#TravelBookChat Is Back

Calling all book worms and travel lovers!

#TravelBookChat, the Twitter chat all about travel and books, is back.

This is the chat for anyone who loves reading but also loves the sociable side of books. Reading is a solitary activity but it’s so nice to have someone to share the experience with during and after you’ve read the book. Someone to gossip about the characters with or share your shock at the twists and turns in the plot. We do it with movies and TV programs so why not with books!?

#TravelBookChat was originally launched by Jayne from Girl Tweets World (previously 40before30.com). I loved taking part in the chat so at the beginning of this year I suggested we bring it back.

Jayne and I have hosted lots of Twitter chats together in the past – including a couple that have ended up trending on Twitter – so we’re really excited to be working on this together.

We want to bring together a community of travel and book lovers and make reading more sociable.

Let me tell you more about #TravelBookChat...

#TravelBookChat will take place monthly and we’ll focus on a different travel related book each month. The books will vary and we’ll include fiction, non-fiction, biographies and basically anything we think looks interesting and is somehow related to travel. We’re open to ideas too so if you have an idea for a book, do let us know!

We’ll reveal the book at the start of each month and then host a one-hour Twitter chat a few weeks later. During the Twitter chat we’ll discuss the book and have a series of questions to keep the chat moving forwards.

This Month’s Theme: Australia

For this first month we’ve chosen a theme of Australia. Jayne recently moved to Australia and those of us stuck in the cold climate of Europe can temporarily escape to somewhere warm.

This Month’s Book:Tracks by Robyn Davidson (£2.99 on Kindle)

Tracks is Robyn’s account of her 1700 mile solo trek across the Australian Outback, with only a few camels and a dog for support.

Here’s the book description:

'I experienced that sinking feeling you get when you know you have conned yourself into doing something difficult and there's no going back.' So begins Robyn Davidson's perilous journey across 1,700 miles of hostile Australian desert to the sea with only four camels and a dog for company.

Enduring sweltering heat, fending off poisonous snakes and lecherous men, chasing her camels when they get skittish and nursing them when they are injured, Davidson emerges as an extraordinarily courageous heroine driven by a love of Australia's landscape, an empathy for its indigenous people, and a willingness to cast away the trappings of her former identity. Tracks is the compelling, candid story of her odyssey of discovery and transformation.

I downloaded the book and started reading last night to give myself a little head start and I am hooked already!

Join Us

When: Tuesday 24^th February at 8pm GMT (that’s 7am Wednesday morning for those of you in Sydney or 3pm Tuesday for the New Yorkers.)

Find the chat: Simply log onto Twitter and search for the hashtag #TravelBookChat.

Jayne and I will be tweeting a series of numbered questions and look forward to reading your answers (don’t forget to number them and include the hashtag so we can all see what you have to say.)

We’ll release a summary of the chat on our blogs the day after – this will include a full reading list of any publications mentioned so don’t worry about taking notes during the chat!

If you’d like to chat about the book before the official chat begins, feel free to do so and use the the hashtag #TravelBookChat. Just be careful not to reveal any spoilers for anyone who is further behind. Note to self: Do not be the one to do this!!

 

Get Social

We’d love to see where in the world you are reading this month’s book. Upload your pics to Instagram and Twitter with the hashtag #TravelBookChat and we’ll feature some of our favourites in the round up post.

If you have any questions at all feel free to leave them in the comments or tweet me @thetravelhack or Jayne @jayneytravels.

We look forward to chatting on the 24^th.