Last updated on December 1st, 2023
Books + Movies to Inspire Travel
JourneyWoman Book Club
Featured Book Club Meeting: Lisa See, Author of “Lady Tan’s Cirlce of Women” (November 2023)
Join Our Women’s Travel Book Club
We partner with TripFiction to present you with compelling reads set in incredible locations. The TripFiction database has thousands of location-based books set all around the world to transport you to a location of your dreams – or, perhaps one you are about to visit. Looking for book ideas? Visit TripFiction’s Great Reads page and use the map to find the book of your dreams.
Since our book club began in 2021, we’ve read over 40 books and reviewed many others. In 2024, we will be holding quarterly virtual book club meetings. All meetings are recorded on our YouTube channel. Please check our Events page for the next one. If you are purchasing a book, please support us by using the links on our site. We recommend you order books in advance, check your local library, use audiobooks or share!
2023 Book Club Selections
Tembi Locke’s Book “From Scratch”: A Memoir on Healing and Love Set in Sicily
Our December book club pick is Tembi Locke’s memoir, “From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily and Finding Home”, about her transracial romance with her Italian husband and her grief after his untimely death.
Wanda St. Hilaire’s Memoir Explores Solo Travel, Love and Adventure in “The Cuban Chronicles”
The JourneyWoman Book Club heads to Cuba as solo traveller Wanda St. Hilaire explores love and adventure in her 2009 memoir, “The Cuban Chronicles.”
Journey to the Arctic Circle With Sara Wheeler’s “The Magnetic North”
Travel with best-selling author Sara Wheeler to one of the earth’s most pristine places in “The Magnetic North: Notes from the Arctic Circle.”
Travel to Tanzania With “Our House in Arusha,” a Memoir by Sara Tucker
Set in Tanzania, “Our House in Arusha” by Sara Tucker is part of our “Once-in-a-Lifetime’ book series including Africa, Spain and Antarctica.
In “The Long Road Home” Alesa Teague Reclaims her Life Along the Camino de Santiago
As part of our Once-in-a-Lifetime Travel Experiences series, we feature Alesa Teague’s Camino de Santiago memoir “The Long Road Home”.
Step Into a Timeless World in “A House in Corfu: A Family’s Sojourn in Greece” by Emma Tennant
In Emma Tennant’s memoir “A House in Corfu” we visit Greece and celebrate the joy of a timeless world, one of vine, olive and sea.
Previous Book Club Selections
Journey to the Back Woods of Cape Cod in “The Paper Palace” by Miranda Cowley Heller
Set in the back woods of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Heller’s ‘The Paper Palace’ shares a story that unfolds over 24 hours and across 50 years.
Set in Cambodia, “In the Shadow of the Banyan”, is a Novel of Hope and Resilience
Our June Book of the Month is Vaddey Ratner’s novel “In the Shadow of the Banyan”, a story of hope and resilience set in Cambodia.
Announcing Three New Selections for the 2022 JourneyWoman Travel Book Club
The votes are in! Our next three books take us to India, New Zealand and Guernsey.
Please support our book club by buying your book or ebook using the links on our site.
Explore the World With Books + Movies
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JourneyWoman Book Club: 2020-2021 Reads
Please check for upcoming book clubs on Eventbrite. All Book Clubs are recorded and available on our YouTube channel. Subscribe here.
GReeCE
A House in Corfu: A Sojourn in Greece
by Emma Tennant
ABOUT THE BOOK
Rating: 2 boots / 5 – below expectations
THE CARIBBEAN
An Embarrass-ment of Mangoes
by Ann Vanderhoof
ABOUT THE BOOK
Rating: 4 boots / 5 – fun – made us want to live on a sailboat!
Morocco + Mali
Morocco to Timbuktu: An Arabian Adventure
by Alice Morrison
ABOUT THE BOOK
Rating: 3.5 boots / 5 – loved its authenticity
Africa
Nervous Conditions
by Tsitsi Dangarembga
ABOUT THE BOOK
Rating: 3 boots / 5 – Empowering and inspiring!
Egypt
Mistress of Nothing
by Kate Pullinger
ABOUT THE BOOK
Rating: 3.5 boots / 5 – a step back into history
Portugal
300 Days of Sun
by Deborah Lawrenson
ABOUT THE BOOK
Rating: 3.5 boots / 5 – learned about spies!
Iraq, Ethiopia, Egypt, Pakistan, Morocco
Travels with my Hat
by Christine Osborne
ABOUT THE BOOK
Rating: 4.5 boots / 5 – a must-read for solo travellers
Ireland
By the Lake
by John McGahern
ABOUT THE BOOK
Rating: 3.5 boots / 5 – a classic, beautifully written!
United States
The Kitchen House
by Kathleen Grissom
ABOUT THE BOOK
Rating: 4.5 boots / 5 – illuminating and engaging
SPAIN
Driving Over Lemons
by Chris Stewart
ABOUT THE BOOK
Rating: 3.5 boots / 5 – Fun and authentic
Italy
Lady in the Palazzo
by Marlena de Blasi
ABOUT THE BOOK
Rating: 3 boots / 5 – rambling but interesting
France
The Lost Vintage
by Ann Mah
ABOUT THE BOOK
Rating: 3 boots / 5 – history + wine, a great combination
BALI, MEXICO + MORE
Tales of a Female Nomad
by Rita Golden Gelman
ABOUT THE BOOK
Rating: 4.5 boots / 5 – loved it all!
Silk Route
Lands of Lost Borders: Out of Bounds on the Silk Road
by Kate Harris
ABOUT THE BOOK
Rating: 4 boots / 5 – an unexpected ride
TANZANIA
Our House in Arusha
by Sara Tucker
ABOUT THE BOOK
Rating: 3.5 boots / 5 – wanted more of her story
ARCTIC CIRCLE
The Magnetic North: Notes from the Arctic Circle
by Sara Wheeler
ABOUT THE BOOK
Rating: 3 boots: an intellectual read!
CUBA
The Cuban Chronicles: A True Tale of Rascals, Rogues and Romance
by Wanda St. Hillaire
ABOUT THE BOOK
SICILY
From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Healing and Finding Home
by Tembi Locke
ABOUT THE BOOK
“For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth.
What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet or excite you. Books help us understand who we are and how we are to behave. They show us what community and friendship mean; they show us how to live and die.”
– Anne Lamont, Bird by Bird
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