Travel classic: Black Lamb and Grey Falcon
Rebecca West’s ability to single out the telling detail in a swatch of vastness was of great help to Samanth Subramanian as he dipped into the relevant chapters of the book while travelling in the Balkans
A pictorial biography of the Himalayas
Dilwali cites the bewitching paintings of Nicholas Roerich as his guiding principle, and some of the photographs in this collection do approximate the unearthly light and sudden transcendence of Roerich–s best work
Travel classic: Travels with Charley
Ashok Banker contemplates touring the great American open road himself after reading John Steinback–s Travels with Charley
Incredible Africa
National Geographic photographer George Steinmetz captures the stunning landscapes and wildlife of Africa from a motorised paraglier
Beautiful Kashmir
Flip through this large format photo book to see a mix of familiar and unique shots of Kashmir
An interesting idea gone wrong
The author makes an attempt to shine a light on the history of India–s geography, but we beg to differ
A novel dream
A splendid novel, dreamlike and insubstantial, lit by a strange light much like Lear–s own landscapes sketched during his travel through India
Travel classic: The Book of Duarte Barbosa
If Anita Nair is looking for time travel in the reverse, it is Barbosa that she would reach out for
Tips on travelling cheaply
Look out for tips on frugal travel while you read about the author’s experiences of trekking with balky ponies in Kyrgyzstan or landing up in a topless diner in Montreal with his younger brother in tow
Going monochromatic to elevate the ordinary
The photographer believes the black and white images effectively capture the emotional weight of her ordinary subjects
Solving a historical jigsaw puzzle
A patient detective work on the part of the author to put together the life and times of the Mauryan emperor
Life in Delhi
The book is a straight representation of urban, middle-class India, as seen by the author, who lived as an urban middle-class Dilliwalla for eighteen months
A passionate narrative about Roman history
Crammed with stories about artists and artworks, the section on Renaissance is much the best part of the book by Hughes
Retracing the march of the US Seventh Army through France
A book about the accounts of WWII survivors and their attitude towards the war sixty years later