When I was in college, my grandparents sent me an adorable “thinking of you” card with a cartoon cat in the clouds. Attached with perforation to this card was a bookmark with the same cartoon cat floating on a book, that said: “Travel by book… and never lose your place.” It was so sweet and it’s a bookmark that I still have and use. It’s my go-to bookmark when I’m reading a book that has an enormously strong sense of place or a book that describes traveling and is a sentimental reminder of how transportive books can be.
Traveling by book is not a new phenomenon, nor is it one that is particularly original, but it is a phenomenon that most readers can relate to. Anyone who has picked up a book and been completely transported into that book’s world (whether the places are real or simply a figment of the author’s -and thereby reader’s- imagination) has been able to travel by book. In the pages of a book, entire worlds can open up, whether it’s Wonderland, a hometown, Paris or the far-reaches of the globe. While you may not be able to come home with a camera full of pictures and a suitcase full of souvenirs, armchair traveling with a book does manage to leave you with memories and images of a place that can stay with you for a lifetime. Such is the power of words when combined with our supple imaginations. Plus, you don’t have to worry about navigating security checkpoints or what to pack.
But sometimes, traveling with a book can be far more literal, with much more tangible rewards. My new favorite example of people finding their way with books is the mayor of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca, in conjunction with literacy advocate Victor Miron, allowing any person who was reading a book to ride the public buses for free during a certain weekend in June. They called the campaign: Travel by Book. Miron hopes to make this a regular event in Cluj-Napoca, where apparently books can really take you places!
Travel writing was particularly popular during the Victorian age when writers like Charles Dickens, D.H. Lawrence, William Dean Howells and Henry James wrote of their adventures abroad, but it has become it’s own genre now (and a personal favorite of mine) with anthologies published annually, edited by leaders in the field. Writers of all types, poets, essayists, memoirists and fiction writers can all take us on a journey without ever leaving the comfort of our bed, chair or whatever other favorite place you have to read.
If you missed out on being able to get away during the Labor Day weekend, or if all of this travel talk has given you a case of wanderlust, here is a tiny sampling of the many books that can take you places:
Bella Tuscany by Frances Mayes
The queen of Tuscany memoirs has created quite the franchise for herself, starting with Under the Tuscan Sun, but the popularity of her books is with good reason. Not only are they beautifully written (she’s also a poet), but the reader is immediately transported not only to Tuscany, but in the midst of Tuscan life, complete with quirky residents and idiosyncracies of living abroad through an American’s eyes. This one book in particular, has one of the strongest senses of place because Mayes had already fixed up the house which took up most of her first memoir, and allows herself to delve into Tuscan life.
The Lost City of Z by David Grann
This book was surprisingly gripping as a middle-aged man goes in search of the Lost City of Z and answers to what happened to the explorer obsessed with finding it, Percy Fawcett. Hardly the first to seek an explanation of Fawcett’s disappearance, Grann gives the reader not only a solid background into the history of the mythical city, he also takes the reader alongside him as he plunges into the depths of one of the least explored areas on earth. I defy you not to be swatting at imagined mosquitoes during this read!
Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck
This book was delightful and gives the sense of road-tripping without having to fill up the gas tank of a Winnebago. Author Steinbeck takes his blue standard poodle, Charley with him across the US, visiting places and getting a sense of the locals wherever he goes. While it’s been disputed that much of this book actually happened in Steinbeck’s imagination and not real life (apparently he spent more time with the dog than with any locals), for me it doesn’t detract from the book’s charm. Whether or not the events actually happened isn’t really the point; it’s the journey, even if that journey was mostly in the author’s mind, especially since readers are journeying with him in their minds.
His Illegal Self by Peter Carey
Speaking of fiction, this book has a terrific sense of place even the as the main character, Che, is thrust from relatively isolated privilege in New York into the depths of tropical Australia, living on the outskirts of the law. Che has to come to terms not only with his location but his place in life. The ending, I have on very good authority, is truly amazing.
Drood by Dan Simmons
I forgot to mention this book in my Book Hangovers post, but I think it fits into the “transportive fiction” category as well. (Actually, it fits a LOT of categories, including unreliable narrators because it’s just. that. good). Drood has earned its place here, however, because this is an incredibly well-researched account of Victorian London, proving that a good author can not only transport you into a place, but to a time as well. Plowing through this book you will smell the sewers of the seedy London slums, the gardens of Charles Dickens’ house, the fireplace in Wilke Collins’s apartment, the pubs of high-brow society and so much more. This book took me into London so completely that I honestly thought the author was English (he’s not; he’s American). Don’t let the bulk of this tome frighten you off; there’s a lot here to pick you up and take you away without even realizing how much you’ve read.
Till next week, dear readers, I hope whatever you read, regardless of what it is, takes you someplace you enjoy!