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You are here: Backpacker Resources > Travel Books > The Top Five Books of 2011

The Top Five Books of 2011

1. A Dip In The Ocean by Sarah Outen, March 2011
   

   This book speaks for itself in this month's free travel extract, however to add to the feeling of awe that you will experience after reading this, here's the review. Sarah Outen, the rather amazing author behind this read, set out to row 4000 miles across the Indian Ocean in honour of her father who had suffered from Rheumatoid Arthritis. At the age of 23 this is exactly what she did on her tiny boat Dipper, facing some of the worst weather conditions on earth and a wall of grief after the loss of her father. If you want a book that gives you inspiration to live life to the full, look no further.

   A Dip In The Ocean by Sarah Outen. is published by Summersdale (paperback; £8.99). It is also available through amazon.com and all good booksellers.

2. Half Empty by David Rakoff, May 2011

   David Rakoff is a rare talent that pops up in podcasts from time to time and too infrequently, in bestseller lists. If there were any justice in the world this would be a more frequent occurrence and this collection of essays is testament to that. You can't avoid the modern day mentality where everyone wants to be a reality TV star but you can take the edge off it with Mr Rakoff's musings and the oh-so-refreshing (and acerbic) view that said dreams will be dashed while adversity continues to reign supreme. It's a not a happily ended point of view on modern living, but if more people read it, there'd be far fewer talentless, wannabe celebrities making good people's skin crawl on internationally syndicated, trash TV.

   Half Empty by David Rakoff is published by Doubleday Books. It is also available through amazon.com and all good booksellers.

3. Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami, August 2011
   

   This offering from one of Japan's finest writers is centered around the character of Sumire who is fighting off the affections of K, because she's unknowingly drawn to Miu. After a business trip to France with Miu and a failed romance in Greece, a spurned Sumire disappears only to return to Japan and acquiesce to K's advances. With Murakami at the helm this plot is obviously far more surreal than this summary suggests, but if you like blurred boundaries, secret sexualities and a hint of regret, you'll like this read.

   Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami is published by Vintage (paperback; £7.99). It is also available through amazon.com and all good booksellers.

4. Voices From Chernobyl by Svetlana Alexievich, June 2011
   

   The word Chernobyl is synonymous with that fateful day in 1986 when a nuclear reactor exploded and the lives of everyone in Belarus changed forever. Twenty-five years later and life here is yet to return to normal, and many tales are yet to be told. That's what this book by Journalist Svetlana Alexievich focuses on. The first hand reportage relays everything from the soldiers sent to their death replacing the Russian flags dissolved by the radiation on top of the reactor as a point of national pride, to the farmers who were given the go ahead to trade polluted products outside of the contamination zone, far too soon. It's a poignant but essential documentary of a legacy that won't be going away anytime soon.

   Voices From Chernobyl by Svetlana Alexievich is published by Picador USA. It is also available through amazon.com and all good booksellers.

5. The Secret History by Donna Tart, August 2011
   

   The first thing that struck me about The Secret History was the slight hint of Cruel Intentions flowing through the characters surrounding our main man, Richard. Running away from California and the cultural-poverty if his family, Richard embarks on an education at an Ivy League New England college, however there are a few surprises in store for him and they're all related to the five eccentric students in his ancient Greek class. These guys have a secret and it's a black hole of darkness, manipulation and fear that poor old Richard could never have seen coming. The New York Times got it spot on when they credited this as a mix of Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, Euripides Bacchae and The Rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis.

   The Secret History by Donna Tart is published by Penguin (paperback; £8.99). It is also available through amazon.com and all good booksellers.

- Robert Savage