 | My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell
Buy new: $10.20 / Used from: $4.40 This might be the funniest book I've ever read five times. The naturalist Gerald Durrell grew up on the Greek island of Corfu and in this book he writes about his childhood -- lovingly and beautifully about the animals he discovered, lovingly and hilariously about his eccentric English family.
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 | From the Holy Mountain: A Journey among the Christians of the Middle East by William Dalrymple
Buy new: $13.60 / Used from: $4.00 William Dalrymple is amazing. He takes subjects that seem to have a limitless potential for tedium and makes them fascinating. This book, about the decline of Middle Eastern Christianity, is (believe it or not) a page turner. The anecdotal writing brings you close to these monks who are the last believers in a dying religion....
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 | A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail (Official Guides to the Appalachian Trail) by Bill Bryson
Buy new: $10.87 / Used from: $0.01 Before I read this I probably hadn't thought about the Appalachian Trail for more than a minute in my entire life. But this book made me love it. I think it's Bill Bryson's funniest (which is saying something) and also his best written.
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 | The Magus by John Fowles
Buy new: $11.55 / Used from: $1.61 This weird, mystical, mysterious book was the first one that made me want to go to the Greek islands. It's just too bad Piraeus isn't like this any longer. But its description of the pine ridged, tiny islands nearest Athens is perfect.
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 | Paris to the Moon by Adam Gopnik
Buy new: $10.20 / Used from: $0.01 This book is so good because it's a practical guide to Paris -- it points out places like BHV and Deyrolle where you really have to go when you're there. And it's so well written. I'd rather read it than A Moveable Feast.
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 | The Worst Journey in the World: Antarctic 1910-1913 (Explorers Club Classic) by Apsley Cherry-Garrard
Buy used from: $2.80 The best book about the worst journey. I'm reading this with an eye to going to Antarctica. It will make you love the English, too.
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