Top Ten Tuesday | Books for Armchair Travelers

Posted February 16, 2026 by Haze in Top Ten Tuesday, Weekly Book Memes / 24 Comments

Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.

Today’s topic is Books for Armchair Travelers (Submitted by Laurie C @ Bay State Reader’s Advisory)  

I’ve traveled a bit when I was younger, mostly around the Asia and Australasia area, but it’s been a while since I traveled and there are still so many places in the world I’d love to see. In full honesty, I prefer to travel in comfort and would probably be too afraid, and frankly not in any shape, to do some of the extreme adventure traveling depicted in these books, so except for the food/travel books, I’m happy to experience them all through the pages of the books and leave them at that!

What about you? Have you traveled a lot? Do you prefer traveling in comfort or do you enjoy extreme adventures?

Top Ten Books for Armchair Travelers

  1. A Cook’s Tour by Anthony Bourdain – My favorite part of traveling has always been about trying new foods. I also love Anthony Bourdain and there’s nothing I would love more than to get to know the world and different foods through his perspective!
  2. Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper by Fuchsia Dunlop – In the same vein, I love Sichuan food and I’ve heard that Fuchsia Dunlop is the go-to person to learn more about the Sichuan food and culture.
  3. The Wager by David Grann – Once upon a time I wanted to be a marine biologist, but that never happened because I have a very big, healthy fear of the sea. I can’t get rid of my fascination for it though, so I’m always drawn to stories of sea adventures and braver adventurers than me.
  4. Maiden Voyage by Tania Aebi – The fact that she was 18 years old, and sailed the world alone for two years(!) makes me want to read her story and live vicariously through her. I have so much respect for people who can do this but I would never!
  5. Ice Ghosts by Paul Watson – I read The Terror by Dan Simmons last year and loved it but it was a fictional account of the Franklin Expedition and I have so many questions! Then I saw this book on Aj @ Read All The Things! listed as one of their best books of 2025 and I knew I had to read it!
  6. The Last Place on Earth by Roland Huntford – My friend saw me reading The Terror last year and recommended this book to me. It’s not related to the Franklin Expedition, but it is about brave explorers doing incredible things.
  7. A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson – After all the harrowing adventure stories, I think this one might be a little more my speed. I love the idea of walking through the woods, but honestly, the Appalachian Trial sounds challenging to me and the most I’m probably going to do is walk on my treadmill while reading this book!
  8. The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner – I love the idea; the author travels the world looking for the happiest places and asking questions about what makes people happy.
  9. The Great Railway Bazaar by Paul Theroux – Traveling through Asia by train sounds like something I could possibly do, but I’m thinking it’s a good idea for me to read about it before doing it in real life! Although things have probably changed since the book was written in 1975.
  10. Wild by Cheryl Strayed – Another hiking story that I’ll read without taking a step out of the comfort of my own home! I haven’t read this book but I know it was hyped up and very popular at one point. I’m curious and have had it on my TBR for a while.

Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these books?

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24 responses to “Top Ten Tuesday | Books for Armchair Travelers”

  1. Rissi

    I don’t travel much at all – in comfort or not, but based on the covers of these, I’d likely only want to visit or experience these things in a book! Good thing there is safety travelling in the pages. 😉

    Reply
  4. Dini @ dinipandareads

    Ooh, that Anthony Bourdain book looks good. 👀 I also have Ice Ghosts and The Wager on my TBR and can’t wait to read them. I grew up traveling a lot because we moved so much and we would visit new places all the time. I used to travel across Asia and Europe quite a bit in my previous job, but these days, there are very few places I travel to (sadly). If only everything wasn’t so expensive! 😮‍💨 Great post!

    Reply
    • Haze

      So true! I wondered if it was just me because I feel like traveling was so much more accessible to me when I was younger and not so much now. Maybe I’m just older and less spontaneous than before but I hope my traveling days aren’t over!

      Reply
  6. Brooke Lorren

    Wild was on my list this week too.

    I did get to travel a lot when I was in the Navy, but then I went a very long time without going anywhere outside of the US. We started going on cruises though, and that lets me see several places in a week. Last year we went on a Mediterranean cruise, and we figured, while we were there, we might as well hop on over to Paris! So I got to see that city for two and a half days. On the way back we purposely stopped in Ireland for a few hours, and then we had a super-short layover in Iceland: the shortest time I’ve ever spent in a country was 30 minutes! Although I’d love to go back for a little longer.

    Reply
  8. Nicky @ The Bibliophibian

    Nice picks! Not a traveller myself, definitely prefer the comforts of home or at worst a well-appointed hotel. It’s also why I struggle with time travel questions like “what period would you like to live in for a day”: no, thank you, I’ll stick to this one! Hehe.

    Reply

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