Spring Fling: Great Getaway Books for Grown-Ups

Books make great travel companions. They can transport us to places far away or long forgotten. They can make us laugh. They can turn us into detectives, historians, and great adventurers.

Whether you’re heading out on vacation, or at home dreaming of a much-needed getaway, prepare to escape with the eight books below.

The Night Circus

by Erin Morgenstern

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Morgenstern has created an amazing, ethereal atmosphere in her book about a circus that only appears at night, the Cirque de Reve. Filled with vivid imagery, her writing transports the reader to a world of white, black, and red, where nothing is as it seems.

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A Walk in the Woods

by Bill Bryson

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Bryson’s writing is humorous and insightful, and his books continue to be bestsellers. In A Walk in the Woods, Bryson not only chronicles his experience hiking the Appalachian Trail, he also gives a humorous and fascinating history of the Appalachian Trail itself. Perfect for anyone who loves to experience the great outdoors, either firsthand or from the comfort of a cushy chair.

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Big Little Lies

by Liane Moriarty

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With snappy dialogue, well-developed characters, and a captivating mystery, Moriarty has written a great book that’s also a real page-turner. We know someone is dead after a fundraising party at the local elementary school, but we don’t who is dead or how they died. While some of the subject matter is serious, Moriarty’s writing keeps the story fun and lively.

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Murder on the Orient Express

by Agatha Christie

A good mystery makes for great travel reading, and Christie’s classic is perfect for fans of clever whodunits filled with twists and turns and unreliable characters. When one of the travelers aboard a luxurious passenger train turns up dead, the inimitable Detective Hercule Poirot goes on the hunt to find the killer.

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Dead Wake

by Erik Larson

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Larson’s writing about history is some of my favorite — it reads like a novel, but it’s completely true. He takes moments in history that are either long forgotten or are not very well known, and makes you feel as though you were there, experiencing them yourself. His latest is about the sinking of the cruise ship Lusitania and the events leading up to the disaster.

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Under the Tuscan Sun

by Frances Mayes

For anyone who has ever dreamed of escaping to a new life in a new country, you can live vicariously through Frances Mayes. After her divorce, Mayes bought a villa in Tuscany and began fixing it up. Along with funny (and thank goodness it didn’t happen to me!) stories, we meet some of the residents of Cortona and its surrounding areas. Mayes does an amazing job of transporting her readers to Tuscany through her vivid imagery. And, for those who are so inspired, she includes local recipes so you can eat as if you are in Tuscany, too.

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The Hobbit

by J.R.R. Tolkien

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For anyone looking to really escape, literature has a plethora of fantasy worlds spun from the imaginations of the authors. Tolkien’s Middle Earth is one such world. The Hobbit, which is Bilbo Baggins’s tale, is a great introduction to Tolkein’s world and characters, in addition to being a fun, adventurous read.

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The Vacationers

by Emma Straub

With a title like this, how could it not be an escape? The Post family’s vacation to Mallorca not only offers an amazing getaway locale, but also secrets, love affairs, and jealousies, making this a delicious, well-written read.

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