We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.
~ Jawaharial Nehru
One of the wonderful things reading books can make us experience is ‘traveling’ around the world. I’m sure many of you have read about the idea of ‘armchair travel’ before so I won’t do a lot of explaining. For those who are new to the concept, it’s basically ‘traveling’ to new destinations without stepping out of your home (or just by sitting down on a comfortable armchair!) and is usually achieved by reading.
Armchair Travels will be a weekly feature where I will be showcasing five books per post, set in a specific country. The common element here is the SETTING so it does not necessarily mean the author must be from that country. I think this is a great way to share new book discoveries based on a book’s setting and also encourage myself (and hopefully others) to become a more diverse reader.
This year, my reading goals include reading more translated fiction and books set in different countries. So far most of the books I’ve read are set in Japan, the USA, Germany, Singapore and England, just to name a few.
Whenever I read books, I take note of where the book’s setting is, as well as the places the characters visit. If you have been visiting my blog, you will notice that there is now a section in the sidebar called ‘AROUND THE WORLD WITH BOOKS‘. If you click any of the flags, it will direct you to my posts of books set in that country. For example, in The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, while most of the story happens in the USA, the characters also visit Aruba and France. If you click on the flag of Aruba, my review for The Memory Keeper’s Daughter turns up.
As a side note, I’ve also indicated the books I’m currently reading in the ‘LATEST REVIEWS’ section in the sidebar. Just in case you want to talk about the book with me ;)
I hope you’ll accompany me around the world by reading more books set in different countries. If you have any suggestions, please let me know in the comments :)
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Credits: Luggage image on feature banner from antoannaloro (DeviantArt), Loupe template created by Orman Clark for premiumpixels.com
February 19, 2014 at 12:45 pm
I love seeing the continuous graphic upgrades on your blog, She! And I’m eagerly waiting for your Canadian book review collection to increase. (Every hit you see for your “Canada” tag is probably my doing. Just sayin’.) ;)
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February 19, 2014 at 7:17 pm
Thanks so much, Sophie. That means a lot. I better work on reading some books from Canada. I’m not widely-read as you can now see, but I hope to change that this year ;)
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February 19, 2014 at 3:10 pm
I like this new feature a lot! :)
I started travelling around the world with books a few years ago, intending to read five books from each continent, i.e. set in a particular country but ideally also written by an author from that country. It fizzled out at some point but I think I might take it up again…
Happy Reading!
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February 19, 2014 at 7:18 pm
Thank you so much! I hope I will be able to recommend books you might want to read from the different continents :)
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February 19, 2014 at 5:26 pm
What a gorgeous idea! Maybe add Ireland to the list? I’m biased, of course…
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February 19, 2014 at 7:20 pm
Oh, yes! I’m definitely going to post books from Ireland! ;) Thank you!
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February 19, 2014 at 9:01 pm
Great idea! Good luck meeting your goals. Your blog looks great too!
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February 19, 2014 at 9:09 pm
Thank you very much! :)
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February 20, 2014 at 12:59 am
I love this idea! I really enjoy armchair traveling (which inspires real life traveling for me!) but I’ve never set out to chart my progress. Also, your blog is BEAUTIFUL. I seriously cannot believe you’ve only been blogging since last December. Very nice work! :)
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February 22, 2014 at 7:31 pm
Awww… Thank you! That’s really very kind of you. I’m quite enjoying the rambling part (aka my reviews) haha, because my friends are not really into reading and I do not have anyone to talk with when it comes to books. Thanks for your visit!
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February 21, 2014 at 9:05 am
Oh wow!! What a great feature! I love how you set it up on your side bar too. I am going to start looking around at your reviews.
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February 22, 2014 at 7:15 pm
Thank you so much! That’s very encouraging :) Please let me know if you have any suggestions :)
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February 25, 2014 at 1:10 am
I love the idea for this post. I love to read books set in other places or in places I know really well. And I love to travel!
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February 27, 2014 at 3:28 am
Tanya, thank you! Aside from reading, I love traveling too. I hope I’ll be able to cover more countries this year. I’m quite enjoying it so far and I’m trying to read a book from the ones I recommend.
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February 27, 2014 at 3:33 am
Traveling and reading are my favorite hobbies. Have you seen the website TripFiction? It’s pretty useful.
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February 27, 2014 at 4:10 am
I just checked it out. Thank you! It will definitely be useful (and easier) for me to choose books.
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