If you have the choice of going to Alaska or reading about Alaska, read about it. — Annie Dillard
No offense to Alaska, but that was the reminder we got at last week’s James River Writers Writing Show event on research. All of which is to say that whether we’re writing about travel or reading about travel, we’ve got to do the homework. And that sometimes the reading is better than the travel itself. And now, thanks to America’s über-librarian, Nancy Pearl, we have the resources to read right at our fingertips.
You probably recognize Ms. Pearl’s name from NPR’s Morning Edition program, in which she recommends books and talks about the adventure of reading. She was the person responsible for the internationally-acclaimed program, If All of Seattle Read the Same Book. She’s written several helpful and well-researched books: Book Lust and More Book Lust, two volumes of thematic book lists to help answer the question, “What to read next?” There’s also Book Crush, which does the same thing for young adult readers and has a companion journal volume so that kids and teens can write about their favorite books and stay connected with the stories and characters long after the last page has been turned. All good stuff.
Until now, we travel writers and armchair travelers had to search to find stories for our background research or escape reading vis-à-vis the places we wanted to go. But no more. Sasquatch Books has just published Ms. Pearl’s extremely useful and broadly scoped Book Lust To Go: Recommended Reading for Travelers, Vagabonds, and Dreamers. In it, she provides titles and authors of what she considers to be the best of both fiction and non-fiction literature concerning place and the idea vs. the reality of travel. Specific countries (Holland, Nigeria, Turkey), cities (Boston, Hong Kong, Leningrad) or types of travel challenges (train travel, crossing oceans in tiny unmotorized boats, walking in unpredictable places) are all covered in this 300- page treasure trove. I believe it’s a must-have for anybody who’s curious about travel or the art of travel writing.
Of course, I picked it up to see what she recommended for the Italian traveler/travel writer, and I wasn’t disappointed. Moreover, I was delighted to see that I had read many of the volumes she recommends and am also delighted to learn that I have many more to read. Some of my favorites of Ms. Pearl’s recommendations for La Bella Italia are:
Parma: Playing with Pizza (John Grisham) & The Charterhouse of Parma (Stendhal)
Rome: The Seasons of Rome: A Journal (Paul Hoffman)
Sicily: The Leopard (Giuseppe di Lampedusa) & Sicilian Odyssey (Francine Prose)
Venice: Venice Observed (Mary McCarthy)
Verona: Anything by Tim Parks!
But Ms. Pearl takes us farther afield, as well, recommending books about Wales, Finland, Zambia, the Galapagos, Guernsey, Afghanistan and Wyoming, among other locations. She also touches on travel to imaginary places and traveler’s tales in verse. And in the section on Vietnam, I was gratified to see one of my favorite authors, Tim O’Brien, included with three of his titles, most especially The Things They Carried.
Pick up Book Lust To Go and do some armchair traveling yourself. Even better, use it to do some deep reading in advance of your next trip!
Buon viaggio!
Linda Dini Jenkins is a card-carrying Italophile, travel planner, freelance writer, and amateur photographer. Travel is her passion, so writing about her travels just comes naturally. She hopes all her travelers find a way to express their joys, surprises, and fears as they travel and gives every traveler a nifty journal to help smooth the way. Learn more…
