Visit These Summer Destinations Inspired By Books

Summers call for picking a cozy cool corner at home and relaxing with a great book. With the heat making it impossible to come up with plans, sometimes you have to travel vicariously through the pages of your favourite books. Here is a list of some beautiful fiction novels that promise to whisk you away into the breathtaking locations they are based at.

Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata

This was the novel that awarded author Yasunari Kawabata the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1968. Set during the winter in an onsen (hot spring) town in Japan, the story explores the intense affair of a city man and a geisha. Amidst the desolate beauty of one of the snowiest regions of Japan, Kawabata explores a love that is doomed from the start but whose beauty shines through. The countryside setting would make you want to explore the remote regions of Japan and bask in its nearly abandoned tranquillity. 

Less by Andrew Sean Green

Andrew Sean Greer's 2018 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel takes you on a journey of self-discovery and lots of laughter through different countries. Starting from Morocco to Germany and all the way to India and even Japan, the protagonist, Arthur Less, travels around the world to half-baked literary events to escape facing his heartbreak, and you travel with him. 

Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami

Tokyo's strange allure becomes even more appealing in this Hiromi Kawakami novel that explores the intricacies of loneliness and living away from family as a single adult woman. Through the tender relationship of the protagonist and her Sensei, we witness the bar culture of Tokyo with a hefty helping of delicious food and drinks. As much as the lyrical prose of the novel tugs at your heartstrings, you would want to become a customer at the lead pair's regular haunt, just to sit and hog on all the Japanese delicacies and listen in on their conversations. 

Murder on the Orient Express-Christie 

There isn't anything more exhilarating than flipping through the pages of a fast-paced murder mystery. As you try to guess who the murderer is with the train traversing through the mountainous Balkans, you wish you could be a part of the drama. After being through with this book, you will either want to be riding a train through scenic mountainscapes or just completely steer clear of them. 

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri

Jhumpa Lahiri's impressive collection of short stories oscillates between the bylanes of Kolkata and the well-manicured lawn-bearing neighbourhoods throughout the United States. With the stories of different people and their vastly varied experiences, the book explores the trials and tribulations of being an immigrant and the concept of fitting in. 

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