Destination Reading

            I have always had an insatiable wanderlust.  I’d go anywhere.  I look at friends’ and family members’ pictures from around the world and wish I was there.  There isn’t a single place where I look at the pictures and think, “Meh.”  Well, maybe Vegas.  It’s not that I wouldn’t go there, but I think it’s last on my list.  After Antarctica.

            Add to that wanderlust a passion for both history and geography, and I’m doomed.  Every place is fascinating to me.  I want to know more and do more.  Every time I visit a new place, I feel like I’m home.  There’s always some aspect of  every place I go that speaks to me. 

            When I read a book, the literary element that speaks the strongest to me is setting.  I had never put my wanderlust and setting together before, but it’s been true my entire life as a reader.  Not only is setting the most tangible element for me, I can even forgive a weak story line or poorly written characters if the setting is stellar.  Likewise, if a setting is weak, I cannot get into a story. 

            Three years ago, I had the opportunity to do a Study Abroad experience in the UK.  The program was about British children’s literature and photography.  The children’s literature was already a passion of mine; the photography has become one.  We read British authors who lived and wrote in the Northumberland and Cumbria areas of England and then traveled there and saw the places we had read about.  There is only one word to describe the experience: wow.  

            Probably my favorite place we visited was on a weekend, so it was not included in our regularly scheduled tours.  We went to Edinburgh, Scotland, which was about an hour train ride away from where we stayed in Alnwick, England.  Edinburgh will probably forever remain my favorite city in the world.  To say I am in love is probably an enormous understatement.  Even though I love cities, I have never loved a city the moment I stepped foot on solid ground, but Edinburgh was like that for me.  There were men playing bagpipes in kilts on the corners, haggis stands, lovely open-air markets, high-end boutiques, and little touristy shops.  Edinburgh Castle is the most imposing structure I have ever seen (and it’s built on a dormant volcano, for Pete’s sake), and the juxtaposition between the medieval buildings, the first skyscrapers (several floors are often underground), and the ultramodern buildings is nothing short of fascinating.  Add on top of that a people who are friendly, jovial, and slightly superstitious, and it’s an all-out blast.  If I could pick up my family and move to Edinburgh today, I would do it without a second thought.  For real.

            The worst thing about visiting places that you fall in love with is returning home.  The drive back to our house from the airport was depressing.  Nothing was beautiful, hilly, or green.  There was no sea on the horizon.  The buildings were dull in their uniformity.  How can you be homesick for a place you’ve never called “home?”  But I was.

            To try to stave off my self-proclaimed “homesickness,” I began looking for books that took place in Europe, especially in England and Scotland.  It was kind of a challenge until my husband bought me a nook.  He probably curses the day he gave me that thing.  Truthfully, though, it was the nicest gift I have ever been given.  Much to my husband’s chagrin, Barnes & Noble has made some serious green off me.  I’m a fast reader and I am a sucker for their recommendations.  That’s a dangerous equation.

            One of the first books I purchased on my nook was Before Ever After by Samantha Sotto.  I read that book a year and a half ago and I still think about it frequently.  The story was mesmerizing, but the sense of place Sotto was able to weave into the story immerses the reader in a way that few authors are able to do.  Sotto takes you through Europe geographically and historically to learn secrets that you can only guess at in the beginning of the story.

            Another book I truly enjoyed was The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Schaffer and Anne Barrows.  This book takes place beginning in 1946 in England where the main character is a writer.  She begins corresponding with some people on the island of Guernsey, which is between England and France in the English Channel and was occupied by the Nazis during World War II.  The story is written entirely in letters.  It is a lovely story and one I could not put down.  To be honest, after reading the book, visiting the Channel Islands has become a slight obsession for me.   

            Last year, I found two books, A Discovery of Witches and Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness, that I think were meant exclusively for me.  These books take place in England and Scotland, and parts of them even take place in Alnwick.  Not only did I find the idea of the story truly fascinating, I got to revisit my study abroad experience as well.  Win-win.

            A few months ago, I stumbled upon a book called On Dublin Street by Samantha Young.  The story is about a woman named Joss Butler, an ex-pat who moved from Virginia to Edinburgh to escape life experiences that left her haunted.  She becomes entangled with the lovely Carmichael family, who embody everything that I have come to admire about the Scottish people.  Not to mention they all have that amazing accent.  I read On Dublin Street twice back-to-back.  There are currently two books and one novella (the novella is Until Fountain Bridge and the other novel is Down London Road) in that series.  I’ve read them all.  What I like the best about Young’s series is that the sense of place is highly developed.  When Joss is moving about Edinburgh, she shows you what she sees.  At a pivotal point in the story, Joss escapes to Edinburgh Castle and finds security in Mons Meg.  She describes the view from up there, and let me tell you, it is truly breathtaking.  All the things you can see at street level in Edinburgh, you can see from a bird’s-eye view from the castle.  I’d love to personally thank Samantha Young for her stories and their amazing setting, and someday, I hope I will be able to.  Particularly, I’d like to thank her for that scene.  It spoke volumes to me.  

            So where does the title of this post come in?  After some intense thought (okay, I thought of it in the shower-don’t tell me I’m the only one who has epiphanies in the shower) I have termed the type of reading I do when I look for books with a particular setting “Destination Reading.”  You’ve heard of Destination Weddings, I’m sure.  Well, “Destination Reading” employs the same philosophy.  Drop the reader in a beautiful location, plan an interesting story for them, and watch the magic happen.  It’s a pretty solid formula, at least as far as I’m concerned.  The preceding books I have listed are solid “Destination Reading” for the United Kingdom, and I could list many more-not to mention excellent “Destination Reading” for other places throughout the world. 

The best “Destination Reading” for me is the kind that incites my wanderlust.  It makes me want to drop whatever I’m doing, hop on a plane, and see how far I get before I run out of funds.  Someday I’m going to do it.  This is the reason I keep my passport in my armoire and not the safe.  Just in case.