Sometimes the best plane ticket we have is a good book. It’s certainly the most reliable time machine (so far). I love reading about far off places, especially ones I want to see for real, someday. Here are some of my favorite books that live in another place.
The reason we read is to go somewhere else, if only in our minds. In some books the setting is merely a backdrop. But in others, it is pervasive. We can immerse ourselves in another world. These are eight literary places* I would like to visit.
*many will be in England. Control your surprise.
Pulley creates details with such ease that the reader quickly accepts the ethereal beauty of the deep Andean forest. And she does so while keeping one foot in the reality of colonialism, missionaries, Victorian exploration and commerce. The reader will relish slowly absorbing the magic of The Bedlam Stacks.
This is perfect kind of steampunk. It merely blurs the lines ever so slightly between fantasy and reality. Rather than imagining strange new worlds full of variant species or particle space travel, this book is set firmly in 1880s London. It is foggy, sooty and on the cusp of a new century.