If you’re like us and had your travel plans dashed this year, reading can still take you overseas and to imaginary lands. With that in mind, Tanzia Haq brings you five amazing books to take you deep into another world.
- Outlander
If you saw the TV show first, Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series will seem like a time traveling romance with some of Scotland’s most brutal history acting as backdrop and foils to the characters’ love story. However, the still-continuing series of books Gabaldon has written will transport you to 18th century Scotland and make you experience the wilderness and wild natural beauty of the country. The first book takes place across the Scottish highlands and the second takes the characters to France. But while Gabaldon is a skilled storywriter, her talent shines in the descriptions she writes of Scotland.
- Death in Venice
Nobel Laureate Thomas Mann takes you through Venice in the early 20th century as Europe slowly loses decadence and edges towards war. Writer Gustav von Aschenbach travels to Venice to escape writer’s block and falls in love with a teenage boy named Tadzio. As Aschenbach battles his feelings, a cholera epidemic begins to make its way through the city, but the writer is too wildly infatuated to leave.
- Around the world in 80 days
An austere inventor, Phineas Fogg, gets challenged to prove his hypothesis that he can travel around the world back to London in 80 days. His reluctant butler Passepartout joins him in his adventure and thus follows a tale of discovery, rescuing damsels in distress and seeing wonders around the world. Ideal for a re-read if you haven’t touched the book for a while, or as a new read if you want a glimpse into a world newly discovering the wonders made possible by technology.
- Persepolis
If you’re more into graphic novels, Persepolis is a beautiful book about the writer’s personal journey into adulthood in the midst of the Iran Revolution and her travels across Europe. Marjane Satrapi’s storytelling combined with the minimalist drawing style of the novel is an exquisite treasure to spend your afternoon on.
- Lust for life
Vincent van Gogh, considered a genius painter now, suffered his entire life in obscurity and poverty. Irving Stone’s extensive research into the tortured artist’s life bears fruit in a beautiful biographical novel about Van Gogh’s years struggling to find his painting style. He travels across Europe meeting other Impressionists, facing betrayal and heartbreak, and all the while painting his masterpieces that the most renowned critics of his time found serious faults in. It’s a great read for anyone feeling a little lost and unable to embrace the greatness within themselves.
