A room service menu and stocked mini-bar, five-star service, a posh guest room, perhaps even a swim-up bar; these are things of which dream vacations are made. But it's so much fun when fictional holidays go awry.
Every Friday, we share our favorite book- and travel-related links. This week, we've got 'Jane Eyre' as a sacred text, bookstore cats, a chat with Daniel Silva, crossword puzzle secrets, European must-see, and more.
This novel has so much good stuff: a foreboding lighthouse and a secret society dinner, tall ships and sooty London streets, love-to-hate-'em villains and heroes with undeniable mettle — plus mystery and adventure.
Every Friday, we share our favorite book- and travel-related links. This week, we've got surfing with Agatha Christie, a beautiful Budapest flat, mythical spots IRL, who versus whom, Dick Francis novels, and more.
This novel has everything a dramatic adventure requires: compelling characters making (very) questionable decisions, the timeless conflict between haves and have-nots, an opulent setting at sea, and impending peril.
Writer Elizabeth Held has excellent taste in books, and her newsletter 'What To Read If' is a welcome arrival in our email each week. She tackled our challenge to recommend irresistible books for armchair travelers.
Every Friday, we share our favorite book- and travel-related links. This week, we've got improv typewriter poetry, city squares around the globe, best crime novels, Lewis Carroll's 'Alice' illustrations, and more.
When drunken, sun-burnt, bikini-clad tourists ditch their Cancun resort for a jungle trek, the situation turns decidedly deadly. Intimidating locals, squabbling frenemies, scorching heat; this beach read has it all.
Every Friday, we share our favorite book- and travel-related links. This week, we've got Edwardian dinner etiquette, abandoned German ballroom, dancing on a giant typewriter, American accents, fiction pods, and more.
Young Matti is our guide to the brutal, beautiful landscape of Pajala, a town in Swedish Lapland near the Arctic Circle. Yes, it's freezing, but it's warmed by friendly banter, family connection, and homemade food.
There are so many things to love about hotels: Bellhops! Room service! Tighter-than-a-drum sheets! Lobby bars! Plus the intriguing possibilities of all those strangers inside the same walls, together but separate.
Every Friday, we share our favorite book- and travel-related links. This week, we've got an animated Cinque Terra, foodie books for Juneteenth, book-nerd humor, Moroccan design, history of the asterisk, and more.
The action begins so innocently with a sunny holiday in Eastern Europe: fresh air, green mountains, friendly banter. But when our heroine Iris boards the train to London, her journey home goes spectacularly awry.
Every Friday, we share our favorite book- and travel-related links. This week, we've got flying Concorde, a fab South Korean library, a new fave summer drink, Tangier crime novels, castles in period films, and more.
This sun-drenched and somehow still Gothic-tinged novel has so many things we love: an abandoned mansion, intertwining timelines, family secrets, true love, betrayal, redemption. Basically, it's all the good stuff.
Travel to Chicago, Cuba, Ireland, Scotland, Vietnam, and more with these well-researched, compellingly told tales of adventure. The pages practically turn themselves, and the people who populate them? Unforgettable.
Every Friday, we share our favorite book- and travel-related links. This week, we've got the potato chip capital of the world, Prague's literary cafés, Atlantis Books in Greece, history of the seashore, and more.
A convenience store stocked with bottled water and take-away sushi might not seem like a rich environment for a story. This novel refutes that notion from the jump. Head to Tokyo and meet the unforgettable Keiko.
Every Friday, we share our favorite book- and travel-related links. This week, we've got essays from Aminatta Forna, walrus sightings, Iranian hotels, a seafaring brooch, a funny homage to Anne Brontë, and more.
On the upside, if you were to find yourself at Vida Winter's isolated mansion, you'd get to spend a lot of time in the well-appointed library. On the downside, (deliciously) devastating secrets lurk within its walls.
An ideal traveling companion must have a sense of adventure, a mostly cheerful outlook, and be willing to lead with her chin when times are tough — which means all of these memorable heroines are excellent company.
