A book blog – or rather, an irregular series about books related to travel, adventure or the outdoors. Perhaps a better name would be Polar Bear Book Club but it’s too late for that. These books are perfect for between your travels and adventures or for cold winter evenings when you’re stuck at home. These are books about the world and about adventurers and explorers. Maybe your next adventure will be to follow in their footsteps?
I can’t quite believe I’ve never reviewed this book before when it’s the reason I wrote my own book. Land of the Midnight Sun: My Arctic Adventures (affiliate link to bookshop.org) is a TV tie-in book by Alexander Armstrong to accompany his three-part ITV series which took him from Norway to Sweden, up to Svalbard… More Travel Library: Land of the Midnight Sun by Alexander Armstrong
I didn’t exactly rave over my last Travel Library book, did I? And I’m afraid it’s pretty much more of the same today. This time I’m reading Helen Russell’s The Year of Living Danishly. Helen is a freelance writer and journalist whose husband unexpectedly got offered a job at Lego HQ. They took the plunge… More Travel Library: The Year of Living Danishly
I bought How Iceland Changed the World by Egill Bjarnason months ago and I’ve been dipping in and out ever since without quite being able to bring myself to read it from start to finish. That I eventually achieved by literally scheduling a chapter a day in my calendar and now I’m certain it does… More Travel Library: How Iceland Changed the World by Egill Bjarnason
The third post of the Polar Bear Winter Festival is another winter-themed one – well, an ice-and-snow-themed one, anyway. It’s a Travel Library post and it’s all about A Woman in the Polar Night by Christiane Ritter, the Austrian wife of a scientist of some kind turned fur trapper who spent a year living with… More Travel Library: A Woman in the Polar Night
This was one of the little pile of books I bought as a reward for having my second jab. Well, if you’re going to go all the way to Salisbury to have a needle stuck in you, you may as well pop into the bookshop. Quite a few books caught my eye and this is… More Travel Library: Icebreaker by Horatio Clare
I was excited about this. I checked my emails multiple times a day in the hopes of hearing something about this and here it is! Anna McNuff‘s new book, Bedtime Adventure Stories For Grown Ups is out mid May and I’ve already read it! Full disclosure, I signed up to Anna’s Trail Team mailing list… More Bedtime Adventure Stories For Grown Ups by Anna McNuff
Night Trains by Andrew Martin is a book I’ve ploughed through, determined to see it out. It’s about six journeys on the last of Europe’s sleeper trains, a dying breed due to low profits and operational difficulties of international agreements. It’s got a pretty cover. Train journeys are interesting. So why do I use the… More Travel Library: Night Trains by Andrew Martin
I’ve been writing some Iceland blogs lately and I’m also trying to write an uncooperative and recalcitrant Iceland Book. That means I’ve had my little Icelandic reference library out. It’s not quite what you would find in a real library but I find it handy and I thought it might be useful to you to… More My Icelandic reference library
I thought at the beginning of the year that I’d bring back Travel Library and now the world is at it is, I’m actually posting this one that I wrote in January. And yes, obviously when bringing a series back in 2020, I’m going to start with a children’s book from 1886! Susan Coolidge’s What… More Travel Library: What Katy Did Next
Most people don’t start the Ewan McGregor & Charley Boorman machine with Long Way Down. It’s a sequel to their 2004 motorcycle adventure around the world, Long Way Round, where they rode from London to New York via Siberia and Mongola. That was a big deal and a big adventure and I don’t think Long… More Travel Library: Long Way Down by Ewan McGregor & Charley Boorman