After more than a year of barely leaving the house due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I can safely say that reading is my main method of escapism. Through the magic of reading (*insert sparkly emojis here*), I’ve been taken to places like modern-day New York City, 18th-century Scotland, imperial China, the Greek Underworld, and more. Read on for a list of book recommendations to travel the world without leaving your room!
1. Paris Was Ours – Penelope Rowlands (editor)
Setting: Paris, France
Genre: nonfiction, anthology
Page Count: 288
Each thought-provoking piece in this anthology of essays by 32 authors on their experiences in the City of Light highlights unique aspects of Parisian culture, from fine dining to personal finances to feminism.
2. The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
Setting: Kabul, Afghanistan
Genre: historical fiction
Page Count: 371
Set in Soviet-era Afghanistan and featuring powerful themes of redemption, family, and morality, The Kite Runner follows the unlikely friendship between Amir, the son of a well-to-do Pashtun businessman, and Hassan, the son of the Hazara family servant, as well as Amir’s quest to make things right many years after their friendship ends.
3. I Love You So Mochi – Sarah Kuhn
Setting: Kyoto, Japan
Genre: young adult
A fight between aspiring fashion designer Kimi Nakamura and her painter mother—who wants Kimi to follow in her footsteps instead—sends her to her estranged grandparents in Kyoto for spring break, where she ponders her path in life while enjoying delicious mochi and gorgeous scenery.
4. Forgetting English – Midge Raymond
Setting: various locations worldwide
Genre: fiction, anthology
Page Count: 120
Featuring settings such as Taiwan, Tonga, and Antarctica, Midge Raymond’s short story collection explores the complicated yet depressingly realistic ways in which our relationships with ourselves and those around us change when we’re far from home.
5. Love and Gelato – Jenna Evans Welch
Setting: Tuscany, Italy
Genre: young adult romance
Page Count: 389
After being sent to Tuscany to spend the summer with her estranged birth father in the wake of her mother’s death, 16-year-old Lina discovers a diary her mother kept during her time in Italy and retraces her footsteps through cities, monuments and secret bakeries, falling in love and consuming copious amounts of gelato on the way.
6. My Sister, the Serial Killer – Oyinkan Braithwaite
Setting: Lagos, Nigeria
Genre: fiction, thriller
Page Count: 226
Same old routine: introverted nurse Korede receives yet another call from her younger sister Ayoola, who wants her to deal with the body of yet another boyfriend she’s murdered in “self-defense”… only, she doesn’t feel so impartial when Ayoola later begins dating Tade, her coworker and secret crush.
7. Shanghai Girls – Lisa See
Setting: Shanghai, China / Los Angeles, California
Genre: historical fiction
Page Count: 309
In Shanghai Girls, the bonds between sisters and former society girls Pearl and May Chin weather the challenges of fleeing Japanese invaders, losing both their parents, being forced to marry strangers, and a difficult immigration to America.
8. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail – Cheryl Strayed
Setting: Pacific Crest Trail, United States
Genre: memoir
Page Count: 315
In the wake of her heartwrenching divorce and her mother’s sudden death from cancer, 26-year-old Cheryl Strayed abandons her life and embarks on a visceral soul-searching journey to hike the 1,100-mile Pacific Crest Trail.
9. The Valley of Amazement – Amy Tan
Setting: Shanghai, China / San Francisco, California
Genre: historical fiction
Page Count: 608
After her separation from her mother at the fall of the Qing Dynasty, biracial heiress turned virgin courtesan turned businesswoman Violet Minturn spends her lifetime in search of answers to the tumultuous mysteries in her life, including her mother’s past, her father’s identity, and the whereabouts of her lost daughter.
10. The Girl Who Fell to Earth – Sophia al-Maria
Setting: Puyallup, Washington / Doha, Qatar / Cairo, Egypt
Genre: memoir
Page Count: 271
In her memoir, Qatari-American artist Sophia al-Maria recounts her coming of age amidst the juxtaposition of her two worlds: that of her American mother in the Pacific Northwest and of her father’s desert-dwelling Bedouin family.
11. The Guest List – Lucy Foley
Setting: Inis an Amplóra, Ireland
Genre: mystery, thriller
Page Count: 330
A classic Christie-esque tale set on a stormy island off the coast of Ireland, The Guest List tells the eerie story of what happens when a wedding party’s hidden resentment and jealousy bubble to the surface and become motives to kill.