Let Emma Roberts Plan Your Vacation With Her Favorite Travel Books
Emma Roberts is helping travelers trade in their beach-y vacation reads for some thrilling, urban travel adventure novels this summer.
The American Horror Story actress, 33, also runs an online reading community BELLETRIST, that is partnering with the European train ticket booking app Trainline to create a list of reading recommendations for the traveler who might be considering exploring Europe instead of Florida this summer.
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Roberts’ list, “The Reading Route,” features her 10 favorite books based in some of the most popular destinations in Europe this summer, including London, Paris and Barcelona.
“Reading has always been transformative for me, and there’s nothing more exhilarating than losing yourself in a great book, especially while exploring picturesque towns and cities abroad,” Roberts said in a statement shared with PEOPLE.
“By partnering with Trainline, I was able to combine my passions for travel and reading to curate a diverse selection of train reads for lovers of all book genres,” she added. “My goal is that people will find inspiration and excitement in these books and, perhaps, even draw inspiration for their next European adventure.”
‘The Midnight Library’ by Matt Haig
In this No. 1 New York Times bestseller, British protagonist Nora Seed finds herself faced with the choices she’s made over the course of her life — and the relationships she’s forged (and lost) along the way — when she finds herself in a mysterious library that serves as a place between life and death.
Nora is given the opportunity to see what might be different in her life based on each choice she makes — many of which involve traveling around the world to locales including Australia and Norway — and also most decide whether she is going to live or die.
‘Beautiful Ruins’ by Jess Walter
Made up in part of letters, screenplays and novels written by the book’s characters, Beautiful Ruins tells the satirical story of a Hollywood love affair between actors that spans across the world — including locales like Los Angeles, Edinburgh, Florence, Portland and many more. It spans the decades too, from the 1960s to 50 years later.
‘The Imperfectionists’ by Tom Rachman
Set against the backdrop of Italy, Rachman’s story is all too familiar to any writer struggling against the downfall of print media. The Imperfectionists follows the staff of a once-renowned international English-language newspaper as they attempt to keep their crumbling publication — not to mention their personal lives — afloat.
Through the eyes of the paper’s political reporters and international correspondents, readers get a glimpse into the cosmopolitan wolds of Paris, Cairo and the paper’s Rome headquarters.
‘A Moveable Feast’ by Ernest Hemingway
Hemingway’s classic memoir, originally published after his death in 1964, gives readers a candid glimpse into the writer’s life as he struggled as a novelist and journalist set against the romantic-yet-lonely backdrop of Paris in the 1920s.
‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’ by Patricia Highsmith
After its adaptation into a 1999 movie starring Matt Damon, Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow, this classic is sure to have appeared on your coastal summer-inspired Pinterest boards.
The Talented Mr. Ripley follows a mysterious scam artist through sophisticated European locales (including the fictional town of Mongibello, based on Positano, Italy) as he becomes obsessed with his friend and wealthy shipping heir Dickie.
‘The Sleeper’ by Emily Barr
In this psychological thriller, Barr tells the story of Lara Finch, as she becomes increasingly bored with her life as a married woman in Cornwall, U.K. and begins an illicit affair after accepting a new job in London that requires her to commute to London by sleeper train.
But when she vanishes without a trace, her friend and confidant Iris sets out across the globe to find out what truly happen to Lara — and uncover the details surrounding her friend’s secretive past.
‘My Husband’ by Maud Ventura
In this funny and satirical thriller, written originally in French, a woman with a seemingly good, normal life spends her days obsessing over her husband day in and day out — whether he wants her to or not.
‘The Shadow of the Wind’ by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Set in Barcelona in 1945, The Shadow of the Wind follows book dealer Daniel as he takes solace in a semi-rare book by an author named Julian Carax, after the war and the death of his mother.
But after he discovers that someone is destroying every single copy of Carax’s books, one by one, he sets out to stop this mysterious figure — and finds himself embroiled in a world of murder, love and mystery.
‘The Dud Avocado’ by Elaine Dundy
Originally published in 1958, this novel that sits on the New York Review of Books classics list tells the story of young woman from the U.S. who travels to Paris in the late 1950s, as she attempts to find love and navigate the hijinks that come with young adulthood.
‘Girl, Woman, Other’ by Bernardine Evaristo
Girl, Woman, Other follows 12 different characters across years and across the U.K. as they deal with love, life, families and work, often from the perspective of Black British womanhood and the characters’ unique perspectives on life — including everyone from from non-binary influencers to 93-year-old farmers, playwrights to teachers and investment bankers to housekeepers.
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