Every year I host a Reading Challenge in my Posse group on Facebook where each month hosts a different theme. Some themes center around the covers, some on the authors, but I do my best to include at least one theme each year that centers on settings.
One of my favorite things about reading is having a story transport me to another place and time. To experience the culture of the characters and to either learn something about a place I’ve never been or to experience the nostalgia of revisiting a place where I have traveled.
That second option is where our reading challenge is focused this month. Our challenge is to read a book that is set in either a country or state where we have visited.
I’ve already started my first read for the challenge.
I’m reading Pepper Basham’s The Juliet Code which is set in Venice, Italy. I haven’t been to Venice, but I have been to Rome, so this counts as a country (Italy) that I’ve visited. I’ve loved all the Freddie & Grace mysteries, so I was thrilled to have an excuse to pull this out of my TBR pile to read.
If I have time for a second read this month, I plan to travel to Colorado with my good friend Kimberley Woodhouse.
I love the mountains, and I’ve been fortunate enough to visit Colorado several times, the most recent trip coming last year when we stopped in Colorado Springs on our way to South Dakota. We visited the Gardon of the Gods and had high tea at Glen Eyrie Castle. We didn’t do any digging for dinosaur fossils, but I look forward to joining Kim’s paleontologist heroine to experience that thrill.
Is there a state or country you have visited in real life that you would love to visit again in the pages of a novel?
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I love novels where setting is so rich it’s almost like another character. As for where I’d love to visit again through the pages of a novel, Paris is my choice. It was never a city on my bucket list but after spending 3 and a half days there exactly one year ago, I fell in love with Paris and love reading about it now.
What a glorious place to visit, Deb. I’ve never been but after watching the Olympics, I would love to see it.
This month’s challenge is right up my alley. I love it when a setting is so realistic. My first read will be the latest in a cozy mystery series I read by Laura Childs, the Tea Shop mysteries. Number 28, Peach Tea Smash, released in August. This series is set in Charleston, S.C., a city I love to visit. Childs takes you through the historic district, shops, museums, and cemeteries, all the while describing delicious tea parties main character Theodosia Browning hosts in her tea shop. Her employees, tea sommelier Drayton, and baker extraordinaire Hayley, often get involved in her amateur sleuthing episodes. An addition at the end of the book includes suggestions for tea parties and delicious recipes, which have increased as the series progressed. I’m usually in the historic genre, but these books are quick, enjoyable reads.
I have read The Juliette Code and enjoy Pepper Basham’s Freddie and Grace mysteries. Unfortunately, I have not been to Venice, nor Cairo.
I love the idea of a tea shop setting! Great recommendation, Betty.
I was super blessed to be able to study abroad in Florence, Italy for 3.5 months in college. It was one of the best experiences I have ever had. Since smart phones weren’t huge yet I didn’t have the internet at my fingertips, so instead of using GPS to find my way I was able to learn the ins and outs of the city. Back alleys and shortcuts became second nature and made me feel like a real Florentine. I would love to visit Florence again in the pages of a book. I have been meaning to read The Agony and the Ecstasy a Biographical Novel About Michelangelo for a long time.
What a wonderful experience, Katie! Sometimes we are too dependent on our devices.