Whenever I am planning a new trip, I always look for literature from the area I’m visiting. Authors that came from the regions or books that are set within certain cities. This way, I get to know a little of the (literary) history of the city. I have found some great books and new favourite authors this way, and I like to share them with you, so you can also emerge yourself into the literary world of… Iceland!
Last year we had planned an extensive trip to Iceland. We would hire a car an drive around the country. Our itinerary was packed with beautiful sightings and we were so excited to go. Of course, things didn’t really go according to plan, but the itinerary (and our travel vouchers) are waiting until we can travel again. I had already read a bunch of books about Iceland to get inspired for our trip. So even though we haven’t gone yet, we can travel to Iceland through books. Time for the best ones!
The traveling bookclub is a new bookclub focusing on books situated in a specific country or city. Books have a way of transporting us to other worlds, letting us visit cities and places from the comfort of our own homes. Especially now, when travel is simply not possible for most of us, books can be an escape. I’ve brought the Traveling Bookclub to life so we can travel these bookworlds together and chat about them when we finished reading.
The adventures of Alexander von Humboldt (february bookclub pick)
Last month we read The adventures of Alexander von Humboldt, a graphic novel written by Andrea Wulf and illustrated by Lilian Melcher, accompanied by Humboldt’s own drawings/writings. Humboldt (1769-1859) was an explorer and scientist with a severe need to explore and travel the world. This book focuses on his travels to south America and his findings.
In the bookclub we talked about how much we learned about him through the book, we talked about the pictures and the way the book seems to jump from highlight to highlight, without giving too much information on the in-betweens. We suspected that this represented the enthusiasm with which Humboldt explored the world. We also talked about favourite passages and what we did and didn’t like about the book. The consensus was that this is a great book for everyone who likes to travel and explore the world, and to learn a bit more about this specific famous explorer. Though the drawings could have been a lot nicer.
Besides this book, Andrea Wulf also published a non-fiction book about Humboldt, called The invention of Nature. I’ve been reading this book alongside the graphic novel to fill in the blanks and get a little bit more information about Humboldts life. I’d highly recommend this book too, as it is a great read and highly informative.
The Paris Library (march bookclub pick)
For the march bookclub, I had selected two titles the bookclub members could vote for. The book that won was The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles.
This book is set in World War Two and is based on a true story about brave librarians in Paris and the power of literature. Though I am not a big fan of WW2 literature, this book focuses on a lot of things that I love; namely literature and Paris. I’ll share the goodreads summary:
Paris, 1939: Young and ambitious Odile Souchet has it all: her handsome police officer beau and a dream job at the American Library in Paris. When the Nazis march into Paris, Odile stands to lose everything she holds dear, including her beloved library. Together with her fellow librarians, Odile joins the Resistance with the best weapons she has: books. But when the war finally ends, instead of freedom, Odile tastes the bitter sting of unspeakable betrayal.
Montana, 1983: Lily is a lonely teenager looking for adventure in small-town Montana. Her interest is piqued by her solitary, elderly neighbor. As Lily uncovers more about her neighbor’s mysterious past, she finds that they share a love of language, the same longings, and the same intense jealousy, never suspecting that a dark secret from the past connects them.
A powerful novel that explores the consequences of our choices and the relationships that make us who we are—family, friends, and favorite authors—The Paris Library shows that extraordinary heroism can sometimes be found in the quietest of places.
The bookclub will take place at the end of the month, and you can still join! The bookclub is free (you’ll only have to get your hands on the book) and we’ll chat away about the book on our discord server, which you can find here.
This traveling bookworm post is a little different than you’re used to, because it is not linked to a city/country, but an age group. Normally, whenever I’m planning a trip I look for authors from the area I’m visiting, but today’s post will cover children books about traveling. Earlier I wrote Books for the stuck-at-home traveler, books that are about traveling in general and now I want to do the same thing with children’s books, because there are so many gorgeous books written for children that I want to share with you.
I’ve got some exciting news for you! As you might have picked up by now, I love books almost as much as I love traveling. That means I really enjoy reading, but also that I love talking about books. I have been in a few bookclubs but had to cancel them when I moved to far away. Then I thought, why not start my own, international, online bookclub?
I’ve got a segment on this blog called The traveling bookworm where I talk about books that are related to travel. I focus on a specific city or country and recommend books written by authors from those regions or books that are set there. It’s something that I really love to do and I thought it would be a great idea to combine this with a bookclub where we can discuss those books together! I asked around on Instagram and quite some people were interested, so let’s make it official!
The international bookclub will be live through discord, so everyone can join, regardless of where you are in the world. I think it would be great to have a community of both readers and wanderlusters, together, talking about traveling and books. So, are you in?
I want to choose a new book every month, and there will be a poll where bookclubbers can vote for their favourite book. The book that wins, is the book we all shall read. For the first bookclub, however, I have picked a book myself since that seemed an easy way to start.
The books that we will discuss in this bookclub will have to do with travel, or somehow engaging with the location it’s set in in a meaningful way. Think about books like Death in Venice, The Salt Path, Eat, Pray, Love or The Medici. For our first bookclub I have chosen a graphic novel that’s written by Andrea Wulf and illustrated by Lillian Melcher, called: The adventures of Alexander von Humboldt.
This book focuses on the life of (well duh) Alexander von Humboldt, who was an explorer and scientist in the 18th and 19th century and this book focuses on his travels, adventures and discoveries. Check out the goodreads page of the book if you wanna know more!
Join the bookclub by sigining up through this link and stay tuned for more information 🙂
Whenever I am planning a new trip, I always look for literature from the area I’m visiting. Authors that came from the regions or books that are set within certain cities. This way, I get to know a little of the (literary) history of the city. I have found some great books and new favourite authors this way, and I like to share them with you, so you can also emerge yourself into the literary world of… Italy!
Whenever I am planning a new trip, I always look for literature from the area I’m visiting. Authors that came from the regions or books that are set within certain cities. This way, I get to know a little of the (literary) history of the city. I have found some great books and new favourite authors this way, and I like to share them with you, so you can also emerge yourself into the literary world of… Amsterdam!
Wanderlust Wonderland 