Three Great Travel Books for a Rainy Day

All too often people say that they are just going to relax and enjoy a peaceful read, only to find themselves stressing about work or running necessary errands instead. When the rare occasion to actually sit down and enjoy a good book does arise, take advantage of it and give one of the following travel books a look. These three writings are all by different authors with extremely different writing styles, but one thing that they all have in common is the ability to help you travel the world without ever leaving your recliner.

Tales From Nowhere (Compilation)
This "Lonely Planet" book is a compilation of short travel stories from various authors. As the book's title suggests, the stories included in this paperback are from far away places that you may have never even heard of. It seems as if every corner of the world is explored in one way or another (stories from Antarctica to rural Vietnam), and while some of the writings are better than others, this book proves to be a great read for someone looking to kill a little time in the airport or on a camping trip. The majority of the travel accounts only take up about five or six pages so even if you only five or ten minutes to spare, you can travel to the far reaches of the world during your lunch break.

Facing the Congo by Jeffrey Tayler
With the recent release of a similar book, "Blood River", this title by Jeffrey Tayler seems to have fallen by the wayside. The book chronicles a western man's journey as he takes a hollowed out canoe down the unforgiving Congo River. Tayler's actual trip took place in the early 1990s when the Democratic Republic of the Congo was a bit easier to travel in; when the infamous and brutal Mobutu Sese Seko was still in power. Tayler's account tells of encounters with ruthless soldiers, cannibal tribes and struggling citizens, and he really helps bring the reader along for the ride by displaying a full-page picture at the start of each chapter. This book really helps the reader to get a good picture of a place that is currently off limits to pretty much all western travelers; this is about as close to the Congo river as you can get for the foreseeable future.

The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific by J . Maarten Troost
Ever heard of the island nation of Kiribati? Yea, I hadn't either before I read this hilarious book by J. Maarten Troost. The author really seemed to fall into a great situation with this book; as his wife worked with citizens on agricultural development, Troost was left with a ton of free time to explore the atoll, experience the local customs and write about it. He describes the oddities of life on a small island nation as they all patiently wait for food delivery ships and deal with the erratic weather. Troost does a wonderful job describing his new environment and making the reader laugh without disrespecting the culture of the locals. While so many travel authors are overly critical of cultural practices, Troost manages to find humor in his surroundings without questioning the "different" practices of the natives.