When I was a cadet at West Point I spent some of my (minimal) free time reading travel memoirs or novels that took place in places I wanted to go. From my barracks room I traveled to Spain, Greece, Mexico and France through books (I swear it’s not as lame as it sounds…I really needed to get away, at least mentally!), and I was briefly able to escape the gray weather, gray uniforms, and gray buildings of West Point. I just recently finished reading Lunch in Paris, and it was a fun, quick read that enabled me to pretend I was eating delicious food and shopping at French markets. Oh how I’d love to be sipping a café au lait at a Parisian café right now! Here are some of my favorite travel memoirs and novels about exciting places that I’ve read over the past few years. Many of these I read before traveling to the place where the story takes place. I read The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemmingway right before I went to Spain, and it got me excited to explore the country (which I did and fell in love). No bullfights for me, but I did enjoy the tapas and sangria probably more than I should have. I’d rather be exploring these places myself, but for now a good travel book will have to do. What books do you think I missed? I’m looking for a light easy read right now and would love to hear your thoughts!
I just finished The Paris Wife. Great book!
I was also going to say The Paris Wife… you'll love it if you're into travel-ey but lighter books. Also, Mastering the Art of French Eating is on my list. Haven't read it yet, but it's supposed to be wonderful!
Paris in Love is a great memoir, highly recommend!
I love the new look to your blog.
Love the new look on the blog! It's super pretty =D!
Thanks Michelle!
Thanks Katie! It looks so much better doesn't it?
Ohhh I love anything about Paris! Thanks for the suggestion!
I haven't heard of that book before, but I love the title and I bet it's amazing. I'll definitely check it out!
You need to let me borrow it Mom!
The new blog format looks awesome! Can't wait to travel someday 🙂
Love the new look of your blog!! And I have the best book for you!! I just bought this book yesterday, “Following My TUG… All the way to Costa Rica!” and I’m almost finished because I can’t put it down!! I don’t read as often as some, maybe one book over two or three months, but something about this authors writing style just drew me in. It’s a completely true story of this woman who picked up her whole suburbanized life and moved to the mountains of Costa Rica with her husband. It’s REALLY interesting, and sort of a dream of mine.. to just travel and change my life just like that. She’s SO inspiring, and hilarious. I think you'll really love it..I highly recommend it 🙂 ! Plus its cheap, you can grab a copy off kobo books for like 9 bucks, here’s the link: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-CA/ebook/following-my-tug