Traveling is the perfect time to read and if you're an independent traveler on a budget, you're probably more than familiar with how much time you'll have to kill getting from point A to point B on local transport.

The right books can really help you get under the skin of a culture, taking you beyond "seeing" to "experiencing" you destination. Not reading or gathering different perspectives on your destination before and during the journey means only getting half the wonder. 

Take the excellent 'Killing Pablo' for example, a book about life in Colombia over the last 50 years. Anyone who has read this will know and understand Colombia so much better than, you might venture, someone who has been there, yet not read it or something similar. 

Even if you are not a big reader, you are strongly encouraged to give it a try. None are too dense and we'd never recommend anything boring--quite the opposite, really.  Most speak from a backpacker's point of view, many are funny and a good number are probably unlike anything you've ever read before.  

Hop on over to Travel More. to view our recommendations by country, or select a region below: