Travelling the world is one of the best things one can do in life, even if it's becoming more and more expensive to hop on a plane, boat or any other automobile to a far-off location. It's all too easy to feel particularly crummy about being unable to go jet-setting, which is why we thought we'd offer you lovely folk a much more attainable (not to mention, a whole heap cheaper) alternative: getting cosy on the couch and reading some nifty novels set in neat places across the globe. 

From sunny Mexico to frosty Iceland, these eight novels will take you on an all-expenses-paid trip all over the planet, and here's the best bit: you can wear your pajamas the whole time! Cast your peepers onto our recommendations below. 

ICELAND: SAGA LAND – RICHARD FIDLER This 2018 book follows the journey of author Richard Fidler travelling to Iceland alongside his friend and fellow author, Kári Gíslason, to explore the landscape and navigate it's association to classic Icelandic myths. These sagas –that included hidden elves, badass witches and spooky ghosts – are placed within this book next to Fidler's written travels across the land, making this read just as informative as it is just a plain old good fun. 

CALIFORNIA: TEHRANGLES: A NOVEL – POROCHISTA KHAKPOUR Pack your bags and make sure to bring your flashiest sunnies, since we're hopping by the sun-soaked shores of star-studded L.A. and venturing smack-bang into the world of the uber-wealthy and Iranian-American Milani family. This 2024 novel has everything you'd want in a novel set in arguably the most cosmopolitan city on the planet: drama, family secrets and even an aloof Persian cat, so give it a read whenever you get the chance. 

SOUTH KOREA: WINTER IN SOKCHO – ELISA SHUA DUSAPIN Set in the real-life town, Sokcho, that is bordering South and North Korea, this 2016 wintery novel is just what we need to get lost in whenever the weather inevitably heats up (after all, what's a better way to get through a heatwave by reading about folks making it through a bitter cold?). Winter in Sokcho explores the relationship between our French writer protagonist staying in a Sokcho hotel and a French-Korean woman working at the helpdesk, as well as the idea of shared identities, alienation, intimacy and division. 

MEXICO: THE MURMUR OF BEES – SOFIA SEGOVIA Shed off your coats for this one, this time we're jetting back into the warm weather with this novel set in a small Mexican village. Following the discovery of an abandoned and disfigured baby adorned with a blanket of bees and his subsequent adoption by his landowner parents, the child soon discovers his own ability to see future visions and uses this skill to protect his family and town from threats. It's a heartwarming story packed with magical realism as well as historical anecdotes relating to the Mexican Revolution and the devasting 1918 influenza epidemic, so while it's a great read, we also recommend keeping a box of tissues close by. 

PALESTINE: TREES FOR THE ABSENTEES – AHLAM BSHARAT This novel was first published in 2013 and follows main character Philistia, a University student working at a Turkish bath first built in the Ottoman empire, whose father is imprisoned and lives by the lessons laid out to her by her late grandmother. Philistia then undertakes a trip across her occupied country, discovering Palestine's past and the immeasurable loss felt by it's inhabitants. If you're curious on learning about and reading more books related to Palestine's history, take a gander at our list of resources. 

GHANA: HOMEGOING – YAA GYASI Each chapter in this ace novel features a new descendant from one single Asante woman, first beginning with the births and lives of her two daughters – with one of them eventually marrying a wealthy British man, while another is sold into brutal slavery in Mississippi. Spanning several hundred years across seven generations who are dotted across Ghana and the United States, this intimate novel explores the impact of slavery had on these two countries, and is searing, sober and absolutely impactful. 

IRELAND: ALL THE BAD APPLES – MOIRA FOWLEY-DOYLE If juicy family secrets, curses and mystery set within the atmospheric Irish countryside just so happens to be your cup of tea, then we recommend giving this 2019 novel a crack whenever you get the chance. Following the coming out of main character Deena to her family as well as the sudden death of her sister, this novel explores how and why each of the women in Deena's family are 'cursed', and therefore she goes on a cross-country trek across Ireland to find out the secrets hidden within her family tree. We also recommend reading this cracker of a novel on a moody, rainy evening to really set the mood. 

UKRAINE: A SHORT HISTORY OF TRACTORS IN UKRAINIAN – MARIANA LEWYCKA Sisters Vera and Nadezhda are gob-smacked when their eighty-four-year-old father becomes engaged to thirty-six-year-old buxom blonde, and after the two begin a campaign to bring this engagement to an end they soon realise their family's roots are a lot darker than they thought. It'll make you laugh, gasp, tear up and then laugh again, so if you're after a nuanced yet hilarious take on Ukrainian history and culture, this 2017 novel is right up your alley. 

We hope you enjoyed our list on quick reads. While we have you, why not take a gander at some historical fiction novels or novels to read if you ever need a pick-me-up?