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One of the best pleasures to indulge in is book reading. Come to think of it, there are so many scenarios where you can simply immerse yourself in a story and get away from the routine or maybe away from people you itch to trip once in a while. Reading opportunities are many – you had a fight? Pick up a book and ignore the fight. Bored? Pick up a book and, for a while, live someone else's life. Some much needed alone time? Pick up a book and let the characters of your book take you on a ride.
Especially when travelling books are your best companions. Once you start reading the story, the characters become so familiar that it seems you and them are on a journey together. You will laugh, cry, heal and rejoice but what matters most is at the end, you will have a good time.
So here are some of the funny and comforting yet inspiring books you should carry when travelling. Not in any particular order.
1. The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
If you judge the book by its cover or by the title, you will not get anything out of it. Of course, it is about a 100-year-old man climbing out and disappearing that too without slipper in search of smoke and booze, and yes, you might question his wits and deem him ignorant. Until you slowly realise this guy is not your regular old-age home clueless centenarian. Back in the day, this man has traversed through the world on spontaneous adventures and was instrumental in the making of history.
But this is no stoic novel of world events; this is a hilariously unexpected journey of a carefree Allan Karlsson, the explosive expert, who now at 100 yrs. It is surprisingly fit to embark on a bizarre ride packed with funny situations and quirky characters. This clever book will have you in splits laughing out loud - a must-read while travelling.
2. Five Quarters of the Orange
Five Quarters of the Orange will stay with you for a long time for its coming of age, subtle and nuanced storytelling. Set in an idyllic village filled with fragrances of the French countryside and full of French food, from the sweetness of raspberries to the bitterness of oranges, the story slowly draws you in. When an elderly Framboise returns to her childhood village with a new identity to open a café, she revisits her past and the secrets.
The story is centred around a turbulent relationship between a mother, her two daughters and son and the tragic events the children set in motion after befriending a German soldier during the 2nd world war. When older and wiser, Biose recreates her mother's dishes from the scrapbook of recipes she inherited; her mother's writings offer insights into her contradictory behaviour and their dysfunctional family too. Five Quarters of the Orange is delicious and yet a bit dense but extremely satisfying in the end.
3. Where the Heart Is
- is an easy read yet with layers of human emotions, their strengths and shortcomings. It’s a story of a naive 17 years old pregnant girl who, against all odds, want to make something of herself. She doesn't have a solid plan, though, but one day at a time, she finds her path. Her journey doesn't seem like she is set out to prove to the world but more like discovering herself.
It may seem unrealistic in some places, but then we all need a bit of unrealism sometimes to trigger our imagination. This is a definite comfort read when you need optimism, love, simple dreams and innocence in your heart to believe you can get through a rough tide.
4. The Shadow of the Wind
This book is a pure reading pleasure. A rare book that is fascinated by other books, the storyline will quickly reverberate through the readers who are book collectors. The Cemetery of Forgotten Books is a labyrinth buried behind heavily bolted doors and high walls that brought alive authors' voice from past and present who needed their story discovered and told.
Brave and curious ten-year-old Daniel Sempere was unaware of consequences when he opened ‘Shadow of the Wind’ by Julian Carax to read. Carax brought the history alive for Daniel, affecting his and his father's life.
If you love out of the ordinary stories that captivate your imagination and run away with it, then this is it. It’s hauntingly beautiful prose with all the elements that change the air around you as you read.
5. Train to Lisbon
Middle-aged Gregorius is a teacher of ancient languages, stuck in his routine life. The story starts with Gregorius’s accidental encounter with a Portuguese woman on a bridge attempting suicide, leading him to a book. As a devotee of literature, he quickly falls in love with this out-of-print biography by a writer - Amadeu de Prado, a mysterious Portuguese aristocrat and physician.
Haunted by its writing, he soon leaves his secure job in Bern and travels to Lisbon to find out more about the strange author. If you want to be prompted to think more deeply about life, how different people's perception can be, especially about each other, who we truly are, and about the nature of human relationships, read this book.
6. Under the Tuscan Sun
Under the Tuscan Sun is a quintessential, feel-good and heartwarming memoirs more than a novel based on Frances Mayes’s experience of buying and restoring a centuries-old villa in Tuscany. It's not literature yet a very well written inspirational story with all your desired ingredients - life, light, food, wine, people, countryside and culture.
If you are in the mood to read about life in Italy, second chances, making new friends, and personal transformation, this will work well. It is a leisure read without many conflicts.
If you are not in Italy already, you will make plans to travel soon.
7. The Screwtape Letters
The Screwtape Letters is a classic satire dedicated to the legend J.R.R.Tolkien by the legend writer C. S. Lewis. And you have to have a penchant for satirical work to enjoy this book as it is nothing but an exchange of letters between a senior devil & junior devil, namely Uncle Screwtape and Wormwood.
The charm lies within the letters though, the concise and astute correspondence that details schemes on how the Devil should tempt the “patient” or the human, away from his faith towards "Him"(Divine); by adapting the satire, the cynic, the comic and the subtle influences in daily life like belief, love, marriage, gluttony, cowardice, fidelity and freedom etc.
This book is a complete goldmine of wit and wisdom and a sure ride for laughter.
8. Carpet Diem
This a goofy little story of oddball angels, demons, witches, immortals, and talking deer, and caught up in between all of them is Simon Debovar - a painfully shy and retiring hermit. When his ancient carpet, the thing that everyone wants, is stolen, he sets out on a quest to retrieve it along with his foul-mouthed outrageous Great Aunt Harriet.
Carpet Diem is a whimsical and hilarious, fast-paced story of the quirky characters and their stumbling from one disaster to the next, with the world's fate at stake because of the lost carpet. The book is easy to pick up and put down anytime, making it one of the best books to carry while you go camping or just pack up your Jeep and head out to nowhere.
9. Garden Spells
Garden Spells is a tender story of magical realism - family drama, certain darkness in the background, magic and a personal journey for love, strength and fulfilment - perfect for a holiday read. The story revolves around the Waverly women and their special gifts, the weight of heritage and their intertwined lives.
Each Waverly woman has her own whimsical gift, but Claire has the gift of food. She is a famous caterer in the town and uses the enchanted herbs and flowers in her garden to cook exquisite dishes that influence the feelings of whoever eats them. There is also a scoundrel apple tree in the magical garden, with a wild soul that adores this odd family and throws apples at random to have its say in their lives.
10. The Ten Thousand Doors of January
The Ten Thousand Doors of January is a creative, original tale of January, a young girl in the care of wealthy collector Cornelius Locke living in a sprawling mansion filled with peculiar treasures. Then she finds a magical book that takes her on a journey through hidden doors into other worlds. This is a unique story about the desire for the unknown and the longing for change; it is a gateway to worlds never discovered and sites unseen.
A story of complacency and the need to take action. It is about growing up while holding on to innocence and curiosity. However, the book is slow-paced but rewarding if you are in a certain frame of mind.
11. The Bookshop on the Corner
Read this if you are a paragon book lover. The book has books in it and one Nina who loses her treasured job at the library. Not to be deterred, she finds the courage to pursue her dreams and moves to a sleepy village in Scotland. Using her expert skills of matching people with books, Nina tirelessly spread the gift of books to her isolated community on her new bookmobile, facing challenges with more fortitude than she thought possible. This book will work well to clean your palette after reading several intense books.
