Every month, Kobo and G Adventures team up to release a reading list based on one of the world’s great travel destinations. This time it’s Europe. So as the weather gets colder, curl up with a hot tea and one of these amazing reads, because it might just inspire your next trip.
Paris by Edward Rutherfurd is a story about one of the most iconic places in the world, and some of the (fictional) families that have lived there for centuries. From the Gascons of the Parisian slums to the old and noble family de Cygne, the revolutionary Le Sourds and the disgraced and re-risen Blanchards, these characters both love and betray each other. If you’ve been to Paris, you’ll no doubt remember your time there, and if you haven’t, you’ll want to go after reading this book.
Bleeding London by Geoff Nicholson is a story about the influence a city can have over the people that live in it. One of the main characters, Stuart, offers walking tours of London and is inspired to explore every one of its streets. It’s through his eyes we see this city and are left wanting to explore it. If you live in a large city, you’ll find something relatable (and maybe a bit melancholy) here. The main characters feel a bit foreign in their own native land, while those of us who don’t live there see it as a thrilling challenge. London isn’t all dreams, and Nicholson doesn’t shy away from its grit.
Finally, Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes is a memoir that accounts the author’s decision to purchase an Italian farmhouse on a whim. It’s not an entirely new story – city folk moving somewhere and undertaking something difficult in a strange place. It feels somewhat like Peter Mayle’s A Year in Provence, but there’s something more personal about Mayes’s story. Ultimately, it’s about finding yourself in a new and strange place. It’s a light read, but most certainly one that’ll remind you of the time you wanted to move somewhere different to start a new life.
These are just three of the books on the European reading list, the rest of which can be found here. Whether you decide to lose yourself in one of the continent’s huge and storied cities, or find a new way of life in a corner of its ancient countryside, you’ll want to go somewhere for sure. After all, great stories give birth to great travel plans.
Happy reading. Happy dreaming.
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