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Sam Baldwin tells John Ross about some ingredients behind the success of his self-published memoir For Fukui’s Sake: Two Years in Rural Japan (the subject of a previous chat between them on the Bookish Asia podcast). They touch on Sam’s latest memoir, Dormice & Moonshine: Falling for Slovenia. But the heart of the conversation is some travel book recommendations – and Sam’s new project: a review website dedicated to travelogues and travel memoirs: https://travelmemoir.review

Sam’s Recommended books (in order of mention):

Beyond the Sky and the Earth: A Journey into Bhutan (1999) by Jamie Zeppa

Seven Years in Tibet by Heinrich Harrer (Translation into English by Richard Graves 1953)

Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea (2003) and Burma Chronicles (2007) by Guy Delisle

Tonoharu (parts 1-3, 2008-16) by Lars Martinson

River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze (2001) and Country Driving: A Journey from Farm to Factory (2010) by Peter Hessler

Lost Japan (1993) by Alex Kerr

The Same Moon (2020) by Sarah Coomber