Best Books to Inspire Your Next Adventure

Travel Through Books

Sometimes it may not be possible to travel- for me January and February are the slower months of the year. However, I have always loved being able to travel through books. When I am feeling the travel bug or wanderlust, I grab a book. Not to mention, reading has so many benefits for your mental health, to fuel creativity and feed your mind.

In this blog, you will find my favorite books I have ever read that transported me right out of my home and to places where I eventually end up traveling to! I hope you can find a good book to enjoy.

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1. Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy

If you like a book that’s thrilling with some mystery mixed with a love of nature, this book is perfect for you. The book is based in Scotland and features the main character’s passion to save the wolves and heal the dying landscape. When a farmer is found dead, she knows the wolves will be blamed- and she understands what will happen to them. This book reminded me of my love for the North Shore of Minnesota area. I visited the International Wolf Center in Ely, MN and this book tied in well with my experience and my love for the Northwoods.

Favorite Quote: “And when you open your heart to rewilding a landscape, the truth is, you’re opening your heart to rewilding yourself.”

If you love this book, check out my North Shore Minnesota blogs to find beautiful places to explore!

2. A History of Wild Places by Shea Ernshaw

I enjoy mystery, and this book was full of it! The story is featured in a reclusive community founded in 1970s by people looking for a simpler way of life. However, people on the outside of the commune who happen to stumble up it just so happen to…disappear. You’ll have to read it to see what happens!

Favorite Quote: There is no history in a place until we make it, until you live a life worth remembering.

3. Music of the Deep by Elizabeth Hall

A mysterious young woman shows up in a small coastal town located in Washington state. As people uncover the truths to why she traveled there, old mysteries from the past come up in their own lives. Trigger warning for domestic violence.

Favorite Quote: “The music had carried her away, to another time and another place, when she was young and in love and the future still sparkled with possibility.”

4. The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave

Hannah’s husband goes missing, leaving behind a note for his wife to protect his daughter, who has nothing to do with her. As time goes on, US Marshalls show up at their Saulsilto home and she realized he is not who he said he was. If you like crazy plot twists, this is for you!

Favorite Quote: “He never understood that I wasn’t scared of someone leaving me, I was scared that the wrong person would stay.”

5. Places We’ve Never Been by Kasie West

Norah Simon leaves the desert heat of California with her childhood friend Skyler for mountain views. While on the road trip, she starts realizing her feelings for him. Despite a rocky start, as the trip goes, sparks fly between the two. If you like romance and adventure, this is a great pick!

Favorite Quote: “But failure in life is inevitable. It’s only a problem if we let it keep us from progressing.”

6. The Confidence of Wildflowers by Micalea Smeltzer

Eighteen year old Salem Matthews feels lost- like she doesn’t have all the answers in life she had thought she would have. When 31 year-old Thayer Holmes, a divorced father of a 6 year old, moves in next door. Right away, she becomes drawn to Thayer as she gets to know more about him. Trigger warning for death, cancer and child sexual abuse.

Favorite Quote: “Wildflowers are strong. Resilient. They can grow under most conditions I want to be like that. I want to have the confidence of wildflowers —to never give up, to flourish, and thrive.”

7. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Whether you have seen the movie on Netflix yet or not, the book is worth the read! For many years, the “Marsh Girl” haunted a small North Carolina coastal town. Two young men from the town get to know Kya, The Marsh girl, and Kya opens herself up to a new life- but tragedy strikes. Trigger warning for sexual abuse.

Favorite Quote: “Time is no more fixed than the stars. Time speeds and bends around planets and suns, is different in the mountains than in the valleys, and is part of the same fabric as space, which curves and swells as does the sea.”

8. Like Streams to the Ocean by Jedidiah Jenkins

As someone who likes to travel, I appreciate that this book merges the love of adventure in the world with adventure within yourself. This book explores eight areas of all of our lives that hold the most meaning: love, family, home, work, death, ego, friendship and the soul. Our fulfillment doesn’t come from things we have but from the people and places around us.

“Have you noticed how when someone says, “My first impression of you was…,” you perk up with wild interest? We want to meet ourselves.

9. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed

After losing everything that meant the world to her, Cheryl Strayed decides to hike the Pacific Crest Trail-from the Mojave Desert in California through Oregon and Washington- alone. She finds out that all is not lost after all. I love this book because the theme is healing. If you are on a similar journey, this is for you!

“Alone had always felt like an actual place to me, as if it weren’t a state of being, but rather a room where I could retreat to be who I really was.”

If you love the Pacific Northwest, check out my 6 day itinerary for Oregon or Gualala, California!

10. I Would Leave Me if I Could by Ashley Frangipane (Halsey)

Famous singer and songwriter, known as Halsey, released this poetry book a couple of years ago- and I am still obsessed! She covers raw, difficult topics such as drug use, abusive relationships, poor self image and feeling lost in your own body. I really cant say enough how much I would recommend this book to anyone!

“I spent a long time watering a plant made out of plastic, and I cursed the ground for growing green.”

BONUS: Shipwreck by Janessa Jandt

I had to take this opportunity to share a little bit about my poetry collection, Shipwreck. I am so very proud of this book because it’s ripped from pages of my diaries written throughout my twenties. From music festivals, to the Pacific Northwest coast to North Shore of Minnesota, writing poetry helped me to cope. My book is about the metamorphis of becoming who you are meant to be. I divided my poems into three sections: The caterpillar, the chrysalis and the butterfly. I cover topics of mental health, body image, toxic relationships, pollution, motherhood and healing.

A big thank you to everyone who has supported me by purchasing a copy of my book. I am forever grateful!

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