Hour 18 – Armchair Traveler

Ciao, beautiful people! You guys are OWNING this readathon. (If this were 5 years ago, I would’ve said you were PWNING it, but I’m totally hip with the kids’ lingo, yo.)

(Not gonna lie, my favorite part of prepping for the readathon is gif hunting).

Before we get to the next check-in challenge, the winner for the Hour 12 – Reading Nook challenge is:

bryonyf4ye

For this challenge, I want to talk about one of my favorite side-benefits of reading: armchair traveling. Reading a great book that is set in (or is directly about) a really awesome place is the next best thing to actually traveling there. And sometimes, one of the reasons I choose a book is purely for location, whether that place is real or not. Even better, if that place is also in a completely different time and it becomes armchair time-traveling.

One of the books I’m reading this weekend is the forthcoming The Queen of the Night which takes place in 19th century Paris, and that is definitely a time and place I’d love to visit on vacation. Pair that with the French Riviera in the 1920s, as in Liza Klaussman’s Villa America, and the 1590’s London in Deborah Harkness’ second book in the Discovery of Witches trilogy, and I’ve got a pretty good vacation planned. (As long as I have all my shots, of course. No one needs the Black Death on vacation.)

In the comments, tell me what three destinations from books you’d combine to make your dream vacation. Real or not real, in this time or in another, anything goes. Where and when would you like to drop in to from literature?

I’ll pick a winner at the next check-in at midnight in six hours, to win your choice of a $10 Starbucks gift card, $10 Amazon gift card or a book (US$10 or less) from Book Depository.

Bon voyage!

 

50 thoughts on “Hour 18 – Armchair Traveler”

  2. kristenlcoates says:

    I’m not sure what a combination of Hogsmeade (circa Order of the Phoenix, nice and wintry), the villa in the South of France from Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night, and Captain Wentworth and Anne’s home in Bath as depicted in Persuasion would look like, but wherever that is: I want to go to there.

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  3. There are so many settings worth being in however, some of the best would be Saint-Malo in Paris from the novel I am reading now, All the Light You Cannot see, added to the setting of Beach Music, which also involves Rome, so beng able to be able to combine traveling to Rome and Paris to relish the culture and histoy. As strange as it sounds, I would love to be able talso add the setting of Braveheart, sharing Ireland and Scotland. These areas would be the ultimate vacation where I would love to drop in. A second close one to Scotland/ireland would be Perth, Australia from Joan London’s novel, Gilgamesh.

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    • Edits from the above mistakes below SORRY!

      There are so many settings worth being in however, some of the best would be Saint-Malo in Paris from the novel I am reading now, All the Light You Cannot see, added to the setting of Beach Music, which also involves Rome, so beng able to be able to combine traveling to Rome and Paris to relish the culture and HISTORY. As strange as it sounds, I would love to be able TO also add the setting of Braveheart, sharing Ireland and Scotland. These areas would be the ultimate vacation where I would love to drop in. A second close one to Scotland/Ireland would be Perth, Australia from Joan London’s novel, Gilgamesh.

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    • Krista says:

      I should clarify that I am signed up with my Twitter name – @kristaonpurpose. But WordPress was just unbearably excited to post my comment!

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  5. acidpopsnlemondrops says:

    The small fictional town of Molching(The Book Thief),
    Number 12 Grimmauld Place(HP),Acidalia Planitia on the Mars(The Martian)..

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  6. Hogwarts & Narnia (because who wouldn’t if given the chance?!)

    Pacific Crest Trail – Wild by Cheryl Strayed
    I’m currently reading this and a little jealous at how brave she is to have hiked this trail alone. One of my own personal goals in life is to hike the entire Ice Age Trail in Wisconsin, but I plan on doing it in sections and I don’t think I’d want to do it alone.

    This would be quite the adventure!

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  7. Ooooh. I think my three would have to be Tolkien’s Rivendell, for its beauty and tranquillity and the amazing dresses available for floating-across-bridges-and-through-trees purposes. Paris, to visit Shakespeare and Company (which I first discovered via Books, Baguettes and Bedbugs by Jeremy Mercer). And maybe Cornwall, to du Maurier country – maybe Frenchman’s Creek, for a little piratey yumminess? It’s actually bedtime here, so now I kiiiinda hope I dream this vacation tonight. 🙂

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  8. 1. Fairyland, from The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, et seq.

    2. The Shire, of course, from The Hobbit, et seq. (Though I’d also settle for New Zealand, where the movie versions were filmed.)

