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!

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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

  1. The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George to see visit all the cute book (and chocolate) shops in Paris. Love the vibe of that city.
    vvb32 @ yahoo.com
    Thanks for hosting!

  2. Current audiobook is called The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George. Traveling through Paris down river like they do in this book would be very interesting. There is a whole town that is all about all things books! Check it out!

  3. In The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton, I would be transported to an old castle and gardened estate in Cornwall. There I could enjoy reading out in the garden during the day, and maybe enjoy the cottage, hidden away deep inside the maze outside the garden, during the night and read by candlelight.
    My twitter is @Inspiredbyaly (:

  4. If I could transport, I’d choose London from Meant to be by Lauren Morrill. London is one of my favorite cities that I’ve visited and I love how it is depicted in the novel. The book doesn’t just show you the touristy places that everyone sees, but it gives you the heart and the soul of the city. I love it!

  5. I would love to be transported to London filled with ghosts – scary but so intriguing. From the series Lockwood & Co by Jonathan STroud.

    1. I absolutely love that series, though I’m not sure I’d like to live in a world with killer ghosts that I couldn’t see. Hanging out with Lockwood, Lucy, and George would be grand, though.

  7. I’d probably choose New York City in the 1920’s. People seemed to have so much fun back then, and the book I’m reading right now describes the city so beautifully. I’d love to party all night at Gatsby’s (The Great Gatsby) and fight ghosts with Evie O’Neill (The Diviners).

  8. Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter makes many jumps through time and place and I’d love to visit all of the places in the book. However, I’d most like to visit the beautiful Italian coast.

  9. This is a tricky one and I can’t pick just one. I’d love to be transported to the Melbourne of Graffiti Moon and discuss art with Lucy and Ed; head to Jellicoe in Melina Marchetta’s Jellicoe Road and play territory wars with Taylor, Jonah Griggs, and all their friends; and travel the magical Red London with Kell and Lilah from A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab.

  10. I looove traveling for real & armchair travel. For now, I will be transported to Paris, France, home of Anna of Anna & the French Kiss. That is one of my most favorite books, and one of the fastest I’ve devoured! :D

  11. “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea” by April Genevieve Tucholke is set in a small town by the ocean. I don’t remember is it specifically said where, but I want to say it was Oregon. The way the book described a little cave by the ocean made me want to be there.

  12. I would be transported to the Italian Coastline Village in Jess Walter’s Beautiful Ruins. For now, I am not in Italy, but you can find me @FriendRsquared on Twitter

  13. Definately Elizabeth Kostova’s The Historian…traveling to Amsterdam, Istanbul, Romania, Hungary, France… I think they even visit the Oxford library and ends in Philadelphia! I enjoyed this book already and it really does take you on a journey.

    Twitter: @cover_your_ears

  15. One More Step : My Story of Living with Cerebral Palsy, Climbing Kilimanjaro, and Surviving the Hardest Race on Earth by Bonner Paddock. I would love to go to Tanzania and climb Mt. Kilimanjaro and then safari tour after. Paddock is so inspiring and there are wonderful charities you can raise money for when you climb. I want to see the glaciers on the rooftop of Africa before they are gone for good!

  16. Interesting question! I’d love to be in Dawn Powell’s 1940s-era New York City, like in A Time to Be Born and The Wicked Pavilion. She doesn’t make it sound like a friendly place, but since this is about travelling, not settling there, yes, I’d love to see it, the fashion and the architecture, the society wives, the press moguls, and all the cafés full of artists and would-be artists.

  17. Costa Rica from Wanderlove by Kristen Hubbard. I actually fell in love with Costa Rica so much after reading that book that I’ll be going there for my honeymoon next year!

  18. I would have to say the world of the Outlander books. I’ve only read the first one so far but it just seems so pretty. And a large part of me yearns for simpler times :)

  19. Going to France would be awesome! The most recent one I read was The Red Notebook. It was awesome and I would have loved to be transported there! Twitter: @SueySays

  21. I read so much sci-fi and fantasy, this is actually a tough one! ? I’m going to say From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler, because I’ve never spent any time in NYC and nighttime at museums has always fascinated me.
    Thanks so much for hosting!

  22. I would pick “My name is Red” by Orhan Pamuk, set in Istanbul. I traveled to Turkey a couple of years ago and immersed myself in the sights and sounds of the grand bazaar, the royal palace, the music pulsing through the streets and bars. I dream of returning to that vibrant, hectic, dazzling city on a regular basis!

