A Woman's Passion for Travel: More Stories from a Woman's World (Travelers' Tales)

For those who've journeyed through the archives of travel writing, one fact quickly emerges: historically, the writings of women travelers were rarely published, whether due to the relative rarity of women adventurers or the unwillingness of publishers to put out their tales. Times have changed, and this book, the second Travelers' Tales collection of stories by women voyagers, is a bold and wonderful statement that women not only are heading out into foreign cultures, often alone, but also that their evocative stories can easily compete with, and frequently outrun, those of men.

It's hard to chose a favorite in this collection of 43 pieces written by some well-knowns, such as Frances Mayes, Mary Morris, and Pam Houston, and dozens of promising unknowns: would it be the one about what happens when a letter is delivered to a Venetian stranger, or the simple peace found in a tiny Spanish church, or the adventures of a scorpion collector in Tunisia, or perhaps the wisdom proffered by a boatman in Laos? Is it the encouraging words of older travelers such as the 70-year-old who plunges into Latin America by herself, or the lesson learned of mothers traveling with daughters? Most moving is a haunting tale of an umbrella-bearing stranger in Paris; most disturbing is the story of a health problem brought back from Belize. This is an enchanting collection that leaves one longing for more and will no doubt induce thousands of women to hop up from their chairs and run to the airport. --Melissa Rossi