Read an extract from The Hundred-foot Journey, by Richard C. Morais

Full of eccentric characters, hilarious cultural mishaps, vivid settings and delicious meals described in rich, sensuous detail, The Hundred-foot Journey lays bare the inner workings of the elite world of French haute cuisine, and provides a life- affirming and poignant coming-of-age tale.

Andrea di Robilant on Venetian Navigators

In his new book, Venetian Navigators, Andrea di Robilant sets out to investigate how much, if any, truth there is to the story that Antonio and Nicolò Zen really discovered the New World before Columbus.

Read our Q & A with the author…

Jonathan Watts interviewed

The Guardian’s Asia environment correspondent discusses his dynamic travelogue When a Billion Chinese Jump.

The Paris I Love, by François Lelord

We asked François Lelord, the bestselling author of Hector and the Search for Happiness and the upcoming Hector and the Secrets of Love to describe his favourite places in Paris.

Read an extract from The Dark Tourist

‘Dark tourism is the act of travel and visitation to sites, attractions and exhibitions which have real or recreated death, suffering or the seemingly macabre as a main theme.’

Presenting the Travel Diaries of Karl Pilkington: Adventurer. Philosopher. Idiot.

Travel broadens the mind, right? You’d think so… find out in this extract from Karl Pilkington’s hilarious travel diaries.

The Booklist: Travel writing

Just as you’re about to go back to work after your summer holidays, Bookhugger’s publishers suggest some fine travel titles to get that wanderlust going again…

Hello Dubai

Boom town, modern marvel, commercial hub, where middle-east meets wealthy west, playground for tourists, crawling with ex-pats, built by Indians, owned by Arabs, Dubai has risen from next to nothing to an awful lot in little more than thirty years.

Hit the road with Joe Moran

We use roads every day, yet we have no idea of why our journeys are the way they are – of how roads are built, signposted, mapped or numbered. In unravelling this history, cultural historian Joe Moran throws a whole new light onto our history and our daily lives. Here he talks to George Miller.

An extract from Talking to Zeus: My Year in a Greek Garden, by Jane Shaw

Jane Shaw was working as a volunteer in Chelsea’s famous Physic Garden when she earned a placement to work for a year on a very special organic garden in Greece. But this was to be no easy-going break in the Mediterranean…

The Booklist: Where I went on my holidays

As the holiday season is here, Bookhugger has compiled a selection of books on places where you may or may not wish to take your children…

April non-fiction round-up – part two

Part two of our selection of the best non-fiction to be released in April, including fresh looks at the Gospels, insights in to the City of London and how to survive the end of civilisation as we know it!

An extract from Six Months in Sudan

James Maskalyk set out for the contested border town of Abyei, Sudan, in 2007. The newest Médicins Sans Frontières’ doctor in the field, he arrived with only his training, full of desire to understand this most desperate part of the world. He returned home six months later profoundly affected by the experience.

March non-fiction round-up

Enjoy Bookhugger’s roundup of the fantastically diverse non-fiction titles that have hit the bookshops this March – from Mussolini to the Mafia, and Eastenders to Okinawa, it’s all here.

Read an extract of Peter Hessler’s Country Driving

In the summer of 2001, Peter Hessler, the long-time Beijing correspondent for The New Yorker, acquired his Chinese driver’s license. For the next seven years he travelled the country, tracking how the automobile and the improved transport system were transforming China.

Three questions for… Simon Winder

George Miller asks author and publisher Simon Winder about his new book, Germania: A Personal History of Germans Ancient and Modern. As ever, there are no trick questions, but no forewarning either. Watch the video to find out what Simon thinks are the highs and lows of German cooking.

January Non-fiction Round-up

If you’re looking for a good read this January, let these books transport you – from the shores of South America to the Middle East during the Crusades; from journeys of self-discovery to journeys through the lives of some remarkable people; from Hollywood to family hell and back again.

November Non-fiction Round-up

Memoirs, science and not fiction, fleeting meetings and long memories, interviews with writers, writing on art, commentary on the UK as it is now and the changes it’s gone through… all these and more are to be found in our November non-fiction list.

September non-fiction round-up

If fiction’s not your thing, September sees a wealth of fascinating new non-fiction hitting the shelves, including : biographies of characters as diverse as a novelist, a poker star, a movie mogul and a top tailor; and histories of the liberation of Europe and the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The Bookhugger Author Panel: Reportage

Bookhugger asked three top-notch non-fiction writers to tell us about the techniques they use to research, imagine and depict their subjects.

The Booklist: Shimmering Cities

Standing tall against the wind and rain, bathed in sunshine and heat haze; drifting in the imagination, or seeped in emotion, magic and memories warm and tragic, cities are as fertile as the earth for the written word.

An interview with Oliver Balch

Oliver Balch works as an independent journalist in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he writes regularly for the Guardian. He talks to George Miller about Viva South America!, his journey around that continent, following in the footsteps of Simon Bolivar.

Listen now