Wonderful Wednesdays: Escapism

This week I'm participating in a meme hosted by Sam at Tiny Library called Wonderful Wednesdays.



"Wonderful Wednesdays is a meme about spotlighting and recommending some of our most loved books, even if we haven't read them recently.  Each week will have a different theme or genre of book to focus on.

This week's theme is novels set in another country.

I want to hear about the novels that have inspired you and made you want to travel to an exotic location."

This is somewhat similar to the question of last Friday's blog hop, but I'm thinking of it from a slightly different angle. In the blog hop question, I was inspired to visit the setting of the novel-- time and place. In the perspective of this meme's question, I'm looking at a novel that inspired me to want to visit the location, but not necessarily to insert myself into the book.

The difference is not so subtle when you consider how much of my reading is historical fiction. Most of the "places" I read about are irrevocably gone. I'd love to visit London or southern France, but not necessarily because they're featured in my favorite books. It just wouldn't be the same.

However, there is a place that really was not on my radar at all until I read a novel about it, and now, I want to go there very much: Guernsey.

I realize Guernsey will be different from the place described in The Guernsey Literary and Potatoe Peel Pie Society, one of the most delightful books I've read in a long time (reviewed here.) But that doesn't matter. I still want to visit. Photos of the island are so beautiful. It's steeped in history.  Maybe not exotic, but to me, it sounds like an ideal getaway for a relaxing modern-day vacation.

Anybody else crave a vacation?