When you crack open a list of great travel reads in an esteemed publication like this one, you usually have a pretty good idea of what you’re going to get: books that uncannily bring to life a place or an experience. There’s a very good chance you’ll get a smattering of MFK Fisher, Paul Theroux, and Bruce Chatwin; some iconic American travelogues (On the Road, Travels With Charley, Blue Highways); perhaps the odd title by Mark Twain or Ernest Hemingway. Maybe there’ll be a dutiful inclusion of A Passage to India. You’re virtually assured of getting a very good list. But this is not that kind of list.