    3. Avonlea, circa Anne’s high-school years.

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  9. 1. Middle Earth (The Lord of the Rings) (I can’t choose one specific place there … I’d like to see the olf forests and the mountains, Rivendell and Mirkwood, Gondor and The Shire etc)

    2. Buchhaim (City of Dreamin Books) … I mean it’s a entire city dedicated only to books!

    3. Scotland (Outlander)

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  10. In the comments, tell me what three destinations from books you’d combine to make your dream vacation. Real or not real, in this time or in another, anything goes. Where and when would you like to drop in to from literature?
    *I think like everyone I am going to say Hogwarts because why not its beautiful, iconic and filled with magic, Historic New Orleans from Interview with a Vampire but also just because of every book having to do with the bayou and the spookiness of it, and finally Wonderland from Alice in Wonderland so I could get lost down the rabbit hole and just enjoy being there in the very colorful animated (but hopefully peaceful) world.

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  12. Oh, Ankh-Morpork has to be in the mix, most definitely! Then I’d really like to visit Katharine Kerr’s Deverry world (hopefully as a badass female warrior like Jill and not a kitchen wench, of course). Aaaand… geez, it’s hard to only have three slots… I’d have to choose… Yeah, William Gibson’s Chiba City from Neuromancer. It is going to be one helluva trip!! 😀

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  13. This is why I shouldn’t read so many dystopian and post-apocalyptic novels! I want to stay far away from a lot of those places.

    1. The easy answer: Hogwarts
    2. Jackson Hole, Wyoming from Tim Sandlin’s GroVont trilogy. I could really use a quiet mountain cabin.
    3. Speaking of mountains… I’d like to hike at least part of the Pacific Crest Trail but a little more prepared than Cheryl Strayed in Wild.

    I’d also like to hang out in District 12 and Sunspear if there weren’t awful warring conditions.

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  14. radespins says:

    Three literary destinations I would like to visit are:

    1. The Shire – The Hobbit
    2. The Burrow – From the Harry Potter series
    3. Indigo Tea Shop, Charleston, SC – Featured in The Tea Shop Mysteries by Laura Childs

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  16. 1. Hawaii :Pig-Boy: A Trickster Tale from Hawai’i
    2. The City : Jazz by Toni Morrison
    3: New Orleans: Marie Laveau the Voodoo Queen and The handbook to New Orleans Voodoo.

    I’ve been to Hawaii and Nola but those books added to my love of the place. And Jazz may be curious to see New York.

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  17. These literary, but real, places are on my travel bucket list:

    1) Cuisery, France – this literary city was mentioned in The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George
    2) Hobbiton in New Zealand
    3) Edinburgh, Scotland

    Alternatively, I would love to go to these fictional places:

    1) The Shire
    2) Bookholm – from The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers
    3) Hogsmeade Village and Diagon Alley

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  18. Hm. I’m not sure about combining them all, but my three places that I’d like to visit (but not live in) include:
    1. Historic New York – say the early 20th century
    2. England in general for all the literaries: Austen, Collins, Dickens, Hardy, etc..
    and
    3. And Scotland for Outlander and/or Wales for general bookishness 🙂

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  21. Kacie from A Bumble in Books says:

    Weirdly enough, I’d like to travel to Stephen King’s Derry, Maine during the books of IT, Dreamcatcher, and 11/22/63 (between 1957-1990s). It’s crazy, but I’d like to see it all go down in person.

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  22. Aya Sato says:

    Only three destinations?! That’s going to be one helluva task. Since it’s destinations to make your ‘dream vacation’ I’m going to go with…
    1. Hogwarts (Harry Potter Series)
    2. Rivendell (Lord of the Rings)
    3. Chiba City (Neuromancer) – @Yoanna Great pick!

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  23. Megan West says:

    I would like to go to New Orleans from the Dark-Hunter world by Sherrilyn Kenyon, I want to go to Sanctuary. I would also like to go to the futuristic version of America that is Illya from The Selection series by Kiera Cass, I just don’t want to be in the selection. And Pern. Pern is from the series by Anne McCaffery and is a planet with dragonriders. Dragons!

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  26. Dani Moth says:

    I just finished a biography of Hans Christian Andersen that featured a ton of excerpts from his travel diaries and the books he published on his travels, which subsequently made me fall in love with early 1800’s Weimar, Naples, and the area around Skagen during his visit in 1859. He also describes Paris vividly, but more lovingly, I think, in his later travels than in his earlier ones. I guess I’d like to just travel back in time to the 1830’s and spend the rest of my live traveling with Andersen. He’s a tiring traveling companion, true, but so am I so I think our travel anxieties would compliment each other nicely.

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  27. my favourite kind of book is historical fiction. my first trip would be to 1700s scotland (outlander series by diana gabaldon. all thos mean in kilts mmmm…oh and scotland yea. my second vacation im reading about now is book to in mrs perigrines home for peculiar children. this is set in england in 1940s during the war. but the home for peculiar children is in a time loop. they relive the same day over and over and never age. the other reason id vacation there is the caracters, they all have special abilities. its so very cool. and thirdly i would love to go study at hogwarts, talk about special abilities. i love to learn and that kind of school im definitely excited for.

