If you have ever been to my blog, you know right away that I am crazy about Paris. Honestly, it's not even rational...can people fall in love with a city? I believe we can and I have.
But don't think that my obsession with wonderful places in the world is limited to Paris. Let me share some books that are set in places I'd love to visit (other than Paris)...
I've read many, many books set in England, India, Greece, Australia, Spain, China, and Japan. I wrote a comprehensive post in 2019 called Places I've Visited Through Books. In 2019, I had read books from 76 countries around the world. Today I've read from 105 countries.
But that still leaves me with 102 countries I've not visited via books. My list is here, if you'd like to take a look.
Some of the places I'm most surprised I haven't visited via books are Bolivia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Ecuador, Iraq, Mongolia, Namibia, Philippines, Portugal, and Somalia. Do you have recommendations for books set in any of these places?
I have a list of books I want to read before I die, and a lot of these are set in other countries. Here is a list of those:
The Adventures of Ibn Battuta (Africa, the Middle East, India and Southeast Asia)
Afoot in England by W. H. Hudson (England)
An American in Italy by Herbert Kuhly (Italy)
Arctic Dreams by Barry Lopez (the Arctic)
Ashanti to Zulu: African Traditions by Virginia Musgrove (Africa)
Atlas of Remote Islands: Fifty Islands I Have Never Set Foot on and Never Will by Judith Schalansky
Christ Stopped at Eboli by Carlo Levi (Italy)
Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (France)
Dubliners by James Joyce (Ireland)
Flame Trees of Thika by Elspeth Huxley (Kenya)
Gabriela, Clove, and Cinnamon by Jorge Amado (Brazil)
Germinal by Émile Zola (France)
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (the Congo)
Hiroshima Diary by Michihiko Hachiya (Japan)
In Xanadu: A Quest by Michael Dalrymple (Mongolia)
Jock of the Bushveld by Percy Fitzpatrick (South Africa)
Justine by Lawrence Durrell (Egypt)
Kristin Lavransdatter: The Wreath by Sigrid Undset (Norway)
Labels: A Mediterranean Journal by Evelyn Waugh (Mediterranean Europe)
Life in Mexico by Frances E. Calderon de la Barca (Mexico)
Love in a Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Colombia)
Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens (England)
Palm-of-the-Hand Stories by Yasunari Kawabata (Japan)
Père Goriot by Honoré de Balzac (France)
The Three Golden Keys by Peter Sis (Czech Republic)
Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes by Robert Louis Stevenson (France)
Travels with Alice by Calvin Trillin (France)
Under the Undala Trees by Chinelo Okyaranta (Nigeria)
Wanderings in South America by Charles Waterton (West Indies)
Have you read any of these? What did you think?
What are your favorite books set in places you'd like to visit?
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Each Tuesday That Artsy Reader Girl assigns a topic and then post her top ten list that fits that topic. You’re more than welcome to join her and create your own top ten (or 2, 5, 20, etc.) list as well. Feel free to put a unique spin on the topic to make it work for you! Please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own post so that others know where to find more information.
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