The Great Railway Bazaar: By Train Through Asia by Paul Theroux. This book takes you through the Asia of the 1970s. Although it seems to run out of steam toward the end, it is a great travel book.

Travels With a Donkey in the Cevennes by Robert Louis Stevenson. Yes, the author of Treasure Island was an avid traveller. This story of his expedition in the Cevennes Mountains in France is quite interesting and well worth reading.

Travels with Charlie: In search of America by John Steinbeck. Steinbeck travels the US with his dog. This is a very good book. One of the last by Steinbeck.

Life on the Mississippi (Signet Classics) by Mark Twain. Ok, maybe it's not strictly a travel book, but it's Mark Twain writing about the Mississippi River. You have to read it.

The Odyssey (Penguin Classics) by Homer. The original travel book. Odysseus spent ten long years fighting in Troy (see The Iliad). This story tells of the next nine years that it takes him to get back to Ithaca. Honey, I'm home!

On the Road by Jack Kerouac. Extreme travel, 1950s Beat style. May not be suitable for younger or more sensitive readers.

PARIS. A lot of ink has been spilled writing about this town. Here are some good ones.

A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway. The "Papa" of all Paris books. A must read.

A Tale of Two Cities (Penguin Classics) by Charles Dickens. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was Paris during the Revolution. A classic.

Les Fleurs Du Mal by Charles Baudelaire. Baudelaire was a poet. Paris was his beat.

Paris Spleen (New Directions Paperbook) by Charles Baudlelaire. Subtitled "Petites Poémes en Prose". The companion volume to "Les Fleurs du Mal".

Les Miserables (Modern Library) by Victor Hugo. Jean Valjean in the sewers of Paris. 'Nuff said.

More Paris books to come. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

PROUST. You may have noticed a few references to Proust in these pages. Here is what you should have on your bookshelf.

In Search of Lost Time: Proust 6-pack (Proust Complete) by Marcel Proust. The masterpiece by the master. It's big, but well worth reading, even if you only read volume one, and keep the others around to impress people with your taste in literature. There is some travel in this work as well.

How Proust Can Change Your Life: Not a Novel. by Alain de Botton. Yes, Proust can change your life. Get this book and find out how.

Marcel Proust: A Life by William C. Carter. The definitive biography of Proust.

CONTEMPORARY WRITERS. Here are some books by contemporary writers who are flying under the radar right now. Although they are not household names, their work is interesting and should be read. Take one of these books with you when you travel.

Time Adjusters and Other Stories by Bill Ectric. This first book by Lit-Kicks regular Bill Ectric contains some fine short stories, including the title story and "Cut Up (the Stolen Scroll)" in which Jack Kerouac's famous scroll is stolen, with surprising consequences.

Space Savers and Other Stories by Bill Ectric. This second opus by Ectric features two great stories, the title story, and "Meme Rymes with Scheme". In between are other creations of the Ectric imagination, as well as "Monkey on a Stick", by guest author Bradley Mason Hamlin. Ectric is a writer worth watching. See a review of this book here.

ARCHITECTURE and ART. If you travel to other countries it is useful to know a little (or a lot!) about the regional architecture, and also famous artists that originated from the country or did a significant amount of work there.

The Seven Lamps of Architecture by John Ruskin. John Ruskin was an English art critic and social philosopher who wrote voluminous works on art and architecture. He was also one of Proust's favorite writers. This book is a good introduction to both Ruskin and Gothic architecture, and quite useful if you are travelling in Europe. It is also not as long as some of Ruskin's other works.

The Stones of Venice by John Ruskin. This version is an abridgement of the original work. However, the original is very long and usually found only in hardcover and thus expensive. This is a good edition to start with - it contains Ruskin's famous essay "The Nature of Gothic", possibly the best thing written in English about Gothic architecture. The book is Ruskin's assessment and criticism of the architecture of Venice. If you are going to Venice, read this book before you go.