Whether you’re keen for some inspiring holiday reading, looking for a Christmas Gift or just searching for a good read we’ve got the adventure reading list you’ve been looking for. Packed full of inspiration, wild ideas and captivating prose this collection of award winning books from the recent Banff Mountain Book Festival will transport you to remote landscapes on grand adventures. They will get you inside the head of some of the world’s leading adventurers and take you to places seldom visited.
Down from the Mountain: The Life and Death of a Grizzly Bear by Bryce Andrews -WINNER OF THE 2019 BANFF MOUNTAIN BOOK COMPETITION AWARDS. The story of a grizzly bear named Millie: her life, death, and cubs, and what they reveal about the changing character of the American West
The Equilibrium Line by David Wilson. In its intensity and preoccupation with line and space, the climbing experience is akin to poetry. These poems celebrate climbing in all its forms: indoor walls, hill walks, bouldering on Yorkshire grit, traditional climbs in Derbyshire and North Wales, ice climbs on Ben Nevis, the Alps and further afield. They explore risk, falling and finding balance on rock, ice, and other places in our lives. For poetry readers, this collection opens a window into the world of climbing, its joys, risks and motivations. For climbers, it showcases poetry’s power to express and explore why we climb.
Waymaking: An Anthology of Women’s Adventure Writing, Poetry and Art by Helen Mort, Claire Carter, Heather Dawe and Camilla Barnard. A collection of prose, poetry and art by female writers and artists inspired by nature and the outdoors.
The Sun is a Compass: A 4,000-Mile Journey into the Alaskan Wilds by Caroline Van Hemert. For fans of Cheryl Strayed, the gripping story of a biologist’s human-powered journey from the Pacific Northwest to the Arctic to rediscover her love of birds, nature, and adventure.
Inner Ranges: An Anthology of Mountain Thoughts and Mountain People by Geoff Powter. Inner Ranges brings together an enlightening and entertaining selection of mountain writing by one of Canada’s most respected adventure journalists and thinkers. This collection of words includes personal tales from a life of exploration and risk-taking, some touches of humour, and award-winning profiles of some of Canada’s mountaineering greats.
Rough Magic: Riding the World’s Loneliest Horse Race by Lara Prior-Palmer. This is the extraordinary debut memoir of a young woman who traveled to Mongolia to compete in the world’s longest, toughest horse race, and emerged as its youngest and first-ever female winner.
Caribou Rainforest: From Heartbreak to Hope by David Moskowitz. In an inland North American rainforest that few people even know exists, about a dozen dwindling herds of caribou are struggling to survive. Caribou Rainforest tells of the possible extinction of the last mountain caribou herds found in Canada and the United States. David Moskowitz helps us understand why this is happening: how we, as humans, affect even the most remote places on the planet and how our personal, political, and environmental choices matter.
With something for every kind of adventurer (and reader) this list is jam-packed full of inspiration. Why not share it with your adventure gang, each get a book and then swap them around, creating your own adventure loving book-club!
