Dewey’s Readathon Hour 8 Mini-Challenge: Armchair Traveling

Welcome to the Hour 8 Mini-Challenge for Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon!

HOUR EIGHT. FEELING GREAT.

The theme of this mini-challenge is ARMCHAIR TRAVELING. One of the many delights of reading is the ability books have to help us travel the world in our imaginations – rich descriptions and stories that make us feel transported, even if we haven’t left our couch.

But what if you could actually be transported into the setting of the novel? Magically teleported while you’re reading, with the ability to look up and take in the setting all around you, and then find yourself home again when you close the book?

You could read The Elegance of the Hedgehog and be transported to the center of Paris.

You could pick up I Capture the Castle and find yourself in an old castle in the English countryside.

You could decide to float down the Mississippi on a raft while reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

What book would you choose, and where would it transport you?

The details & how to enter: 

  • Leave a comment below with the book you’d choose and the location it would transport you to. Feel free to share details or a story about your choice!
  • Make sure you include your email address or a blog / social media URL where I can contact you if you win.
  • One randomly chosen winner will receive a book of their choice from The Book Depository, up to $18.
  • This challenge will stay open through hour 14 of the Readathon, and I will select a winner randomly during hour 15.
  • (While not a *rule* – it’s probably best if we stick to real life locations, not imaginary ones – otherwise I have a feeling we will all end up at Hogwarts or the Shire.) 

Have fun! Happy travels!

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Main image background by FraserElliot on flickr. (CC BY-NC 2.0)

By Emily

Book-hoarding INFJ who likes to leave the Shire and go on adventures.

163 comments

  1. Pingback: Hour 8 – Move it, Move it | Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon

    2. I’m currently reading 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson and while I’m not usually a fan of travel (being an immigrant myself, travel is different for me), I did find myself thinking about what it would be like to visit the places that most people talk about. I live in NYC so that’s one city from this book down. She also visits London and Paris and I think at this point where I’m reading, she’s heading to Amsterdam. I would like to go to these places, if only to know that I’ve been there. I would get more out of coming back than actually being there, I think.

    3. I’d goto victorian england with the book Clockwork Angel by cassandra clare, being able to visit that time without dying from disease would be amazinggggggg!

    4. James Herriot’s All Things Bright and Beautiful. Yorkshire Dales, and pick a farm any farm. *sigh, I’m going to need a minute to come back from my happy place*

    6. Fictional world – Valdemar, particularly from the time frame that The Last Herald-Mage takes place. Probably in Haven, as I would love to meet the Heralds and Herald-Mages – and hopefully become one!

      Real world – Harry Potter. I would love to see the British Isles, and it would be awesome to be able to also see places like Diagon Alley and the Ministry of Magic.

    8. I would go to Paris, I secretly have a desire to disappear there on a solo trip and live the adventure of life!

    9. My book would be a non-fiction book titled “The Rough Guide to Ireland.” I love Ireland’s landscape, it’s just breathtaking. I also love cold windy weather, which I’ve heard Ireland has plenty :)

  2. Ooh! The Secret Garden! I’ve wanted to visit that time and place since I was a little girl!

  3. I’d be an extra in “One Hundred Years of Solitude.” Sure, there’s some war and stuff, but there’s also magic. And great love.

  5. Presently? I think I would pick City of Bones as my book so I could pay a visit to Brooklyn, NY (a la Magnus Bane’s party house, hehe). I’ve never been to New York but the imagery in this chapter is giving me an interesting visual of old converted and refurbished warehouses-turned-homes.

  6. I’m reading the 4th book in the Wheel of Time series. I’d love to travel into this world. I’d love to see Tar Valon and ask the Aes Sedai questions and visit Edmond’s Field. I’m kind of in love with this world.

  9. If I could be transported anywhere in a book it would have to be into the Harry Potter Series. Spending time at Hogwarts has always been my dream since I was little and first reading the series.

  11. I’m picking “I’ll give you the sun” by Jandy Nelson. It takes place somewhere on the Californian coast during the summer time with lots of surfing, beaches and beautiful nature. I could really use some sun (haha get it) instead if this horribly cold Scandinavian autumn.

  14. I would go to Baker Street in London with Sherlock Holmes and follow along as he solves mysteries! (I probably wouldn’t be much help though.)
    Twitter: @jenscott1012

  16. I would go to the Blitz in Connie Willis’ Blackout. I wouldn’t stay long, but I think she did a great job describing the ordinary people’s heroism during those years, so it would be interesting perhaps to see and experience it first hand

  22. I can’t decide between the Secret Garden and Anne of Green Gables, I’ve wished plenty of times I could be transported to either world.

  23. Hokkaido Highway Blues: Hitchhiking Japan, By Will Ferguson.

    Ever since I read that book, I’ve been wanting to do a similar journey, following cherry trees blossoming through an entire country..

  24. I love traveling & armchair traveling and more than often the books I tend to read are set in some foreign culture and/or country (which is my passion). So I’d go for Mutant Message Down Under by Marlo Morgan about a journey with Aboriginals in Australia. Very intriguing… don’t know whether I could do it but it sounds sooo good!

