aussiedreamer

I know this isn't technicaly a 'travel' comment. But I enjoyed these books so much I thought I would share with you. A lot of you have probably already read them, for which I apologize.

Some dear friends had been trying to go to China for quite a few years. Her elderly parents had always wanted to see The Wall. Due to a sad series of event it never happened. So they have decided to make the trip this year, in their honour. And very kindly asked my DH and I to come along.

Now, don't get mad........but .......China was not on my list. Or if it was, it was at the end of a very long list. But we love to travel & we love to travel with friends. So we accepted.

I had no real desire to start my research. Which always begins here, at Fodors. Could not get myself 'into' it. Coincidently another friend that I swap books with, gave me <b>Maos Last Dancer </b>. Woh, what a great read. So, now my interest has been switched on.

So I start some Fodors research, and begin to get quite into it. Then the same friend gave me <b>Wild Swans</b> for my birthday. That was it. I'm hooked.

And today in our weekend newspapers Book Review section is a book entitled, <b>The Uninvited</b>. So now I am waiting for the book shop to open...........

Interested if anyone else has become inspired to travel to a destination because of a book?

crellston

Reading Saigon, a novel by Anthony Grey, was part of my inspiration to visit Vietnam when it first opened up to the west after the American war. A truly amazing read which really takes you into the country. It covers the interlinked fortunes of an American and Vietnamese family from the 1930s to the 1970s. An excellent read. I have been back to Vietnam 3 times since - I rteally shouldn't re-read that book!
If you liked Wild Swans you should also read Greys other major work, Peking, a novel based over a similar timeframe which, in part, is loosely based on an English missionary that took part in Maos &quot;Long March&quot;. Anthony Grey was Reuters Peking corresepondent for many years and spent acouple of yers under house arrest during the cultural revolution and is so weel qulified to write on China.

carylspall

I also read Wild Swans and then booked a holiday to China!

thursdaysd

I went to Achensee in Austria and Pau in France because of books I read as a child. And I went to Asia for the first time because of a NY Times travel article on China - I decided I had to see the Three Gorges before they were flooded. So glad I did - not only was it a wonderful trip, it started my love affair with Asia.

pat

After reading In a Sunburnt Country, I saw an ad on TV to go to Australia with Quantas. Signed up quick. Also good reading for China: Distant land of my Father, and for a more woman oriented book, Snowflower and the Secret Fan.

MCannon

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, the story of a Hmong family living in California, not only inspired me to visit Laos, it gave me a whole new perspective when traveling anywhere.

BTW, I've read Wild Swans and a few others about China, but I'll be ordering some of these suggestions today! thanks