Bookcation
I read a Forbes article about taking a “bookcation” if you can’t take the real thing. You mentally go to another place for a duration of time—let’s say the weekend—reading travel guides or fiction set in the place and imagining yourself there. I’m assuming you can even extend your bookcation into meals, making food from the place, or peppering in appropriate movies at night.
In week one of the lockdown, this would have been a great idea. (Though at that point, I was collecting ideas and not executing any of them.)
But now we’re in week… six. (I think? Time is funny at the moment.) A bookcation sounds more exhausting than refreshing. And possibly sadness-inducing. Plus, I don’t think I can handle one more good intentioned article putting one more thing on my you-should-do-this list.
I’m now in the stage where I read articles about a possible resurgence of cases in the winter, and I make lists of things I need to do if we have a window of time when we can leave between the first and second surge. I methodically watch a single television show, one episode per day, because I don’t want to have to get to know another cast. (“New” feels tiring at the moment.) I read books. A lot of books. I try to convince the kids they want to play cards with me. That’s about all I can handle at the moment.
But I think if I could muster up the energy for a bookcation, it would be to visit Devonshire. We’d eat scones and read Agatha Christie and look at other people’s photos.
Where would you go?
4 comments
Interesting! I think maybe I’ll finally read Outlander so I can go to Scotland in my mind (since we’re not going there in person anytime soon). Bryce made a great gf haddock fish fry the other day, and I could have some Scotch and watch YouTube travel videos. And pretend my puffin slippers are the real thing? (Okay, feeling what you said, maybe a little more depressing than awesome.)
Devonshire sounds lovely. I would like to visit someday in real life.
I’m not sure where I’d want to go on a “bookcation.” Probably a different era as well as a different place. . . but not the Middle Ages. 🙂
I have been having such a terrible time focusing on reading ANYTHING lately. It’s been terrible. I DID just finish Origin by Dan Brown which takes place in Spain – some place I’ve never been to but always wanted to go to so that was good.
Just about all my books are “bookcations” in that I don’t get to read many books from NZ – simply because of our size – so it is normal for me to read books about foreign places. It’s my escapism. I’ve just been in Australia, and now I’m in Ireland. So I guess I’m puzzled that you say you’re reading lots of books, but then don’t seem to think they fit the category of “fiction from foreign places.” Are they all US-based?
I agree that we shouldn’t put anymore “shoulds” on ourselves if we can’t cope with it. But the joy of travelling through books – or my daily safari which has just started online – helps keep me sane when I haven’t been more than a couple of kms from home in the last five weeks. So I guess is my answer is that I’ll travel anywhere. I love reading about places I know, but also about places I might never get to go.