The Literary Traveler

Reading adds depth to travel. There is a lot that can be read about anywhere a traveler goes. The books and poetry I've included here I read specifically in connection with the trip, either shortly before, during, or shortly afterwards.  This page is a work in progress. I have a lot of reading that I haven't yet included in my posts, and eventually I hope to go back and fill in some of the gaps.

I like books that are specifically about a place I've visited, but I also like books--fiction and nonfiction--that use a place I've been to as the setting. When I'm reading, it is fun to recognize landmarks that I've seen or people I've learned about in my travels.

If you have a suggestion for a good book related to a specific place, see this post that tells about how to add your suggestions to the comments section of individual posts.

(JANUARY 2024 NOTE: I HAVEN'T UPDATE THIS PAGE IN ABOUT THREE YEARS. IT IS ON MY TO-DO LIST.)

WESTERN EUROPE
Austria
     Vienna: The Lady in Gold by Anne-Marie O'Connor
                The Year That Changed the World by Michael Meyer
                The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal
     Mauthausen Concentration Camp:
               The Choice by Dr. Edith Eger
Denmark
Finland
France
     Paris: Eiffel's Tower by Jill Jonnes
              A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
              The Piano Shop on the Left Bank by T. E. Carhart
    Saint-Malo: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Germany
     Berlin: In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson
     Cologne: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
     Pforzheim/Munich: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
     Rhine River: "Lorelei" by Sylvia Plath and "The Lorelei" by Heinrich Heine
                       The Year That Changed the World by Michael Meyer
     Ulm: Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson
Greece
Italy
     Rome: Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling by Ross King
                 Inferno by Dan Brown
     Venice: Brunelleschi's Dome by Ross King
                The Venus Fixers by Ilaria Dagnini Brey
Netherlands
      The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
     Amsterdam: Van Gogh: The Life by Stephen Naifeh and Gregory White Smith
                          Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
                          Amsterdam: A History of the World's Most Liberal City by Russell                                         Shorto
     Leiden: Poetry of the World
Norway
Spain
     Barcelona: The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
             Origin by Dan Brown
     For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
Sweden
     A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
Switzerland
United Kingdom
     England: London: The Novel by Edward Rutherford
     Isle of Man
     Scotland
     Wales


NORTH ATLANTIC
Iceland


EASTERN EUROPE
Albania
Bosnia and Herzegovina
     Sarajevo: The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway
                  Echoes from the Square by Elizabeth Wellburn
                  Logavina Street by Barbara Demick
Bulgaria
Croatia
Czech Republic
     The Year That Changed the World by Michael Meyer
     Prague: Rusalka by Megan Richey Olsen
                 The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman
Estonia
Macedonia
Montenegro
Poland
     His Holiness: John Paul II and the History of Our Time by Carl Bernstein
            and Marco Politi
     Gdansk: Death in Danzig
     Warsaw:
                  Rising '44: The Battle for Warsaw by Norman Davies
                 The Pianist by Wladyslaw Szpilman
     Krakow:
                 The Cracow Ghetto Pharmacy by Tadeusz Pankiewicz
                 Schindler's List (movie) and Schindler's Ark (book)
                Katyn (movie)
     Auschwitz
                The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
                The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe
                Born Survivors: Three Young Mothers and Their  Extraordinary
                      Story of Courage, Defiance, and Hope by Wendy Holden
                Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi
                Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
                Children of the Flames by Lucette Matalon Lagnado and Sheila
                      Cohn Dekel
                The Choice by Dr. Edith Eger
Romania
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
     Julian Alps: A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
Ukraine
     Odessa: The Hare with Amber Eyes
     Yalta: Franklin and Winston by Jon Meacham


