My favorite part of traveling, by far, is that hour (or two) I spend in front of my shelves, paging through old favorites, deciding which two (or three, or four) to take with me. As COVID-19 spreads across the country, opportunities for travel are few and far between. BUT KATRINA, you say, I’M TIRED OF STARING AT THESE APARTMENT WALLS.
Me too, dollface. Me, too.
But we care about ourselves and our fellow humans, so instead
of ignoring the wisdom of those smarter than us, we’re going to settle in, pour
a drink and dig into one of these transporting novels.
I will never write a list of Books To Read that does not include this novel. Atmospheric and magical, Erin Morgenstern crooks her finger from the first page, inviting the reader deep into the Circus of Dreams. Around each corner is something beautiful and tragic. Something that pulls you deeper into a world of black and white, with delicate, precious splashes of red.
Grab your sunscreen, bathing suit, and hand sanitizer, it’s
time to head to the Florida Keys. While the Florida of Carl Hiassan’s novels,
at first glance, lifts the couch cushions to expose the dirt and stickiness
beneath, his love of the state’s imperfection is clear from the first page. I
dare you to get through this book without cackling.
My wife and I went to London on our honeymoon, and I got
particular joy out of finding the nooks and crannies of the city Neil Gaiman describes
in this fantasy. Exploring the notion a city is never the same city to each
person, Neverwhere gives readers the chance to see London through different
eyes.
Look, I know we’re not best friends with Russia at the
moment, but the Russia of Katherine Arden’s Winternight trilogy pre-dates Putin
by several hundred years. In The Bear and the Nightingale, Russia is at the crux
of an identity crisis. Watching the world unfold through the eyes of a young
woman with one foot in reality and one…somewhere else, will transport you.
Prohibition era New York is one of my favorite settings, but
few put the magic into it the way Libba Bray does. A group of teens with
supernatural ability get caught up in a war bigger than them all, desperate to
save the people and the city they love. If you’ve never been to the Big Apple,
Bray will take you there.
Delia Owens will make you sweat with descriptions of mangrove-dotted
swamps beneath a sweltering sun. You’ll hear mosquitoes buzzing in your ears and
reach for a cool drink as the slow-burn mystery pulls you in.
Like most of Christopher Moore’s novels, the streets of San Francisco
take center stage. The city is flamboyant and fun and full of loud, larger-than-life
characters. The way Moore tells it, you can almost believe finding vampires in
San Francisco isn’t all that much of a stretch.
Pour yourself a mint julep, darlings, we’re heading to Savannah,
Georgia. This one is non-fiction, true-crime if you’re keeping track, but John
Berendt writes it like fiction, the characters vivid and the mildly sinister
southern charm oozing off the page.
Another circus? Perish the thought. This, my dolls, is a
freak show, where the rules don’t matter and before the day is over you’ll be
covered in sweat, with an ornary snake draped over your shoulders. Tessa Fontaine
travels from Gibsonton, Florida (founded by Carnies) to the rest of the country
and back again, clad is a corset and enough body glitter to choke a cow, all
while clawing through the fog of her grief.
Let’s travel together. Drop your suggestions below for your
transporting fiction recommendations.
