Tag Archives: book challenge

Travel the World by Book

For many folks around the world, the last few months have come with a LOT of cancelled travel plans. Planned trips and vacations were put on hold. Spontaneous sojourns out of state aren’t happening any time soon. And searching flight deals on sites like Kayak just doesn’t give the thrill it used to.

It seems this summer is all about quenching your wanderlust in other ways. Ways that don’t require a passport or a suitcase.

Interested in traveling the world by book? Here are a few reading challenges/lists to help you do so —

50 States Reading List: Best Books Set in Every State

 

World Reading Challenge: Books Around the Globe 2020 
(and here’s 2019 & 2018)

 

12 Great Books to Feed Your Wanderlust

 

And here are a few books I’ve read and recommend for their power to transport you — 

International Travel:

AFGHANISTAN: Silent Hearts by Gwen Florio

ENGLAND: Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

GERMANY: My Berlin Kitchen by Luisa Weiss

NIGERIA: The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi

RUSSIA: Lights All Night Long by Lydia Fitzpatrick

SINGAPORE: Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

Domestic Travel: 

ALABAMA: Eveningland by Michael Knight

ARIZONA: The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver

MAINE: Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes

MASSACHUSETTS: Until We Meet Again by Renee Collins

NEW YORK: City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert

WASHINGTON: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

 

Happy travels!

It’s totally possible to travel the world by book! Do you have any totally-transport-you book recommendations? Share them below!! xoxo

P.S. Need another way to choose a big stack of books? Check out this readathon.

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Books I Read and Loved in 2016

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As I explained in this post, I’ve been tracking my reading on a spreadsheet in an effort to diversify the genres and voices I consume, as well as quell my own curiosity about the ebbs and flows of my changing tastes and obsessions. The resulting data was interesting and I had fun recording lots of details for my future-self to cull through. (Full-disclosure: By the 4th quarter of the year I was much less thorough in my approach. Something to work on in 2017!)

For those of you who might be interested, I’ve used the aforementioned spreadsheet to compile a list of the books I read and loved in 2016.

  1. A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson (On the blog HERE.)
  2. Tales of a Female Nomad: Living at Large in the World by Rita Golden Gelman
  3. The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom – So gripping! (On the blog HERE.)
  4. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins – Better than the movie. (On the blog HERE.)
  5. Deliciously Ella by Ella Woodward
  6. Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo – A fascinating look at a society not often discussed. (On the blog HERE.)
  7. How to Be Good by Nick Hornby
  8. Shortcomings by Adrian Tomine (On the blog HERE.)
  9. The Working Poor: Invisible in America by David K. Shipler
  10. January First: A Child’s Descent into Madness and Her Father’s Struggle to Save Her by Michael Schofield
  11. Uncovered: How I Left Hasidic Life and Finally Came Home by Leah Lax – A triumphant memoir. (On the blog HERE.)
  12. A Secret Kept by Tatiana de Rosnay (On the blog HERE.)
  13. Chef by Jaspreet Singh
  14. Diamond Ruby by Joseph Wallace – A cross between two of my favorite movies: A League of Their Own and Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken. (On the blog HERE.)
  15. A Soft Place to Land by Susan Rebecca White
  16. The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
  17. Me Before You by Jojo Moyes – Tears galore!
  18. The Painter from Shanghai by Jennifer Cody Epstein (On the blog HERE.)
  19. Crush It! Why NOW is the Time to Cash In On Your Passion by Gary Vaynerchuk
  20. The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson – A must-read if you enjoy true-crime and American history. (On the blog HERE.)
  21. Midwives by Chris Bohjalian
  22. Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer – There just aren’t enough books about Himalayan mountaineering to satisfy my strange obsession.  (On the blog HERE.)
  23. The Book of Ayurveda by Judith H. Morrison
  24. The Heavy: A Mother, A Daughter, A Diet by Dara-Lynn Weiss
  25. Grace by Grace Coddington – Spirit animal.
  26. Ten Years Later: Six People Who Faced Adversity and Transformed Their Lives by Hoda Kotb (On the blog HERE.)
  27. An Abundance of Katherines by John Green – YA Fiction at it’s finest.
  28. Hoda: How I Survived War Zones, Bad Hair, Cancer, and Kathie Lee by Hoda Kotb – I was having a bit of a Hoda moment. 
  29. Embroideries by Marjane Satrapi (On the blog HERE.)
  30. The Last Undercover: The True Story of an FBI Agent’s Dangerous Dance with Evil by Bob Hamer
  31. Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder – I kicked off my mission to re-read the Little House books.
  32. About Alice by Calvin Trillin
  33. Fresh Off the Boat by Eddie Huang – Hilarious!
  34. The Little House Cookbook by Barbara M. Walker
  35. A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

Now it’s time to set up my spreadsheet for 2017!

What books did YOU read and love in 2016? Share below…and who knows! Maybe they’ll end up on my list next year. 

Spring/Summer 2016 Book Challenge (with suggestions!!)

book haul with feet

If one of your goals for the warmer months is to READ MORE then I have a few suggestions. First and foremost, schedule time to read! With the longer stretches of daylight upon us you can even set aside time in the evenings to devour a few chapters while sitting outside. Next, bring a book with you wherever you go! Whether you’ve got a long wait ahead of you at the pharmacy or are headed to the beach for a lazy afternoon in the sun, if you have the option to turn a few pages, you might just do so. Hopping in the car for a road trip (or maybe just a long commute)? Consider downloading an audio book or checking one out FO’ FREE at your local library. Finally, challenge yourself! Map out a few prompts for book ideas that could expand your horizons while holding you accountable.

Need some ideas? I came up with a Spring/Summer 2016 Book Challenge with a few suggestions based on books I personally loved…

Pick a book in each category for two books a month:

April

May

June

July

August

Have you read any of these books? Any sound interesting enough to add to your reading list? How are YOU planning to prioritize reading this Spring and Summer? I LOVE talking books, so let’s chat in the comments below!!