Travel the World in Books Readathon 2015: An Introduction Post

I'm Talitha (known online mostly as ~Litha Nelle) and I live in Idaho in the US. Before that I lived in Montana (for about 21 years). I've never been outside the United States, and I've only visited six states in my near vicinity. I have health issues that make travelling irksome. That's why I originally started reading books set in all the places I haven't been. Eventually, even books set in the United States became monotonous, so when I started blogging and saw this readathon, I instantly knew it was for me.

Although I typically read fantasy, sci-fi, and historical fiction, I will occasionally have my interest piqued by a contemporary or nonfiction volume. I've found the farther/further the plot is from my experience of things (living in a predominately Caucasian, rural-ish area in the US) the more I like the book. Any animals included in the book are always a major plus, as I'm a proud owner of two dogs, and more recently, a Siamese mix cat.

As for reading, I use my Kindle Fire much of the time, but I still crave the feeling of paper books. I wish we had a decent bookstore in my little city, but apparently even college cities can lack for real books. I read in bed, as the pets don't pester me as much there. I haven't narrowed down my choices for this readathon, as I have so many of them I get indecisive. Hopefully I'll start reading something set somewhere faraway soon.

My favorite recent reads set in other countries include:

"The Third Son" by Julie Wu (set in Taiwan)

"The Lady and the Panda: The True Adventures of the First American Explorer to Bring Back China's Most Exotic Animal" by Vicki Constantine Croke (takes place in China)

"The Pianist" by Władysław Szpilman (takes place in Poland)

"Breath, Eyes, Memory" by Edwidge Danticat (set in Haiti)

Well, that's about everything you need to know about me for this readathon. Please be advised I don't think I'm a vampire, I just decided to masquerade as one on the blog for the month of October, when I do mini reviews of short spooky stories. I don't bite... often.

                             Happy bookish travels!