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5. Travel planning for book lovers
10 Plays3 months ago
Here are some ideas of how to incorporate your love of books into your next trip:
- Read a book set in the place you are visiting
- Bring a book with you that matches the vibe of the location (i.e. a beach read to Cancun)
- Buy a book at a local attraction
- Visit (support) a local bookstore
- Visit a local library
- Check out a book bar
- Bring your book and read in a beautiful park or café
- Visit locations from books
Thank you for listening. If you liked this episode, please tell a friend. In the meantime, you can find me on Instagram at @Kristinsnextchapter
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Kristen's Next Chapter'
Book Club Insights: 'Death of the Author'
00:00:04
Kristin Paulin
Hi, I'm Kristin, the host of Kristin's Next Chapter, a podcast to help you find your next read and introduce you to debut authors. Today I wanted to chat about travel for book lovers, but first I wanted to share some recent bookish moments and what I'm currently reading.
00:00:20
Kristin Paulin
So in February, my local bookstore asked if I would moderate a book club discussion of the book Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor. It's a story in a story that mixes sci-fi and literary fiction genres. It was a complex read, and I woke up the day of book club with a tension headache, but it turned out to be a really excellent discussion. It was the kind of book club that warmed my heart with a lot of participation that generated some really great insights.
00:00:48
Kristin Paulin
I definitely walked away with some interesting new views of the book, and as I'm always saying, i just love book clubs, and that's just another example of why. Also
Debut Author Spotlight: Marisa Walls
00:00:59
Kristin Paulin
in February, I attended an author talk for a debut author Marisa Walz and her book, Good Intentions. It's a slow-burn, psychological suspense novel that questions if good people can do bad things.
00:01:14
Kristin Paulin
It was great to meet this new author and hear about her journey to becoming a published author. You can see my post about this on Instagram. And Marisa is working on her second book now, and I'm really looking forward to that.
Current Reads: Mystery and Suspense
00:01:27
Kristin Paulin
And as far as currently reading, right now I'm reading a book called Just Another Missing Person by thriller author Gillian McAllister. And now let's shift into the topic of the day, bookish travel. So a few months ago, my mom sent me a newspaper clipping about people that plan trips totally around a book.
00:01:46
Kristin Paulin
And that sounds fun, but I personally prefer to incorporate bookish things into a more varied trip. And some of you may prefer something totally different from that. And the point is, That is your vacation. And if you want to incorporate your love of books into the trip, it should be in whatever way makes you happy.
00:02:05
Kristin Paulin
I've come up with a
Creative Book-Inspired Travel Ideas
00:02:06
Kristin Paulin
list of eight ideas of how to incorporate your love of books into your next trip. One, in the lead up to your trip, you could read a book set in the place that you're going. This could add excitement to the preparation for your trip.
00:02:21
Kristin Paulin
Two, you could bring a book on your trip that matches the vibe. Bring a beach read to Cancun. Bring a book set in the woods on a camping trip. You get the idea.
00:02:32
Kristin Paulin
Number while visiting a museum, historical attraction, or some other significant local spot, buy a book about the place from the gift shop. When I went to the Cana Island Lighthouse in Door County, Wisconsin last summer, bought several books at their gift shop. One example is a book about Great Lakes Lighthouses that I gave to my dad as a Christmas gift.
00:02:56
Kristin Paulin
Number four, visit a local bookstore. You knew this would be on the list, right? I advocate for supporting local bookstores, and that includes ones in places that I visit.
00:03:08
Kristin Paulin
And number five, visit a local library. This can be an architectural attraction. I know I visited the New York Public Library on 5th Ave for architecture.
00:03:19
Kristin Paulin
And, okay, it was also the location of Carrie and Big's wedding that didn't happen in the first Sex the City movie, but I also just enjoyed the beautiful architecture of the historic building.
00:03:34
Kristin Paulin
Six, there are a growing number of bookstore cafes. Sometimes it's coffee, sometimes it's wine, sometimes it's both. It can be a fun way to get a drink or make a quick coffee stop while also checking out the local selection of books and supporting a bookstore.
