ABOUT ME
Get to know me!
Dear Lover of Books, Travel, and Quiet Spaces:
My name is Cheryl but call me CeCi (the abbreviated version of my full name). I am a reader, storyteller, and creative writer who finds peace and comfort in books and literary travel. I am also a semi-recluse who found restoration in travel.
Reading became an important part of my life when, once upon a time, as a child hidden in a shelter and surrounded by war in Liberia, West Africa, I breathed the oxygen of books. Back then I traveled to many places from my mat on the floor and a book in my face, so when I could, I made travel a reality. My life now is a testament to how reading can form a foundation for a child and keep a person grounded during troubling times. I have lived a nomadic lifestyle in two continents and six American States, traveled to numerous places, explored many high-level career paths, dealt with losses and chronic illnesses, but my reading path has remained my constant.
I hope the information here inspires you to find your reading retreat in any corner of the world, even if it is from your bed or couch.
Follow Me:
Some of the Places Reading Has Taken Me
Reading Destinations
Madrid and Barcelona are Spain’s great cities with very different rhythms. Madrid is vibrant with classic undertones, and Barcelona is more Mediterranean and regional. I learned to cook Paella in Barcelona. In Sitges, a coastal Mediterranean town south of Barcelona, I stayed at a quiet hotel, read David Boling’s Guernica, visited the beaches lined with artwork, walked the streets idly, and truly inhaled.
Malta
Malta is a small island nation with cities of honey-colored limestone. It is a blend of European, North African, and British influences. With its honey-yellow hues by day and pale gold hues by dusk, Malta has the perfect backdrop for poetry reading. In Valletta, I took the honey-colored limestone Barrakka Lift to the famous Upper Barrakka Gardens, where you get a stunning view of the island and its gorgeous blue water.
Portugal’s culture is shaped by centuries of exchange with Africa through migration. I enjoyed observing this through architecture and diasporic spaces. But Lisbon speaks of poetry. And in Lisbon, my stay was poetic. I traced the steps of Portugal’s famous writer, Fernando Pessoa. I people-watched from Café A Brasileira, joined writers for lunch and readings at Grémio Literário, and read The Book of Disquiet and 28 Portuguese Poets on the banks of the Tagus River, from Praça do Comércio.
Visiting Italy was a tour de force. In Messina, I tasted Italy’s rich 1870 coffee at a quaint cafe and read Natalia Ginzburg’s The City and the House. In Rome, I saw the Colosseum and took a day trip to Vatican City. In Tuscany, I spent some time in Pisa, visiting the UNESCO World Heritage site, Piazza del Duomo and the Leaning Tower of Pisa. In Avellino, I rode through small towns, read Whereabouts, by Jhumpa Lahiri, and joined a tasting of the famous Greco di Tufo wine of the Italian Campania region.
The islands of Greece are sublime. Imagine reading alongside ancient ruins, Byzantine churches, weathered villages. Imagine words quieting your mind enough to observe donkeys, yes, donkeys, transporting people up hundreds of ancient steps in Santorini. Athens, with its history, is the best place to try and tackle the famous classic, The Odyssey. Generally, Greece is a great place to read contemplative literature.
France
Paris is literary haven. I picnicked with a group of writers in the beautiful Luxembourg Gardens. I bought a secondhand copy of The First Man, by Albert Camus, and read at a cafe. I ate mussels and drank chilled Sancerre outdoors on one of the hottest July days Paris had ever seen. I visited Shakespeare & Company, walked the Left Bank, near the Seine, and read Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast and Baldwin’s No Name in the Street. In Épernay and Mutigny, I explored the champagne countryside and read Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Times.
My Story
Reading & Traveling Abroad
The Story of this Blog
For years, I shied away from social media. During Covid, my onset of writer’s block began. For any person who was once secluded in a war compound for two years, unable to leave, an event like a major lockdown becomes a trigger. I started writing with the #5amwritersclub on Twitter. It helped temporarily. Soon, leaving the house became difficult. Our move as a family across states became even more painful. I began to read more. My reading helped me choose travel. Travel helped me experience the world again. Reading helped me view the world differently. This blog adds the travel experiences I have kept in journals, until now. This blog is also a challenge to me to get out and see the world. There are special places and special books that have made a mark on the world and shown us something we did not know. I hope to read most of them and share my reading experiences with you.
Traveling Europe Since 2015
How I Got Started Traveling and Reading
In 2007, I married my law school sweetheart in a destination wedding to Hawaii. Since then, we have lived in six states for his nomadic career, and we have traveled to different places in the United States and abroad every year, on our anniversary, to celebrate love and life. I always have a book or three in my purse or carryon, and hundreds on my e-reader or audiobook contraption. In 2011, I started a personal library collection of books and am proud to own hundreds of books from around the world. In 2012, I started reviewing the books I read on Goodreads, and I built a community of like-minded bookaholics.
I am also a creative writer who treasures words and literary spaces. I love books so much I took two years of graduate school to obtain an MFA in the literary arts. I have been reading and annotating books more carefully since 2012 and some of my goodreads reviews have helped others read obscure works. I read mostly literary fiction, literary nonfiction, the classics, and poetry. I have connected with bibliophiles around the world, and I hope to connect with you.
As if I don’t own enough books, this year, my challenge is to visit more libraries and bookstores in new cities; to plan personal reading retreats with books; to find literary spaces that ignite the creative soul. Life can be challenging and sometimes planning to read can be challenging, so I hope my journey encourages another reader to find their peace in the world of books.
Why Read and Retreat Around the World
My Experience as a Writer
I wrote about my first solo travel experience and literary trail to Lisbon, Portugal (2025) for the Chicago Quarterly Review’s 25th Anniversary print edition. My essays, fiction, and poetry have been published in The Common, a literary magazine based at Amherst College, Hawai’i Pacific Review, the literary journal of Hawaii Pacific University, Ocean State Review, the literary journal published by the University of Rhode Island, Forbes, and more. My essay has been anthologized in South Writ Large, an anthology published by the University of North Carolina Press. I am humbled to have been a MacDowell Fellow in Literature and an Edith-Wharton-Writer-in-Residence.
How To Start Your Reading and Retreat Journey
If you are a kindred spirit, someone who appreciates books and travel, please start by subscribing to my newsletter. To build your literary reading habits, start with “The Core Shelf.” And if you don’t have a true companion in life as you navigate challenging times, know that once you start reading around the world, you will always have a companion in a book, an inspiration to travel, and a community of book lovers to support your reading pursuits.
What to Expect
What will you find here?
Travel Inspiration
Get inspired by a hotel, cafe, shop, bookstore, country, or city that complements your reading and encourages you to get out and see the world.
Reading and Literary Inspiration
Be challenged to read widely, to create your own reading challenge from our lists, and to expand your understanding of how reading can change your life.
Reading and Retreat Guides
Let Read to Retreat guides help you plan your private reading retreat or attend a reading retreat.
Book Recommendations
Find the book that suits you from our short book reviews and recommendations as we experience reading around the world.