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You are here: Backpacker Resources > Travel Books > Top 5 Books for July 2010

Top 5 Books for July 2010

1. Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
   

   In true Murakami style, this offering bends reality in a slightly perturbing and addictive fashion. Young Kafka is one of the sticking points in this literary storm, running away from home at 15 to escape a father who captures cats in order to eat their hearts and build a flute using their souls. Stick with me. Kafka is also bound to a Mr Nakata who, after an inexplicable period of childhood paralysis can no longer read or write but is able to converse with cats. Add to this mix a gender traversing librarian, a heart broken musician and the concept of a spirit guide who adopts the form of Colonel Sanders, and you have the gist of the swings, and roundabouts in this incredible book.

   Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami is published by Random House (paperback; £7.99). It is also available through amazon.com and all good booksellers.

2. Footprint France: Provence and Côte d’Azur by Tristan Rutherford and Kathryn Tomasetti
   

   This is the first time a Footprint guidebook had appeared in the top five so in that vein, let us approach it as we would a first date. The first impression from the fine photograph on the front cover is alluring and makes you want to find out more. Five brownie points. The succinct introduction just like that first drink, puts you at ease - assuring you that an extension of your time together won’t be a waste of time. Ten brownie points. From this point onwards your time together passes seamlessly. From the Riviera to St-Tropez and Haute-Provence to Marseille, the literary love flows and each sentence causes your fingertips to creep closer to that credit card required for a spontaneous trip to the area. Metaphors aside, my favourite part is the chapter dedicated to the Haute Var: “carved by lonely hill-winding roads, and dotted with vineyards, vast forests, rocky outcrops and countless stumble-upon chambers d’hôtes.” I think I’m in love.

   Footprint France: Provence and Côte d’Azur by Tristan Rutherford and Kathryn Tomasetti is published by Footprint (paperback; £13.99). It is also available through amazon.com and all good booksellers.

3. Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of The World by Haruki Murakami
   

   I thought this – one of Murakami’s most admired titles – might feed my literary addiction for all things written by this guy. Compared to Kafka on the Shore however it isn’t more-ish, you don’t want the characters to your best buddies in real life and the plot doesn’t make you gasp, groan or empathise. It’s an information age storyline where human brains are modified to sort, shuffle and encrypt data. The characters aren’t named but your main man and story narrator is a scientifically altered Calcutec - the lone survivor of the brain surgery experiments carried out to create said data shuffling shufflers. Speaking of shuffling, the plot switches from the Calcutec’s inner consciousness and a real world Tokyo, ruled by corporations and underground counter corporations. I couldn’t finish it and if you can, you’re a better person than I.

   Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of The World by Haruki Murakami is published by Random House (paperback; £8.99). It is also available through amazon.com and all good booksellers.

4. 10 Journeys – The Short Story Reinvented
   

   You can’t beat a good short story and this collection, the latest in a series of similar publications from Legend Press – keeps true to that rule. The authors brought in for this collection take every day trials and tribulations, and transform them into entertaining and sometimes shocking scenarios. The best of the bunch in this collection happen to be Dear by Josie Henley-Einion, What if You Slept by Anne Devereux and Curious Case of Jenni Wen by A.J. Kirby. The tales are only about 30 pages a pop and are the perfect companion for a little down time on the beach.

   10 Journeys – The Short Story Reinvented is published by Legend Press (paperback; £7.99). It is also available through amazon.com and all good booksellers.

5. The Gringo Trail by Mark Mann
   

   Also starring as this month’s free travel extract, The Gringo Trail relays a true life tale of travel across South America, a friend called Mark and Mark’s penchant for illegally obtained substances - something that puts a somewhat comical strain on the relationship of author Mark Mann and Melissa, and the couple’s travel plans. This is the kind of lucid tale where rather than throw a joint away to avoid interference at customs, said joints are hurriedly smoked behind airport trolleys, and a story where flights are put off for weeks so that storerooms of mushrooms can be enjoyed at leisure. FHM rightly compared this to Alex Garlan’s The Beach. Enough said.

   The Gringo Trail by Mark Mann is published by Summersdale (paperback; £7.99). It is also available through amazon.com and all good booksellers.

- Rob Savage