Hello, book lovers! Your librarian here — and I know exactly the feeling you’re looking for.
You don’t just want a good book. You want to leave. You want to close your eyes, open the first page, and be somewhere completely different — a different country, a different century, maybe even a different world. You want the kind of reading experience where someone says your name three times before you hear them.
These three books will do that. They’re all propulsive, vivid, and completely consuming. Pick one and disappear.
1. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Between life and death, there is a library. Nora Seed finds herself there — with the chance to try the lives she never lived, undo the regrets she’s carried, and discover which version of herself is the one worth living. Each book on the shelf contains a different life. She has until the library closes to choose.
Why It’s Perfect When You’re Adventure-Hungry: This one transports you in a completely different way — not to a place, but through lives. It’s propulsive in the way the best thrillers are, but what’s at stake is something richer: who we choose to be. Haig writes with a lightness that makes even the heaviest themes feel navigable. If you want to be somewhere else entirely, this book gives you infinite elsewheres.
What to Expect: Emotionally immersive and genuinely difficult to put down. It’s not a thriller but it reads like one — you’ll find yourself burning through chapters wanting to know what Nora chooses next. Equal parts thought-provoking and warmly hopeful. One of those books people press into the hands of their friends.
2. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
Four retirees at a peaceful English village retirement community meet every Thursday to solve cold cases — just for fun. When a real murder lands on their doorstep, they see an opportunity they can’t resist. They might just be the most unexpected detective quartet in fiction.
Why It’s Perfect When You’re Adventure-Hungry: This book is an absolute joy from first page to last. The English village setting is gorgeous and specific, the characters are immediately lovable (and surprisingly sharp), and the mystery is genuinely well-constructed — not just cosy decoration. If you want to feel like you’ve been whisked somewhere charming where interesting things are happening, this is it.
What to Expect: Warm, funny, and genuinely clever. The four main characters — in their seventies and eighties — are among the most entertaining protagonists in recent crime fiction. This is the book equivalent of a perfect summer afternoon: easy and satisfying, with more going on underneath than it first appears. Perfect for readers who want the escape without the anxiety of a dark thriller.
3. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
After her son’s disappearance years ago, Tova Sullivan finds solace in her night-shift job cleaning an aquarium. There she strikes up an unlikely friendship with Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus with a surprisingly perceptive view of the humans around him — including Tova. A young man named Cameron is also searching for something, and their paths are about to intersect in ways none of them could predict.
Why It’s Perfect When You’re Adventure-Hungry: It sounds quiet but it moves. The mystery at the center pulls you forward, the aquarium setting is genuinely transportive, and Marcellus the octopus is one of the most surprisingly compelling narrators in recent fiction. This is the summer book for readers who want something a little different — immersive and warm and just a bit magical, without being fantasy.
What to Expect: Gently propulsive with an emotional gut-punch waiting at the end. The alternating perspectives — human and octopus — keep the pacing lively, and Van Pelt builds to a resolution that earns every tear. If you want a book that will make you feel like you’ve been somewhere and come back changed, this is it.
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More of a reflective summer reader? See the quiet reads list →
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