More books for your adventure travel list (part 19)

I have been pretty busy reading some great travel books. From the Greek to the sub-Antarctic islands and from Timbuktu to Tibet, here are eight books to add to your adventure travel reading list.

The Amur River, between Russia and China - Colin Thubron

The Amur River is almost unknown. Yet it is the tenth longest river in the world, rising in the Mongolian mountains and flowing through Siberia to the Pacific. For 1,100 miles it forms the tense border between Russia and China. Simmering with the memory of land-grabs and unequal treaties, this is the most densely fortified frontier on earth.

In his eightieth year, Colin Thubron takes a journey from the Amur’s secret source to its giant mouth, covering almost 3,000 miles. Harassed by injury and by arrest from the local police, he makes his way along both the Russian and Chinese shores, starting out by Mongolian horse, then hitchhiking, sailing on poacher’s sloops or travelling the Trans-Siberian Express.

The Amur River is a shining masterpiece by the acknowledged laureate of travel writing, an urgent lesson in history and the culmination of an astonishing career.

Adventure Coordinators review - I love Colin Thubron's writing and this is no exception. He is prescient as he writes in 2021 when  looking at a war memorial where thousands of Russiandeaths are commemorated, ordered by conflict: WW2, Afghanistan, the Caucasus, Syria. “I wonder bleakly if these scrupulous slabs will one day confess to casualties in Ukraine.” 8.5 out of 10

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