Adventures in the Great Wide Somewhere // Travel by Page Behind Enemy Lines

As I'm sure many of you readers can relate to, I am constantly being inspired by books. I recently started rereading THE ALICE NETWORK by Kate Quinn on audio and it immediately brought me back to my deep love for this book. It also reminded me of my deep love, fascination, and inspiration for the very real women spies that played such a vital role in previous wars. With this love and inspo running through my veins, I thought it would be a fun post idea to do a Travel By Page...Behind Enemy Lines to highlight my favorite female spy novels. If you haven't read any of these books below, you need to immediately because they.are.amazing.!.

Adventures in the the Great Wide Somewhere // Travel Books That Aren't Travel Books

When Hannah mentioned that this week's Top Ten Tuesday was about travel books, I knew I needed to write a post about books that inspire me to travel. Then I thought a little more about it and wanted to do a little different twist to the topic. My informal title of this would probably be 'Books You Wouldn't Expect that Inspire Me to Travel' OR 'Books Whose Settings are a Character on Their Own' OR 'Unconventional Books That Make Me Want to Pack My Bags' What do I mean by this? I mean, I've read books where the setting of the story is such a big part of the story it feels like a character and/or while the book itself isn't about travel, it still made me want to go to that place immediately.

View from St Mary's in Oxford, England

Adventures in the Great Wide Somewhere // Travel By Page to the West End

"I wouldn't have to lose my temper if people weren't such morons."
--Lucy Parker, Act Like It

My Thoughts
The Belle
When Hannah started telling me about a book she read on the plane home and how great it was, I was intrigued. Then she mentioned it 1. takes place in London 2. is low on drama and high on hilarity and 3. focuses on people in the West End theater scene, I was sold! And I am so incredibly happy with my decision to impulse buy these books and read them immediately. They were the perfect balm to my soul after leaving the UK (and battling a bout of the stomach flu).

Adventures in the Great Wide Somewhere // From Page to Plane with The Alice Network

"There are two kinds of flowers when it comes to women...The kind that sit safe in a beautiful vase, or the kind that survive in any conditions...even in evil."

--Kate Quinn, The Alice Network

The Alice Network & the French Countryside

My Thoughts

The Belle
When I found out Kate Quinn (an instant favorite author after I read Mistress of Rome and the rest of the series) had a new book coming out I instantly perked up. When I found out it took place in both WWI and WWII, I immediately emailed the publisher begging for a review copy, they took pity on me and thank the gods because it was hands down one of the best reading experiences I have ever had.

Adventures in the Great Wide Somewhere // Travel By Page to Italy

It's no secret I am in love with Italy. It falls just behind the UK in where my mind always goes to and where my heart lays. The food, the culture the architecture, the history, there is nothing about Italy that I don't love. So of course, I find myself reading quite a few books that take place here. Today I'm featuring my favorite books that take place in Italy, both past and present, to help you travel by page to one of my favorite places in the world...Italy.

Adventures in the Great Wide Somewhere // From Page to Plane

After recently reading Who's That Girl by Mhairi McFarlane, I came up with an idea to introduce a another kind of feature within Adventures in the Great Wide Somewhere. That being when I read a certain book that inspires me to travel to a new place or think fondly on a place I've been I will feature my review and emphasize the setting and why it makes me want to travel to said location! This week I'm talking about Who's That Girl and Nottingham, or to me, any small English countryside town.

Hever, England & Who's That Girl

Adventures in the Great Wide Somewhere // Travel by Page to Scotland

 Back again, for quite possibly my second most read country! It's no surprise that I went back--yes, again--for the second time this year alone to England and Scotland. Sue me, they're my favorites. If I could have gone to Ireland too I would have had a trifecta of love but I digress. Today I'm talking Scottish books. These are my favorites and have grown my heart about 10 sizes just from reading them. When I was in Scotland earlier this year I didn't get to go to the Highlands so you can imagine how absolutely fucking mind-numbingly excited I was to be able to go this last time around! But before I knew if and when I'd ever get to see this magical place in person, I read about it...extensively.

If You Want to Travel To Scotland...

Adventures in the Great Wide Somwhere // Travel by Page to England

It's no surprise that I would try and find a way to combine reading and traveling. A huge motivator in all my travels has always been books. Guaranteed, any trip I take if you ask me why I wanted to go there it's 98% of the time going to start with this sentence, "Well I read this book..." Because I didn't start really traveling until my 20's, I still think that reading is the best and most cost effective form of travel. That feeling of being transported to another time, another place can always be found within the pages of books. That's why I wanted to start doing book recs based on countries. This first edition of this will, of course, be England. Most likely the book will take place in London but a lot of them travel throughout the country especially the historical ones.

So without further ado, here are my book recs for England. Whether you're planning a trip or looking to travel within the confines of your living room, these books will take you there. Note: I had SO many England recs that I divided them up between Setting, Historical, and Swoon. So no matter what you're looking for, I'm hoping you can find something here. Also note: No other country will be this extensive. As I've said a thousand times, London is my soul mate city. I read a lot about it.