A book is the simplest way to live through a wild experience from start to finish. The same experience can be shared by millions just by turning the pages of the same book. Simply put, books are an escape and stories provide the phenomenon of traveling the world, thinking, grieving, falling in love, achieving success, and challenging perspectives, without moving a foot. Below, discover 15 books that will take you on an adventure without ever leaving your couch.
Eat, Pray, Love By Elizabeth Gilbert
Aside from a movie adaptation starring Julia Roberts, this highly acclaimed memoir became a lifestyle guide, just as much as Elizabeth Gilbert {the author} became a Guru for thousands of people. After several personal losses, she decides to embark on a journey to three countries with three specific purposes. First, Italy for pleasure of the senses, then India for spiritual enlightenment and lastly, Bali to restore balance in her life. Her life experiences are relatable and her journey to find herself has inspired many to do the same.
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Moby Dick By Herman Melville
A national treasure published in 1851, this novel famously begins with the narratorial invocation “Call me Ishmael.” It follows the story of outcasts who set out to sea in search for meaning on a whaling boat called The Pequod. Captain Ahab, who is still recovering from losing his leg in an encounter with Moby Dick, a sperm whale, has one goal, seek revenge on the legendary, mysterious whale. The crew thinks they know what they’re getting into, but the obsessive journey takes a turn for the worst.
The Alchemist By Paulo Coelho
Highly acclaimed, this story follows the journey of an Andalusian shepherd boy named Santiago. He believed a recurring dream to be prophetic and asked a Gypsy fortune teller about its meaning, who interprets the dream as a prophecy explaining he will discover a treasure at the Egyptian pyramids. Along the way he meets a man who calls himself king and an alchemist, both who point Santiago in the direction of his quest. No one knows what the treasure is, or if Santiago will be able to surmount the obstacles in his path but what starts out as a journey to find worldly goods turns into a discovery of the treasure found within.
Wild By Cheryl Strayed
Following the death of her mother, 22 year-old Cheryl turns to nature for redemption from debt, divorce, drugs — you name it. For three months she hiked 1,100 miles alone along the Pacific Crest Trail, a continuous wilderness undulating from Mexico to Canada over nine mountain ranges from the Laguna to the Cascades. She did it in order to save herself. She faces a slew of obstacles on her voyage including wild animals, cold temperatures, and failed waterholes, to name a few. It tracks the physical changes as a body gets turned inside out in three months, and more compelling is that the journey reveals her return to sanity.
The Stationary Shop By Marjan Kamali
Published in 2019, this story explains the love and misfortune of two strangers who met through their common appreciation for stationary and books. Set in 1953 Tehran, against the backdrop of the Iranian Coup, the story follows a young couple in love who are separated on the eve of their marriage, and who are reunited 60 years later, after having moved on to live independent lives in America, to finally discover the truth about what happened on that fateful day in the town square. This love story is powerful and heartbreaking that explores loss, reconciliation, and the quirks of fate.
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn By Mark Twain
A novel by the iconic Mark Twain, this novel published in 1884, is commonly named one of the greatest American novels. It recounts the journey of a nineteenth-century boy from a Mississippi River town escaping his father’s abuse by faking his own death and meeting a runaway slave, encountering a family involved in a feud, two scoundrels pretending to be royalty, and Tom Sawyer’s aunt who mistakes him for Tom. Huck is faced with the emotional growing pains of becoming a man in a morally flawed society. It contains poignant critiques of slavery, discrimination, and society in general, but it’s also the story of Huck’s journey from boyhood to manhood.
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The Starless Sea By Erin Morgenstern
Zachary Ezra Rawlins, a graduate student in Vermont, discovers a mysterious book hidden in the stacks. As he dives in, he is immediately enthralled by stories of lovelorn prisoners, key collectors, and nameless acolytes. He comes across a strange story, one from his own childhood. Confused by this inexplicable book and desperate to make sense of how his own life came to be recorded, he begins finding clues including a bee, a key, and a sword. The search led him to a masquerade party in New York, to a secret club, and through a doorway to an ancient library hidden far below the surface of the earth.
Pride, Prejudice & Other Flavors By Sonali Dev
Award-winning author Sonali Dev, introduces The Rajes, an immigrant Indian family descended from royalty, who have built their lives in San Francisco. Only in an overachieving Indian-American family can a genius daughter be considered a black sheep. Dr. Trisha Raje is San Francisco’s most acclaimed neurosurgeon. Yet, that’s not enough for the Rajes, her influential immigrant family who’s achieved power by making its own non-negotiable rules of never trusting an outsider, never doing anything to jeopardize her brother’s political aspirations and never, ever, defy the family.
The Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini
When Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini published this novel in 2003, it was an immediate best-seller with its emotional story of betrayal and redemption. It follows the life of Amir and Hassan, the closest of friends and also experts in the art of kite flying. The two young boys live in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, and this year they are going to try harder than ever to win the local kite-fighting tournament, a popular Afghan pastime and this is Amir’s one hope of winning his father’s love. Then, war comes to Afghanistan and under scary and uncertain circumstances, Amir himself commits an act of betrayal, towards Hassan that haunts him for the rest of his life.
Life of Pi By Yann Martel
A philosophical-fiction story about Pi Patel, a sixteen-year-old South Indian boy who survives at sea with a tiger for 227 days. Pi grows up in the South Indian city of Pondicherry, where his father runs the zoo. A gifted and intelligent boy, he followed the Hindu religion, by age 15 he also adopts Christianity and Islam, and considers himself a pious devotee to all three religions. The Patels decide to close the Pondicherry Zoo and move to Canada when Pi is 16. Pi, his mother, father, and brother Ravi all board the Tsimtsum along with the zoo’s animal inhabitants. A mysterious event causes it to sink and Pi is the only one to make it to the lifeboat. Along with Pi, the lifeboat contains a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan, and a tiger.
The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s most iconic novel remains one of the most notoriously tragic yet romantic love stories of all time. The story follows the young and mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby who lives in an enormous Gothic-style mansion and throws legendary parties every Saturday night and his overwhelming passion and obsession with beautiful Daisy Buchanan. Nick Carraway, a young man from Minnesota, moves to New York in the summer of 1922 to learn about the bond business and rents a house in the West Egg district of Long Island next to Gatsby and also happens to be Daisy’s cousin. There is romance, plot twists, revenge, violence, adventure, and more. For fear of saying too much, we’ll leave it at that. After reading it, watch the movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio, it’s a completely different and enchanting experience.
A Long Petal of the Sea By Isabel Allende
Another New York Times best seller, this novel spanning decades follows two young people as they flee the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War in search of a place to call home. Among the thousands that were forced to flee are Roser, a pregnant young widow, Victor Dalmau, an army doctor and brother of her deceased love. The only shot at survival is to get married, something neither of them want. Together, they all sail across the sea to Chile on SS Winnipeg charted by the poet Pablo Neruda. Awaiting to return to Spain, they face endless trials and tribulations in this new continent, Roser and Victor begin to realize home might be closer than they thought.
The Geography of Bliss By Eric Weiner
A travel memoir that doubles as a psychology and self-help guide, this book is centered around the mission and journey to find not what but where happiness is. Eric Weiner takes readers on an enlightening voyage across the world as he allows his curiosity and research to guide him to the supposed happiest places in the world. Weiner’s thoughts and experiences are not only hysterical but will cause you to think deeply about the concept of living happily. We won’t spoil the fun by telling if his mission succeeds, except to say that readers will discover happiness in reading this witty, thought-provoking book.
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Manhattan’s Babe By Frederic Beigbeders
The English-language translation of French writer Frederic Beigbeders latest novel, follows a fictionalized account of the true-life, bittersweet love story of up-and-coming writer J.D. Salinger, 22, and Oona O’Neill, 16, the beautiful socialite daughter of the great American playwright. Their short and compelling romance came to be during the summer of 1941, before the U.S. joined World War II. Then, Salinger was tragically drafted into the Army, and Oona sought her fortune in Hollywood. This story will take your imagination into swanky New York clubs where cigarette smoke filled the air and high-end hotels. The cherry on top are the gorgeous illustrations.
City of Girls By Elizabeth Gilbert
Yes, this list started and ended with books written by Elizabeth Gilbert because, well, no one does adventure quite like her. This book is almost impossible to put down once you pick it up. It takes place in 1940 when 19-year-old Vivian Morris has just been kicked out of Vassar College, owing to her lackluster freshman-year performance and is in desperate need for inspiration. Her wealthy parents send her to Manhattan to live with her Aunt Peg, who owns a flamboyant, crumbling midtown theater called the Lily Playhouse. There, Vivian’s world is turned upside down and things get crazy quickly. She is introduced to an entire world of unconventional and charismatic characters, from the fun-chasing showgirls to a sexy male actor, a grand-dame actress, a lady-killer writer, and no-nonsense stage manager.
Which of these books will you be reading? Let us know in the comments!
