Do you make plans around eagerly awaited new books from your favorite author? If so, do you look forward to them more than “normal” vacations? Or maybe you combine the two, planning actual travel vacations AROUND the release of a new book.
For me, pretty much any book I haven’t read is a “new” book, but there is actually one coming out this fall that I’ve been looking forward to for a year or more. Running this website / Destination Read blog is making me consider planning to take time off specifically to read this book. Maybe even get a room for the book and myself for a couple nights.
Anticipation is a scientifically-proven key to happiness; looking forward to something we want to do — a trip, for example — boosts our well-being. I conceived Destination Reading and set up DestinationReading.blog to focus on making plans to do something and experience a form of travel I actually enjoy: travel through books, and going places with specific plans to read as the primary activity when I arrive. Something both financially accessible that is actually restorative recreation — true R & R (rest and relaxation) for me — that I can look forward to rather than dread with anxiety. Destination reading is an invitation to take the kinds of trips that are actually rewarding breaks for bookworms and neurodivergent folks rather than exhausting work.
Looking forward to new reading material from a writer you already know and love or on a topic you’re passionate about adds an extra layer of positive anticipation to destination reading, like taking a trip with a best friend who is always on the same schedule as you are: hungry when you are, sleepy when you are, and unlikely to pressure you to go on any unexpected expensive excursions.
Pre-ordering a book and having it sent to you or ready to pick up the moment it becomes available is a great way to book a trip in advance.Having a release date that’s determined by the publishers provides a happy container eliminating the need to decide a time on your own to take your vacation, reducing the work and joy-sucking decision fatigue and perfectionism that often come from creating your vacation from a completely blank slate.
The longer you have to wait for this book you’ve been *dying*for, the more time you have time to pack your bags, plan your itinerary, save money, and ideally take time off from work, and really get excited about the prospect of doing something you love.
The book I’m looking forward to is on this list of Big Books of Fall: Most Anticipated New Releases on Goodreads.
It’s been quite a few years since the author has put out a new novel so the anticipation levels are already VERY HIGH. Fans of the writer have been talking about it for quite awhile already.