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Remember the thing about books having the ability to take you places? Here’s the time to put them to the best use.
1. The Golden Hour by Beatriz Williams
Think of yourself sunbathing at a tropical beach while reading about history! This book would do exactly that. Lulu Randolph is a newly-wed reporter, who arrives at the Bahamas to investigate the rich elites who migrated to the warm and sandy beaches. This time, she is looking for a story around the Governor and his wife for a New York society magazine.
There she meets Benedict Thorpe, a scientist ex-pat, who disappears upon a surprise murder, Lulu finds herself in the middle of a murder mystery looking for answers in Benedict’s life. And there she unravels ugly, hidden reality garbed under the glamour of elite marriages.
“The Golden Hour is pure golden delight Beatriz Williams is at the top of her game.” –Kate Quinn, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Alice Network
2. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
This dreamlike travel bestselling novel tells the story of the Buendia family, in a Colombian jungle where everybody had the same two names. The story spans over seven generations with excellent transitions exploring themes of family, bonding, science, money, and war.
“Ah! Has it really happened? Is it really a novel? It’s one of those books which leave you with somewhat these kind of thoughts; it’s a book which moves with every word. The novel deals with so many themes that it really hard to associate it with a few.- Gaurav via Goodreads“
3. Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
One of the most iconic bestsellers of all time, Elizabeth Gilbert takes you through an enlightening journey of one woman’s search of love, starting from the delicious land of Italy to a spiritual ashram in India and the mystical forests of Bali.
4. My Life in France by Julia Child
How about learning the art of cooking boeuf Bourguignon while you walk around the bylanes of Paris, France. The memoir takes you through the story of Julia Child as she settles into the life of France, concocting delicacies to browsing through the Parisian markets to attending classes at the Cordon Bleu. The book is also adapted into the movie Julie & Julia.
5. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Paulo Coelho’s masterpiece tells the story of a shepherd, Santiago who follows his dreams to find the world’s greatest treasure. The book brings home the quintessential mystical message “When you want something the whole universe will conspire together to help you get it”
6. Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson
Think of this as embarking on a road trip from California to Connecticut with two beautifully penned characters, Ammy and Roger. Amy Curry has had the roughest entry to senior year any teenager can imagine: She last lost her father in a car accident, is moving to Connecticut to start a new life with her mother, and now is behind the wheel with a Roger, a family friend she hardly knows.
The light and fun read have doodles and playlist added to the book to bring your experience as close to reality as possible.
“The narrative keeps its momentum even through flashbacks that gradually reveal more about Amy’s family tragedy and interspersed pages from Amy’s travel scrapbook, which includes jotted state overviews, souvenir menus, and long, keenly apt music playlists that’ll send readers off to downloading. If all road trips were like this, nobody’d ever stay home.”—Bulletin for the Center of Children’s Books
7. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig
In this beautiful journey, technology and poetry dance together to bring a song that would stay with you. The book details two types of personalities, those who emphasize on the romantic viewpoints of “living in the moment” and those who “seek to know details, understand inner workings, and master mechanics”. The narrator through this motorbike ride tries to meet the two in the middle point.
“I have read this book five times. I have found it powerful and very helpful in many ways. I rode motorcycles for fifteen years and have had various health issues too. The book is fascinating and Robert Persig’s use of words and quotes has enlightened me. His observations on this amazing journey are truly deep and have a real value which has helped me to understand my own journey. Maybe I found it so interesting because I was looking for answers in a difficult time in my life when I sought calmness and contentment. Amongst a few other books, it helped a great deal. Well worth a try and I hope it helps you in some way.“
8. Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
“It took me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured.”
The above quote is how the story begins. Lin aka Lin baba aka Shantaram is a drug addict and an armed robber who escapes from a high-security prison in Australia and finds his way to Bombay. Thus starts the journey of Shantaram, making his way as an outsider to the Mafia of Bombay. What makes this book special for everyone is the vivid portrayal of the 80s Bombay by Robert, weaving characters that leave a mark of their own.
Recommended for those who love to commit a few weeks to a book, and aren’t in a hurry to reach the end!
9. The Wild Places by Robert Macfarlane
Are you ready to tour the remotest parts of Britain, like really, the most genuine of nature’s pockets that still are left untouched by the wrath of human existence! Robert Macfarlane embarks on this beautiful journey to explore the hidden gems over Britain and Ireland as “he climbs, walks, and swims by day and spends his nights sleeping on cliff-tops and in ancient meadows and wildwoods.” (Excerpt from penguinrandomhouse.com)
“A formidable consideration by a naturalist who can unfurl a sentence – poetry really – with the breathless ease of a master angler, a writer whose ideas and reach far transcend the physical region he explores . . . the natural world swells with meaning through Macfarlane’s devoted observations.” – The New York Times Book Review
10. Mosquitoland by David Arnold
This summer read is bound to take you on a road to self-discovery. Mim Malone’s life takes an unexpected turn when her world shifts from Ohio to the “wastelands” of Mississippi to live with her father and stepmom. However, when Mim learns her mother’s sick, she leaves this life behind and hops on a Greyhound bus to her real home and her real mother. On the way. she meets eclectic characters on a thousand mild journey, meeting her own demons and reflecting upon life like never before.
“So I’d say you would like this if you enjoy John Green’s books, particularly TFiOS. This is the kind of book where the extremely philosophically-minded teen protagonist pauses at least once a paragraph to ruminate on the nature of the universe, people, and her own tumultuous emotions.”- Emily May
Do you have any suggestions for our book inspo? Let us know in the comments below and we’d love to read/add them to our list!