Guest post written by Wrong Answers Only author Tobias Madden
Originally from Ballarat, Australia, Tobias now resides in New York City with his husband, Daniel, and their Cavoodle, Ollie. Tobias worked for ten years as a performer, touring Australia and New Zealand with musicals such as Mary Poppins, CATS, and Guys and Dolls.
In 2019, he edited and published the Underdog anthology and co-wrote the cabaret show Siblingship. Tobias’s debut novel, Anything But Fine, was published in 2021, and was awarded the Australian Association of Family Therapy’s Book Award for Older Readers, was shortlisted for the Australian Book Industry Awards Book of the Year for Older Readers, was named one of Better Reading’s Top 50 Kids Books (2022), and was included on Bank Street College of Education’s list of Best Children’s Books of the Year (US, 2023). His second novel, Take a Bow, Noah Mitchell, was published in 2022 in Australia and 2023 in the US. Tobias’s third YA novel, Wrong Answers Only, is out now in Australia and the US!
One of the many things I love most about reading is that it allows you to travel literally anywhere in the universe—or to another universe entirely—from the comfort of your couch, or bed, or beach towel. Books open doors to other worlds and elicit a special kind of wanderlust that, I believe, can only be conjured by turning a page. So, to help with your literary exploration, here are seven books that will take you to extraordinary places …
Wrong Answers Only by Tobias Madden (me!)
Fancy taking a cruise to nine of the most iconic, idyllic ports in the Mediterranean? Want to taste some tapas in Barcelona? Sample some snails in Toulon? Throw in some family secrets, best friend drama, and hot gay guys making questionable decisions, and this book really is the all-you-can-eat buffet you’ve been waiting for!
The Guncle Abroad by Steven Rowley
If you fancy a trip to Europe without the teen angst, you should definitely sign up for The Guncle Abroad. You’ll get to tour some of Europe’s hottest locales with everyone’s favorite witty guncle and his precious (precocious?) niece and nephew. This whirlwind family getaway is sure to warm your heart.
The Expanse Series by James S.A. Corey
If the freezing cold of deep space is more your speed, than take a tour of the outer reaches of the solar system in this epic sci-fi saga. Launching with Leviathan Wakes, this brilliant, nine-book series takes readers all the way from Earth to the moons of Jupiter and far, far beyond. It is mind-bending and utterly breathtaking.
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Speaking of mind-bending, why not let Susanna Clarke personally guide you through Piranesi’s house—labyrinthine, infinite, full of marble statues, and periodically flooded by a vast, inexplicable sea. Is there anything beyond the walls of house? Is there anyone else in the world but Piranesi and the Other? Well, you’ll just have to visit to find out!
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
If you like the sound of marble statues but you’d like a little more star-crossed gay romance thrown in, why not head back to Greece and spend some time with our dear friends Achilles and Patroclus? This book will make you feel like you’re sipping wine and breaking bread with the Grecian armies as they lay siege to Troy. Oh, and you’ll be crying the whole time. I should probably mention that…
Midnight Library by Matt Haig
If you’re not afraid of a good cry, you might also want to pick up this global bestseller. You’ll travel with Nora to the Midnight Library and, from there, to alternate lives all over the world as our protagonist tries to right her wrongs and find her perfect life. But is there such a thing? And does the Library have the answers?
The Bump by Sidney Karger
Wyatt and Biz certainly don’t have the answers, but they do have a baby on the way imminently, so they need to get their shit together. Surely a babymoon road trip from NYC to California will give them the time and space to figure everything out before there’s a little one begging for their attention at every minute of every day… Right? Well, no, not exactly, but it makes for one hell of a trip!
