IMPORTANT SERVICE MESSAGE!!!

***We interrupt this blog series on books with an important public announcement!***

Before you forward something about a missing child, deadly computer virus, Marshall Field's cookie recipe or the latest government conspiracy, please for the sake of all recipients, check out SNOPES.COM to see if it has a shred of truth.

I find myself forwarding links to this site to well intentioned, but misinformed, friends, family and casual acquaintences all of the time. Ah, the joys of the internet!

The benefit of being the one to rain on everyone's parade of misinformation with a link to the truth? Eventually you stop getting forwards!

"I've got a map on my wall...

but that don't make me a world traveller!" (If you catch that reference you are some kind of good!)

Some of my all time favorite genres of books are travel/extreme sports books. I discovered many of these authors/books in my former life working with senior citizens, and have enjoyed them since. Since I have a small child and am a stay at home mom, it's a good thing I like to read or my mind might never get to leave Memphis and travel the globe.

Bill Bryson
Bill is one of my favorite travel authors. Before you run out and pick up one of his books however, be ye warned that some of his books contain some really bad language- especially the hysterical "A Walk in the Woods". (Though if I was stuck hiking through the wilderness with a neurotic guy from my past my language might be less than Godly as well.) All his books are written from first-hand experiences travelling the globe, and my favorites are "I'm a Stranger Here Myself" and "Notes from a Small Island." He has also authored a number of other books on subjects sich as grammar, and a short history of nearly everythin.

Tim Cahill
Tim is another travel writer I have really enjoyed, and his works are geared toward more adventurous trips around the world. Often the subject matter of his books is focused on getting out of some situation he shouldn't have gotten into to begin with. Favorites are "Not So Funny When It Happened" and "Pass the Butterworms Please."

John Krakauer
Krakauer's writing is not your typical travel genre. His book "Into the Wild" was just made into a major motion picture, and his "Into Thin Air" is a remarkable tale of survival on Mount Everest. Both are certainly worth the read.

Climbing High
This is another book in the Everest Genre- she was the first Danish woman to climb Mt. Everest, as well as being on the same expedition in 1996 that was chronicled in "Into Thin Air".

One Year Off
True tale of a family who sold everything and took off around the globe. Next time I get annoyed traveling 3 hours with a 4 year old I can think back and be glad I am not in Delhi with a toddler!