For me, August has always been the pinnacle of summer. The month where, instead of the climbing balmy winds of June and July, the heat of August sits still before the drop into the crisp chill of fall. August makes me want to eke out the last pleasures that summer has to offer and often sets my sense of wanderlust into overdrive. As Sebastian Faulks wrote, “the end-of-summer winds make people restless.” Travel can open our minds and create new experiences, but it can also leave us at a loss for words. That indescribable feeling where you are caught up in beauty and emotions and the delicious sense of yearning for more. Here is a list of of books to start your journey and inspire you to take advantage of the last days of summer. As J.R.R. Tolkien wrote, “not all who wander are lost.” 

• On the Road by Jack Kerouac
• In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson (or anything by him)
• Atlas Obscura: An Explorer’s Guide to the World’s Hidden Wonders by Joshua Foer, Ella Morton and Dylan Thuras
• Wild by Cheryl Strayed
• The Turk Who Loved Apples: And Other Tales of Losing My Way Around the World by Matt Gross
• Turn Right at Machu Picchu by Mark Adams
• From Heaven Lake: Travels Through Sinkiang and Tibet by Vikram Seth
• Seven Ages of Paris by Alistair Horne
• The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner
• An Age of License: A Travelogue by Lucy Knisley
• In an Antique Land: History in the Guise of a Traveler’s Tale by Amitav Ghosh
• Tell My Horse: Voodoo and Life in Haiti and Jamaica by Zora Neale Hurston

As for me, I’m currently enjoying The Summer Wives by Beatriz Williams and Number One Chinese Restaurant by Lillian Li, while satiating my sense of wanderlust with The Good Girl’s Guide to Getting Lost by Rachel Friedman. 

Happy Reading!