  23. One More Step : My Story of Living with Cerebral Palsy, Climbing Kilimanjaro, and Surviving the Hardest Race on Earth by Bonner Paddock. I would love to go to Tanzania and climb Mt. Kilimanjaro and then safari tour after. Paddock is so inspiring and there are wonderful charities you can raise money for when you climb. I want to see the glaciers on the rooftop of Africa before they are gone for good!
    http://worthgettinginbedfor.wordpress.com

  24. HA! I was totally going to say Harry Potter until I read to the end of your post. I could pick so many real places, but I’m going to go with Beautiful Ruins because I’d love to see the Italian coast. Maybe that’s just because it’s a grey, overcast day here today!

    http://www.entomologyofabookworm.com

  27. I would love to be transported to Tokyo in Haruki Murakami’s ‘Norwegian Wood’. I just love that book, so much I’ve read it twice and am considering reading it a third time :P

  28. I’m going to choose Bill Bryson’s In a Sunburned Country and Australia. Although I have friends on a cattle station in Queensland, I’d probably go for Sydney, which sounds like a lot of fun and without all the snakes, scorpions and spiders.

  29. Easy–I’d go with Under the Tuscan Sun. Some Italian sunshine, homemade pasta, vineyards and delicious wine… Yep. Definitely Tuscany.
    @bravenewbks on Twitter

  30. I was so going to pick Hogwarts or Narnia until that last line!! Now I’ve got to think harder.

    Hmmm… I would love to travel to Europe as it was during the time of The Night Circus. I know the Night Circus didn’t actually exist, but I would find the time and era fascinating to explore, though not to stay permanently.

  32. My choice is “The Paris Wife” by Paula McLain, which would transport me to 1920s-era Paris with Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. It’s a popular choice, but who wouldn’t want to meet them?

  33. Pingback: Hour 9 – Just Leave All the Books With Me | Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon

  34. Ooo definitely Manderley from Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca. Creepy, haunting, but beautiful estate located probably in Cornwall and home to the de Winters – the opening dream sequence/memory of the novel is just so atmospheric I almost feel like I *am* there. (@askirmishofwit)

  36. Hey, your last line kept me from heading deep into the galaxy on Black Jack’s flagship spaceship from Jack Campbell’s _The Lost Fleet: Leviathan_. It would be incredible to see different planets and the mysteries of jump space…

    I also just closed C.J. Box’s _Breaking Point_, which conveys a love of the wilderness so strongly that I’d love to try a vacation in Wyoming, maybe at a dude ranch where you can ride horses into the forest. I don’t think I could handle living there, but having someone like Joe show me around would be grand. Of course, I hope that no crazy bureaucrats start forest fires while I’m up there!

    I forget what wordpress knows about me, but I’m at http://www.libraryfrog.blogspot.com

  37. Pingback: Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon Hour 8 Mini-Challenge: Armchair Traveling » I'd Rather Be At The Beach

  38. I’ll admit, my first thought was Hogwarts. I’m in the middle of Rivers of London, and I think that’s definitely where I’d go. The story involves some spooky paranormal activity, but I love the ‘modern day magic’ aspects.

    You can find my blog at emilyactuallyreads.wordpress.com

  40. I’m going with a great nonfiction book that reads like fiction. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt. When I first read this book, I’d never been to Savannah, Ga., but the descriptions are so lovely, I had to visit. I’ve been there once and can’t wait to return. If I could transport now, I’d go to Savannah where I bet it’s still warm out, and I’d read in the park.
    Contacts: shawntaye.hopkins@gmail.com @shawntaye on Twitter.

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  49. My first instinct was Hogwart’s(obvs), my second was Gotham, but since neither of those are real(probably) I’ll say Ultimate Spiderman’s Queens, NY. I am super psyched to hang with Peter and hopefully meet the X-men and maybe even the Avengers.
    Another choice would be The Secret Garden. Man, did I always want to see that garden. And explore that amazing house.

    Thanks, this was a fun break! Back to it!
    Joules lucidlotuslady@gmail.com

  50. I read a lot of science fiction so my first choice would be another planet or the utopian world of Star Trek. But since we are keeping it real, I’m choosing The Apple Orchard by Susan Wiggs.
    The author’s beautiful descriptions of the Sonoma Valley wine country made me want to be there. And drinking a glass of wine!

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