Dewey’s Readathon Hour 8 Mini-Challenge: Armchair Traveling

Welcome to the Hour 8 Mini-Challenge for Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon!

HOUR EIGHT. FEELING GREAT.

The theme of this mini-challenge is ARMCHAIR TRAVELING. One of the many delights of reading is the ability books have to help us travel the world in our imaginations – rich descriptions and stories that make us feel transported, even if we haven’t left our couch.

But what if you could actually be transported into the setting of the novel? Magically teleported while you’re reading, with the ability to look up and take in the setting all around you, and then find yourself home again when you close the book?

You could read The Elegance of the Hedgehog and be transported to the center of Paris.

You could pick up I Capture the Castle and find yourself in an old castle in the English countryside.

You could decide to float down the Mississippi on a raft while reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

What book would you choose, and where would it transport you?

The details & how to enter: 

  • Leave a comment below with the book you’d choose and the location it would transport you to. Feel free to share details or a story about your choice!
  • Make sure you include your email address or a blog / social media URL where I can contact you if you win.
  • One randomly chosen winner will receive a book of their choice from The Book Depository, up to $18.
  • This challenge will stay open through hour 14 of the Readathon, and I will select a winner randomly during hour 15.
  • (While not a *rule* – it’s probably best if we stick to real life locations, not imaginary ones – otherwise I have a feeling we will all end up at Hogwarts or the Shire.) 

Have fun! Happy travels!

//

Main image background by FraserElliot on flickr. (CC BY-NC 2.0)

By Emily

Book-hoarding INFJ who likes to leave the Shire and go on adventures.

163 comments

  2. My choice would be the Provence region of France from “A Year in Provence” by Peter Mayle. I love everything about this area – it’s beautiful and the villages are incredibly charming.

  3. I laughed so hard reading your “let’s stick to real life locations” because you’re right, I would *totally* have picked Hogwarts. Okay, this way is a little bit harder. Maybe Millers Kill, a fictional place in real NY state, from Julia Spencer-Fleming’s Clare Fergusson books. It seems so totally different from where I live – more isolated, with real seasons – that it would be neat to experience it for a while!

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  6. Well! I hope this counts! I just finished reading Troubling a Star, by Madeleine L’Engle. The main setting of the book is Antarctica, and this is DEFINITELY a place on my bucket list of places to visit. I really, really, REALLY want to go there!

  7. I would mos definitely choose the saga The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel. Any book of it would do since they travel quite a bit, but I’d definitely pay another visit to Pars with them, of course, again!

  9. My choice is Scotland, the beautiful countryside, the lakes, the mountains… I have just finished September, by Rosamunde Pilcher, set there, with characters who made me feel that was my home.

  10. This was hard. My obvious choices were all make-believe such as The Hundred Acre Wood. Being of a feminist bent, many books I have read make me feel furious at how women are treated and treat themselves as helpless or oh do proper. I also noticed I tend to read dark–not many pleasant places there. I’m thinking jazz-age France with trips to Alps and Spain. A ittle Sun Also Rises including visits with Gertrude Stein and Anais Nin.

  11. I choose “The Homework Machine” by Dan Gutman which would transport me to The Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon is beautiful and I’d sure like to use that homework machine.

  12. Well since I can’t pick Hogwarts :) I recently read Country by Danielle Steele and they were in Nashville. I would probably pick that book for Nashville AND there were no money worries! That would be awesome!!

  13. I would like to [armchair] transport to Paris, from the book ‘ The Beautiful and the Cursed’.It definitely seems it would be a interesting and supernatural journey.

  14. I’d pick The Miniaturist and find myself in 17th century Amsterdam that would be really interesting I think. I’ve never been to Amsterdam and I don’t much about 17th century Amsterdam so I think it would be an adventure. The book was very good too, very atmospheric and with an interesting story.

  16. I was so going to say Hogwarts, in the Gryffindor common room ? okay, in my 2nd favorite series ever, Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Karou lives in Prague, and she goes to art school, and she and her friend have this little restaurant that they always go to called Poison Kitchen (which are probably made up destinations in Prague), and she also spends some time in Marrakesh, so definitely those two
    (Jrj910@yahoo.com)

  18. I would probably read “A Room with a View” by E.M. Forster and be transported to Florence, Italy, for the simple reason of being closer to someone I miss.

  20. I was going to choose the circus from The Night Circus, but I guess that’s not technically “real”, my next choice would probably be Paris from Anna and the French Kiss. Or maybe old London from A Darker Shade of Magic? I can’t decide! Either way, somewhere in Europe. :)
    My email: mybookinstitute@gmail.com

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  25. One place that has always fascinated me, and then absolutely love to visit, is the island of Monte Cristo. This island was obviously made famous in Alexandre Dumas’ novel, and one of if not my absolute favorite books, The Count of Monte Cristo.

    Cameron
    Scerakor@gmail.Com
    @Scerakor

  26. I should like to go to Ankh Morpork as it is found in Sir Terry Pratchett’s Raising Steam. It’s a vibrant, bustling and malodorous metropolis on the brink of the modern era, but filled with magic and mythical creatures. It feels as fast-paced and full of life as London or New York, and just as real.

  30. I would actually be transported to the place where the book Stranded by Melinda Braun takes place. They are hiking and camping and that is what I like to do. they are in the woods in Minnesota and that sounds fun. Although its cold there right now so I would need to be prepared.

  31. Well, as I’m not allowed to say Hogwarts… I’d probably pick England. Harry Potter is, in very small parts, set in England and there are countless other books set in this country full of so much history. The Philippa Gregory books, Sherlock Holmes, and the aforementioned Harry Potter ones.

    Michele @ Just A Lil Lost

  33. I’ll just go with the book that I’m currently reading, 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami (though I’d want to go to modern day Tokyo~). Love the culture there and would love to go there someday~!

  36. Naturally, the world of Harry Potter would be nice. To REALLY see Diagon Alley and Hogwarts. But since we are sticking to a more real world…

    How about Outlander so I can see Scotland? In the past or present, I have always wanted to go and enjoy the countryside.

    Or ready player one-just for the Oasis. Not the real world. But since that has infinite places to see, travel and explore it would be amazing to log into it :)

    darjlj75 @ gmail.com

  37. I’m going to go with the manga Haikyuu!! It’s set in Miyagi Prefecture, and the scenery there is stunning. Plus the energy in the huge Sendai gym is amazing. I got to visit during summer break and I already want to go back!
    http://twitter.com/elisabeth116

  38. I’m currently re-reading book four in The Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dunnett (pretty much the finest historical fiction series you’ll ever read), and while 16th century Istanbul isn’t very kind to our enigmatic protagonist, Dorothy’s vivid descriptions make me wish I could go back in time and wander the city streets myself. Thanks for the fun challenge – and a wonderful blog! (email is rdietz10@gmail.com)

  39. I don’t know if this would count as real or imaginary, but in Rivers of London, there is a point where the protagonist is standing on a bridge over the Thames and can see the epochs of London peeling back until he reaches the first settlement. I want to go there-a place where I can see all the times of one place and soak them up. And to do so in London would be best.
    Jennifer @cremedelafemme

  40. Without a doubt, I’d choose Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor and go to Prague. It sounds so lush and magical. Laini’s descriptions of the city have stuck with me ever since I read the series last year. ( If I also got to hang out with Zuzana and Karou, that would be a pretty huge bonus.)

  41. I would choose the novel “Ireland” because it would transport me to Ireland (obviously) where I’ve always wanted to go! The book takes you to so many different parts of Ireland too that maybe depending on the chapter it would pinpoint me to that spot.

    @Talia_Ann on Twitter

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