trappings and colorful customs. As Harrer
finds himself becoming close friends with
the young Dalai Lama, the former mountaineer
remains immersed in the traditional Asian
community until 1950 when the Communist
Chinese invasion prompts his departure.
"Out
of Africa" by Isak Dinesen
Where: Nairobi, Kenya
When: 1914-31
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African
Wildlife |
Penned
by Danish Baroness Karen von Blixen-Finecke
as Dinesen, "Out of Africa"
paints vivid images of the vast land of
Nairobi, Kenya and its native farming
communities during the 20s and 30s. As
European settlers like the baroness make
their way to the untouched Eden of Africa,
two cultures collide along the wild landscape.
The baroness makes her living as a farmer,
connecting with the native African tribes
and other westerners like big-game hunter
Denys Finch Hatton, who have escaped to
Kenya's pure, animal-covered land void
of modernization. The baroness' account
of her African lifestyle brings new ideas
to those searching for their next African
safari. "Out of Africa" shows
readers the best way to experience to
beauty and heartache of the African landscape
is to share life with the ever-changing
countryside.
"The
Motorcycle Diaries" by Ernesto
Guevara de la Sema
Where: South America
When: 1952
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|
Peru
Roadside |
This
autobiographical story follows the young
Ernesto Guevara de la Sema and his friend
Alberto Grando during their first Latin
American expedition as they travel the
South American countryside on a 1939 Norton
500 motorcycle. Guevara — who would
later be known as the Marxist revolutionary
Che Guevara — leaves Buenos Aires,
Argentina a semester before finishing
medical school to travel to Caracas, Venuzula
and into Peru where he and Grando volunteer
at the San Pablo leper colony.
"The Motorcycle Diaries" not
only gives readers a view of the roadways
and trails throughout South America, but
a look into the beginnings of the political
views and moral precepts that carried
Guevara through this revolutionary years
in Cuba.
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