15 Books to help & inspire you (the Montenegro Girl way!)

Jun 25, 2020simple life, travel

Books are a great source of help and inspiration to me.  So I have gathered together some books to help you explore Montenegro, think about life and inspire you – the Montenegro Girl way!

I write about several different topics here on Montenegro Girl, all of which are connected with my Montenegro life journey since buying a little apartment there in 2005.

Exploring this beautiful little country.

Simplying life and working out what’s really important.

Moving towards a dream of a slower life away from the pressure and expectations of the rat race.

I’ve listed some well-respected travel books to help you explore more of this beautiful, little country.  To be fair there’s so much information already available online to help when it comes to travelling, but in reality it can get confusing at times, so I still find a good travel book is worth investing in to focus the attention and help prevent information overload.

And because this is more than just a travel blog, I’ve thrown in some of my favourite books that have inspired me and got me thinking about my own journey towards a simpler life.  Helped me to reflect on who I want to be and want sort of life I want to create.  (Because – after all – we take ourselves with us wherever we go).

And to finish off, there’s a couple of  books about people, who have carved out alternative lives for themselves.  In a world where we so often feel surrounded by people promoting a standard-issue life, it’s good to get some inspiration for your own life – wherever your passion lies.

Hope you enjoy them!

Books to help & inspire – the Montenegro Girl way!

Books to help you explore Montenegro

lonely planet travel guide book for montenegro

by Tamara Sheward Peter Dragicevich

You can’t beat Lonely Planet as a guide book.  I have done all my travels with them right from my student days.  When I first went to Montenegro, they did not have a book exclusively for the country, so I am pleased that this is no longer the case.

Montenegro Bradt travel guide book

by Norm Longley

Another useful guide for Montenegro with lots of practical tips for where to eat, stay & eat, with information on both well-known and off-the-beaten track sights.

Front cover of Montenegro Berlitz pocket travel guide book with blue sea and island

This pocket travel guide to Montenegro is compact, concise and packed full of essential information about where to go and what to do.  It even comes with a useful free bilingual dictionary.

Front cover of montenegro travel book from Insights with island and blue sea

This definitive pocket-sized travel guide comes with a free eBook and handy pull-out map.

Orange front cover of marco polo travel book for montenegro

Explore Montenegro with this handy, pocket-sized, authoritative guide, packed with Insider Tips.  It also has some useful phrases in Montenegrin and a download for the Touring app.

Blue front cover of western balkans montenegro lonely plant book with view over tops of rooves to sea

If you are planning a trip over the Western Balkans, this Lonely Planet travel guide will be useful as it incorporates not only Montenegro but also Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia and more. 

Front cover of guidora montenegro 7 best things travel book with beautiful island and blue sea

 By Guidora (available as Kindle version only)

Enjoy the best things to do on the Montenegro coast in 7 days as a first-time visitor without being bombarded with options.  This kindle book provides specific 72-hour plans with only one great choice on where to stay, what to eat, what to see.  Free Bonus is  included at the end of the ebook.

Front cicerone travel book showing mountains of montenegro in summer from above

This guidebook describes a range of 17 day-walks and multi-day treks throughout the mountains of Montenegro. Routes range from short (2km) walks through to multi-day treks. It also includes useful background information, covering mountain huts and shelters, and travel to and within the country.

Books to get you thinking about life

Front cover of walden by henry david thoreau showing tall skinny trees in woods

By Henry David Thoreau

This book really got me thinking.  Not least of all about making your own mind about how you think about life and then being willing to forsake some comfort to live according to what you believe is most important.  Walden is an account of how Thoreau spent several years living simply in a basic cabin that he built in Walden woods.  It inspired me as the book is about how he challenged the norms of his day and carved out his own counter-cultural time-rich life.

Front cover of finding sanctuary book by abbott jamison shwoing person sitting by tree and roots below

 By Abbott Christopher Jamison

When I read this book I found myself underlining and folding down the corners of the pages at every turn.  Needless to say it one I keep coming back to.  You don’t need to be have monastic tendencies to get something out of this book.  But it will get you digging deeper – in a very postive way. 

Cover for saints guide to happiness by robert ellsberg showing blue and white bowl of cherries

By Robert Ellsberg

Another thought-provoking book on a topic that is close to all our hearts: happiness.  Another book to you to reflect on your life and approach to it.  Robert Ellsberg suggests that happiness is not a matter of circumstances or feeling, but of finding our true self. Thoroughly recommended.

White cover of stuffocation book by james wallman with white chair and empty shelf
How We’ve Had Enough of Stuff & Why You Need Experience More than Ever

By James Wallman

This book really helped me see the impact of having so much stuff and has spurred me on to minimise my possessions even more since having my first epic declutter some years ago. In this groundbreaking book, trend forecaster James Wallman finds that a rising number of people are turning their backs on all-you-can-get consumption, from the telecoms exec who’s sold almost everything he owns, to the well-off family who have moved into a remote mountain cabin.

white cover with black squiggle of book called essentialism by greg mckeown

By Greg McKeown

A great book, which raises the deeper questions of being busy but unproductive and information overload.  Being an Essentialist is about a disciplined way of thinking. It means challenging the core assumption of ‘We can have it all’ and ‘I have to do everything’ and replacing it with the pursuit of ‘the right thing, in the right way, at the right time’. Highly recommended.

 Books to inspire you to live

life on your terms

Front cover of guidora montenegro 7 best things travel book with beautiful island and blue sea

 By Ken Ilgunas

I absolutely love this book!  It combines loads of elements that fascinate me in one excellently-written book.  Alternative living, following your heart’s passion, determination, simple living and small space living. Inspired by the frugality and philosophy of Henry David Thoreau, Ilgunas undertook a three-year transcontinental journey, working in Alaska as a tour guide, garbage picker, and night cook to pay off his student loans before hitchhiking home to New York.

Front cover of get rea get gone by rick page showing tanned lady in shorts on ailing boat

By Rick Page

The author, Rick Page, featured on Ben Fogle‘s programme “Return to the Wild”and it was truly an inspiration (even though I am not even a yachter myself!).  Rick Page gave up his work and bought a sailing boat to follow his dream of a simpler and freer life as a nomadic sea-gypsy.  If you need some inspiration for a simpler, freer life of your own, this might just get the juices flowing.  It does contain quite alot of technical information for yachts but it is still fascinating to understand the mindset of someone who has made this alternative life work on a budget.

“Reading is essential for those who seek to rise above the ordinary.”
 Jim Rohn

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