It's a cliche, but like most cliches, it's a cliche because it's true. Books take you places. You're sitting in your chair at home but your mind is somewhere else completely. We've talked about this before in this blog.
The Long Walk Home by Will North is an example of a book that takes you somewhere very specific, to wit, Northern Wales. This is not a place I know at all, but after reading North's book, I feel as if I do. There's a bed and breakfast (imaginary) that I would love to stay in, and a mountain (real) that I would love to hike. You get a palpable sense of this country, and the way life is lived there, at least on a working farm with the aforementioned bed and breakfast. And if there's any test of how well a book does its job of transporting you, it would be that you come away from the book with a definite resolve that some day, somehow, you have got to visit that place yourself, for real. I'm thinking of a Great Britain and Wales trip maybe next year. Seriously.
Now if only the dollar would rise up a little higher in value against the pound...
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