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  28. Limiting it to just three is hard…

    I’d say Narnia for sure (for obvious reasons…I grew up before Harry Potter, so this was my ultimate childhood fantasyland), also Prince Edwards Island during Anne of Green Gables’ childhood (because it sounds amazing, and also my family lived on the Island at that time and it would be awesome to see it) and Mulhoney, Wisconsin at the same time as the first half of Joan Bauer’s Hope Was Here because it sounds like the most awesome town.

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  29. Hmmmm.

    1. Well, I’d have to go to Scotland to see a bunch of the things mentioned in the Outlander books. And I’d probably bring my little Funko Pop Jamie & Claire and set them up in places from the books.

    2. I’d have to hop over to England and somehow worm my Muggle-self into Hogwarts castle. I wanna ride those stairs and meet Professor McGonagall.

    3. And THEN I’d have to contact Darian Frey, captain of the Ketty Jay (airship) and find a way to join his crew so I could go on swashbuckling, sky-pirate adventures.

    Man, and now I really want to re-read the Ketty Jay series. That’s gonna have to happen soon 🙂

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  30. I feel like the post-war Shire would’ve been pretty nice. Plenty of food, drink, and relaxation, plus lush green.

    Hawthorne spends so much time describing the landscape of 1600s Puritan Boston in The Scarlet Letter, I’d like to have seen it in for myself.

    Finally, wouldn’t mind old St. Petersburg in a lot of the fiction of Dostoevsky.

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  31. Nephele says:

    Literary travel is almost harder to narrow down than real travel. So many different versions of places. But I’d definitely have to check out Hogwarts and Wizarding London, Shakespeare’s London (though not while they were closing down the theaters for rumors of plague), and perhaps Hemingway’s Paris (all those interesting writers floating around). I’m sure I’d pick different spots on a different day.

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  32. Hmmm….

    1. Victorian Era England (via any of the classics set in this time period, Libba Bray’s Gemma Doyle trilogy, Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate series, etc.)
    2. MIDDLE-EARTH! This is actually the first thing that came to my mind. I would want to see all of it. There’s no way I could narrow this down.
    3. The wizarding world of HP. So another trip to England for me 😛

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  34. This was harder than I expected. I would have to go with the following:
    1. Hogwarts (I’m jumping on the HP bandwagon with everyone else above…..who wouldn’t want to check that out)
    2. I so love reading about the Roaring 20’s. I think I would have made a bad ass flapper….so maybe Dollface or The Paris Wife (I’ve never been to Europe and have always wanted to go)
    3. I would love to do some amazing hike at some point when I need to rediscover my roots (either the Pacific Coast Trail like in Wild….just maybe not so intense or Happiness for Beginners with a place in Utah….at least I remember it being Utah but I guess I’m not totally sure now :))

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  35. 1. As most people above said, Hogwarts/Hogsmeade
    2. Artemisia, Luna (after the events in Winter) from the Lunar Chronicles
    3. Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult, NYC, 1920s. From Libba Bray’s The Diviners.

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  37. I am a big book fan and i am loving this read-a-thon

    I would have to go for:

    1) Hogwarts- harry potter series because its amazing and i am a fan of the books and movies
    2) Tempest by Julie Cross because its about time travel and love
    3) forks- the twilight series because forks sounds amazing to visit and also i am a big fan of vampire and werewolf books
    4) unleashed by Nancy holder and Debbie Viguie because its amazing story and also it talks about to places in this book were u could visit (everyone should read this book)

    Have a good time reading book lovers
    Kat

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  38. Tonia says:

    Hogwarts, of course. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, and Wisconsin from Laura Ingalls Wilder. PEI from Anne of Green Gables would be nice too.

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  40. Deepika Ramesh says:

    1. Malgudi from RK Narayan’s books
    2. PCT from Cheryl Strayed’s Wild
    3. Blackwood’s castle and village from Shirley Jackson’s We have Always Live in the Castle

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  41. 1) Hogwarts is a definite! But London if we have to choice an actual location.
    2) New York City of Rules of Civility.
    3) the Egypt as discussed in Schiff’s biography of Cleopatra

    So many more though. Paris and Versailles pretty much anytime. So fun!! Thanks for hosting 😊

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  42. I’m the only person who’d pick Oz?! Or perhaps Ev. I’ve always wanted a lunch from the lunchbox tree…

    The school of theater and ballet all the girls go to in Noel Streatfeild books. I would have to be much younger and thinner, though.

    And the imaginary kingdom from _The Half-Brothers_ by Ann Lawrence. Where everyone loves music and literature and gardening.

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  44. Carolyn says:

    This is going to sound terribly predictable as a reader, but I would choose any book in Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next series because so much of the travels are in great classics or straight up for fun crime dramas and best/worst of all the slush that has abysmal writing, but oh my gosh what fun it’d be to actually meet characters who aren’t at all as they are in the book, just performing for our benefit.

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