A comment made online in the wake of the recent tragedy in Paris stated how very much the commenter wished to return to Paris—now more than ever. It made me stop and think. While surely nothing can take the place of a for-real trip to Paris—or Greece or the Himalayas or Fiji, or, closer to home, the Grand Canyon, L.A., New York, or wherever it is your heart yearns to wander, a book can “take us to Paris”—or, for that matter, 18th century London, a trip that isn’t even possible in real life, at least until someone invents a time machine.

Your local library and bookstore are filled with books that can take you to far-off places, and even to other times.

Some of these are fiction. Some are nonfiction. Criss-cross London of the past as you read Sherlock Holmes, or buy (or check out from the library) a gorgeously illustrated book of photographs of Tahiti, from beaches to marvelous sunsets.

Is it Paris you’re longing for? Read about the part France played in WW II, or find an old copy of Paul Gallico’s Mrs. ’Arris Goes to Paris or one of the myriad other novels set in France, or buy a book of French cookery, or read a biography of Charles deGaulle.

Visit the Egyptian Pyramids, see China or Spain or Morocco—and if the book you buy or borrow isn’t illustrated, you can still see the sights in your mind’s eye. Histories, biographies, travelogues, and other nonfiction that deals with the place you’re jonesing to visit, or fiction that’s set in a place you’ve always wanted to see—or one you’ve already visited once and would love to go back to again.

The venue needn’t be exotic or foreign, either. Take a “book trip” to anywhere up and down the Atlantic coastline, to the Rockies of Colorado or the iciest stretches of Alaska, replete with moose and seals, glaciers and crevasses, and home to the Northern Lights. Travel across the country on a 19th century train and visit the authentic Wild West. Dig for clams, fish for salmon, or climb Mt. McKinley.

Books can take you to all these places and more, and help you envision participating in all these activities and many others, besides. Books offer adventure and a chance to see the world without having to spring for an airline ticket, schedule time off work, or even pack a suitcase.

The next time you have an urge to travel, visit a bookseller, be it a bricks-and-mortar store or an online retailer, or go to the library and peruse the stacks, perhaps with the help of a friendly librarian.

Then take a trip. Is it merely coincidence that we talk about “booking a trip”? Travel by book. Where do you want to go? Do it today.