00:03:52
Kristin Paulin
7. Take some downtime and read your book in a beautiful spot or a cafe. i like to take a book and find a spot to watch the sunset with either a glass of wine or an ice cream. And it could also be fun just to take a book to a coffee shop where you can sit outside and watch the local fashion or just the vibe of the city that you're visiting.
00:04:14
Kristin Paulin
and eight, finally, you can visit a location from a book. And I'm going expand on this a bit more in a moment.
Planning a Literary London Adventure
00:04:23
Kristin Paulin
I am massively lucky to be going on a trip to London in a few days, and here are some of the bookish things that I'm planning to do on my trip.
00:04:31
Kristin Paulin
First, I'm taking a day trip to Bletchley Park, which is inspired by Kate Quinn's book, The Rose Code. The Rose Code is a historical fiction novel based on the women codebreakers in World War II at Bletchley Park. On the grounds today, there's a museum and heritage attraction. They have immersive exhibits. The buildings are restored. There's interactive displays, all to tell the story of the code breakers and their machines, including something called the Colossus Computer.
00:05:01
Kristin Paulin
And there are also other exhibits at Bletchley Park right now. There's even one about AI in our lives today. And then I'm also planning to visit the huge five-floor bookstore called Foyles.
00:05:15
Kristin Paulin
I'm hoping to either find a UK edition of a book that I love, the covers differ between countries, or to maybe find a book that was published in the UK but isn't yet published in the US.
00:05:27
Kristin Paulin
I also plan to visit another book place called Cecil Court. This is the street of almost all bookstores. There is one store I have my eye on in particular, and it's called Goldsboro Books, and it specializes in signed first editions.
00:05:45
Kristin Paulin
And then there is a place called Book Bar with two locations, one in Islington and one in Chelsea. And i think I'm planning to go to the one in Chelsea. It's a bookstore.
00:05:58
Kristin Paulin
It's a wine bar. It's a coffee shop. And it's an event space. I seek these out when I go places because I call it reconnaissance missions because one day i hope to have a bookstore slash wine bar of my own as a second career.
00:06:15
Kristin Paulin
And then finally, i learned the neighborhood in London where I once lived called Camberwell has a bookstore now called La La Books. I also saw that they highlight a book that was written by a local resident about Camberwell. And I definitely would like to go to this bookstore to buy that book so I can add it to my growing collection of books about my old neighborhood, Camberwell.
00:06:37
Kristin Paulin
So that's what I have planned for my trip. Let's see if I can fit it all in or not. I'll let you know after I return.
Reading Plans for London Trip
00:06:45
Kristin Paulin
And then I wanted to end this episode talking about my reading intentions until the next time we meet. So I leave for London on Wednesday, and sometimes I get extra reading done on trips, and sometimes I get much less done. So let's see how this goes. The flight is long, and I do anticipate staying awake the entire flight back home since it'll be during the daytime. So I think I'm going to get at least a solid eight hours of reading and on the flight home.
00:07:11
Kristin Paulin
And my current read, Just Another Missing Person, is for a long-running book club with a few friends of mine that we affectionately call the GOAT Book Club. And it's a way that we've all been able to stay connected as our lives change. I think we've had this book club for right around 10 years. And we even took a book club trip together to Florence, Italy 2023.
00:07:34
Kristin Paulin
And after that, I'm looking forward to reading Kate Quinn's new book, The Astral Library, as a buddy read with my friend Jen. We did a buddy read earlier in the year as well, and it's something I really enjoyed.
00:07:46
Kristin Paulin
I have read all of Kate Quinn's historical fiction books and loved each of them. And I'm really curious to see this deviation into magical realism.
00:07:58
Kristin Paulin
And then I have a few book clubs coming up for books that I read quite a long time ago. So I'm planning to try to refresh my memory of these books, probably by trying to re-listen to them.
00:08:10
Kristin Paulin
This includes Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto and Anatomy of an Alibi by Ashley Elston.
Conclusion and Audience Engagement
00:08:23
Kristin Paulin
And that's it for today. Thank you for listening. If you liked the episode, please tell a friend. In the meantime, you can find me on Instagram at Kristen's Next Chapter, all one word.
00:08:34
Kristin Paulin
I'd love to hear from you. Do you include bookish activities when you travel? Are you inspired to try any of the ideas we talked about today? Whatever you prefer, happy reading and happy traveling.