  26. I choose Prague from the Daughter of Smoke & Bone series. It sounds stunning, would love to travel around the city.

    (And yes, you were right. If it was a fictional place I would 10000% choose Hogwarts.)

  29. Well, I already picked Terre d’Ange for one of the mini-challenges, so I’ll attempt to pick a real-life destination this time. While I’ve always wanted to visit the Amazon Rainforest, I’ve not yet gotten around to reading any books set there.

    So I suppose I’ll pick ‘The Essential Rumi’. I would love to be transported to 13th century Konya (time hopping’s okay, right?) and learn ecstatic poetry at the feet of the Master.

    ~*~

    Out beyond ideas of of wrongdoing and rightdoing
    There is a field. I’ll meet you there.

    When the soul lies down in that grass,
    the world is too full to talk about.
    Ideas, language, even the phrase “each other” doesn’t make any sense.

    ~Rumi

  30. Ever since I was little I’ve wanted to wake up in a log cabin in Pepin, Wisconsin, where Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Engalls Wilder is set, on the winter. The thought of a home built cabin, a fire, and family is so desirable to me.

  32. I’ve read a lot of books about New York, but When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead really captures what it’s like to be a latchkey kid. I live in NYC already, but whenever I’m not here, reading this book instantly satisfies any homesick feelings I may have, especially because it’s for younger readers, so the childhood memories flood back pretty quickly :)

    reinreads.wordpress.com

  33. Well I thought I was original in my choice of the highlands of Scotland from the Outlander series, but apparently not ;)

    The beautiful rolling hills, the wildlife, the flowers, just all of the nature. And the burly men with thick Scottish accents certainly don’t hurt ;) I’m English though so I could easily make this dream a reality. Only have to catch a couple of trains! ^_^

    kerryelizabethhunter@live.co.uk
    @kerryxelizabeth

  36. I’d go with Victorian England (including the shadow world, of course, but only if I have some shadowhunters to protect me & we try to avoid any demons) in “Clockwork Princess” by Cassandra Clare. The Victorian Era intrigues me. Also, I’ve always wanted to visit England.

    Contact: nwoods@ucsd.edu or @burningmoon65 on Twitter.

  37. a book that I read years and years ago when I was 15 or so (called fluff my most), but Ruby by V.C. Andrews, set in the bayous of Louisiana and the beautiful city of New Orleans…I have been in love with that city ever since and have only been able to visit once for about a day on my way through the state

    twitter – @flippingpages35

  38. Picking a book set in England was a no brainer for me. I’ve never been! But, while living like the Bingleys (the servants! the balls!) in Pride and Prejudice would be fun, I think it’d be hard to live in that time period! So, I think I’d go with my most recent England set book…The Lake House by Kate Morton. The title house is in Cornwall and just a few hours away from London. It sounded like such a delightful little town!
    http://booksandstuff-kstar.blogspot.ca/2015/10/deweys-24-hour-readathon.html
    books.etc.blogger AT gmail DOT com

    PS I’m an INFJ, too!

  39. Earlier today, I read The 100 by Kass Morgan. When The Hundred reach Earth, they’re in an area pretty close to where I live in real life, but I would love to see what this area would look like without cities and businesses everywhere. I think it would be interesting!
    Twitter: @chelsealouise07

  40. I would have to go with Captain Thorne’s Ship (forgot what is was called) in the Lunar Chronicles. Not really much of a setting but would be nice to be in that ship lol!

  41. I’d like to go back to the early 1800’s in Charles Finch’s The September Society where ppl traveled in carriages, where women wore dresses throughout the day, and where the main character, Lenox, explores his old campus of Oxford and all the little haunts around.

  42. Perhaps this is cheating since it’s not a novel but it is a book nonetheless…
    Book: Alinea by Grant Achatz
    *sigh* to be eating at that restaurant!
    @AyaMSato on Twitter

  43. Ha, I immediately thought of both Hogwarts and the Shire. Ok, real locations, I would pick Barcelona via The Shadow of the Wind. I would love to explore the city!

  44. Well, if we’re talking about a setting where we could be safe, I want to armchair travel to Jurassic Park! To be able to see the dinosaurs, feel the experience of being on that island while also being immune to being eaten, that would be my choice!

  45. this one is hard!
    especially since we have to stick to ‘real’ places.
    i’d like to be able to visit most of the places in jodi picoult’s books, but i’ll settle for her book ‘the tenth circle’ so that i could travel between maine and alaska – both places i hope to visit some day.
    my tumblr: http://accio-books-and-coffee.tumblr.com

  46. I want to visit the circus in The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.
    Since this location doesn’t qualify as “real”, my second choice is Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I’d love to visit Hertfordshire, Derbyshire and Pemberley, of course!

    http://bluebird.booklikes.com

  47. I once read a book about a guy from northern Sweden who moved to the second largest city of Sweden called Göteborg (Gothenburg). He was unhappy, but i love that city. I was lucky to go there this summer and i enjoyed every second, such a beautiful city! I want to go there during christmas, cause they got one of the largest christmas markets in all of Sweden.
    My name on Twitter is @justheretochato

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