MIDDLE EAST
General: Walking the Bible by Bruce Feiler
     What Everyone Needs to Know about Islam by John Esposito
Egypt
     The Woman Who Would Be King: Hatshepsut's Rise to Power in Ancient Egypt                       by Kara Cooney
     Thirteen Days in September: Carter, Begin, and Sadat at Camp David by Lawrence               Wright
     Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie
     Death on the Nile movie
     Letters from Egypt by Lucie Duff Gordon
     Arabian Nights and Days: A Novel by Nahguib Mahfouz
     Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters
     Egypt, BBC 2015 (Mini-series)
     The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain
     Walking the Bible: A Journey by Land Through the Five Books of Moses by                          Bruce Feiler (also quoted here and here and here and here and here)
     The Photographer's Wife by Robert Sole 
Jordan
     I Married a Bedouin by Marguerite van Geldermalsen
Israel
     The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain (also quoted here, here, and here)
     From Beirut to Jerusalem by Thomas Friedman
     Thirteen Days in September by Steven Pressfield
     The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East by Sandy Tolan
     The Almond Tree by Michelle Cohen Corasanti
     Son of Hamas by Mosab Hassan Yousef
     The Lion's Gate: On the Front Lines of the Six-Day War by Steven Pressfield
     Golda by Elinor Burkett
     I Shall Note Hate: A Gaza Doctor's Journey on the Road to Peace and Human                       Dignity by Izzeldin Abuelaish
     Exodus by Leon Uris
     My Glorious Brothers by Howard Fast
     The Life of Christ by Frederic William Farrar
     Jesus the Christ by James Talmage
     Walking the Bible: A Journey by Land Through the Five Books of Moses by                          Bruce Feiler
     Masada: The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman
                   Masada TV mini-series
Morocco:
     In Morocco by Edith Wharton (another reference here)
     The Spider's House by Paul Bowles
     Marrakech: A Year in Marrakech by Peter Mayne
   
Turkey
     Gardens of Water by Alan Drew
     Amazing Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman
     Inferno by Dan Brown
     Istanbul: Memories and the City by Orhan Pamuk

ASIA
China
     Snowflower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
     From Emperor to Citizen: The Autobiography of Aisin-Gioro Pu Yi
     Silk Road: Shadow of the Silk Road by Colin Thubron
                   China Road: A Journey into the Future of a Rising
                            Power by Rob Gifford
                   Silk and Song, 3-book series by Dana Stabenow
                 The Monkey King: A Classic Chinese Tale for Children, 
                           by David Seow and illustrated by Lak-Khee Tay-Audouard
                 The Journey to the West: Birth of the Monkey King by Kathryn Lin
                 Night Train to Turkistan by Stuart Stevens


AFRICA
Botswana
     The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
     The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency television series
     Botswana: In the Footsteps of The No. Ladies' Detective Documentary
     Whatever You Do, Don't Run: True Tales of a Botswana Safari Guide by
                   Peter Allison
Ghana
     Wife of the Gods by Kwei Quartey
     Kofi Annan: A Man of Peace in a World of War by Stanley Meisler
     Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth
     Lose Your Mother by Saidiya Hartman
     Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery
                    by Eric Metaxas
Kenya
     The Flame Trees of Thika by Elspeth Huxley (Book and seven-episode miniseries
                     on DVD)
     No Picnic on Mount Kenya by Felice Benuzzi
     Born Free by Joy Adamson
     Love, Life, and Elephants: An African Love Story by Dame Daphne Sheldrick
     Echo: An Elephant to Remember (DVD) by Nature/PBS
     Henderson the Rain King by Saul Bellow
     Weep Not, Child by Ngugi wa Thiong'o
     The Big Cat Diaries Series (DVD) by BBC
     Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen
     West with the Night by Beryl Markham
     I Married Adventure by Osa Johnson
Morocco
     Morocco by Edith Wharton
     The Spider's House by Paul Bowles
South Africa
     The Covenant by James Michener
     Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela
     Invictus (movie)
     Playing the Enemy by John Carlin
     Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton
     Cry, the Beloved Country (movie)
     The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay
     July's People by Nadine Gordimer
     Life & Times of Michael K by J. M. Coetzee
     Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
Tanzania
     Facing the Lion: Growing Up Maasai on the African Savanna by Joseph Lemasolai 
                     Lekuton
     Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn
     The Green Hills of Africa by Ernest Hemingway
     Hemingway in Africa by Christopher Ondaatje
     Into Africa: The Epic Adventures of Stanley & Livingstone by Martin Dugard
Zimbabwe
     Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller


LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
Antigua
     A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid
     Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid
Mexico
     First Stop in the New World by David Lida
     The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
Peru

NORTH AMERICA
UNITED STATES
Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck
Alabama
    King Cotton in Time of War by Horatio Alger (Poem)
    Monroeville:   To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
                         Mockingbird by Charles Shields
                         Scott, Atticus, and Boo by Mary McDonagh Murphy
                         In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
                         Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote
                         A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote
                         Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
     Montgomery: Rosa Parks, My Story by Rosa Parks
                          Bearing the Cross by David J. Garrow
                          First White House of the Confederacy (DVD)
                          Works by F. Scott Fitzgerald
                          Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler
                          Beautiful Fools: The Last Affair of Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald by R. 
                                Clifton Spargo 
                          Beloved Infidel starring Gregory Peck and Deborah Kerr (DVD)
Alaska
    Denali: Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer; A Life on the Road by Charles Kuralt
    Homer: The Wind Is Not a River by Brian Payton
    Yukon: The Call of the Wild by Jack London; Two Old Women by Velma Wallis
Arizona
California:
     The Associates by Richard Rayner
     Redwoods State and National Parks: The Overstory by Richard Powers
                The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben
     Valyermo St. Andrew's Abbey: Cloister Walk by Kathleen Norris
     Yorba Linda: The Presidents Club by Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy
                          Pat and Dick by Will Swift
                          "Emily Dickinson and Elvis Presley in Heaven" (poem) by Hans 
                                   Ostrom
     Valyermo: Cloister Walk by Kathleen Norris
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware 
Florida
     Lay That Trumpet in Our Hands by Susan Carol McCarthy
     Cross Creek: The Yearling, Cross Creek, Cross Creek Cookery by Marjorie Kinnan 
                                  Rawlings
     Key West: Ernest Hemingway
Hawaii
     Moloka'i by Alan Brennert
Idaho
Illinois
     Chicago: The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
     Springfield: The Lincolns: Portrait of a Marriage by Daniel Mark Epstein
Indiana
Louisiana
      New Orleans: Zeitoun by Dave Eggers, 
                    The Yellow House by Sarah M. Broom,
                    Five Days at Memorial by Sheri Fink
                    The Awakening by Kate Chopin
Maine
Maryland
     Antietam: "Lincoln" by David Shumate
     Annapolis: Roots by Alex Haley
     Baltimore: The Works of Edgar Allan Poe
                  Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler
Massachusetts
     Paul Revere's Ride by David Hackett Fischer
     Concord: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
                   "A Mountain Grave" (poem) by Ralph Waldo Emerson
                   Eden's Outcasts by John Matteson
Michigan 
Mississippi
Missouri
     Independence: Truman by David McCullough
     Kansas City: "In Flanders Field" (poem) by John McCrae
                          Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson
Montana
Nebraska
     My Antonia by Willa Cather
Nevada
New Hampshire
     Frost Place, Poetry by Robert Frost
New Mexico
     Navajo Reservations: Anything by Tony Hillerman
                    The Staircase by Ann Rinaldi
                    The Staircase (Movie) 
     Las Vegas and surrounding area: Appetite for America by Stephen Fried
                    The Harvey Girls (movie) starring Judy Garland
New York
     Harlem: Yes, Chef by Marcus Samuelsson
     Hyde Park: No Ordinary Time by Doris Kearns Goodwin
                        Franklin and Eleanor by Hazel Rowley
                        The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt
     Long Island: Mornings on Horseback by David McCullough
                        The River of Doubt by Candace Millard
North Carolina
     Charlotte: Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
North Dakota (not yet)
     Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich (and anything else by Erdrich)
     Badlands: Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
                     Theodore Roosevelt in the Badlands by Roger L. DiSilvestro
Ohio
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Dakota
     Black Elk Speaks by John G. Neihardt
     Harney Peak Revealed by Bradley Saum
     Dances with Wolves by Michael Blake
     Dakota: A Spiritual Geography by Kathleen Norris
     Crazy Horse by Larry McMurtry
     Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown
     Giants in the Earth by O. E. Rolvaag
Tennessee
Texas
     God Save Texas by Lawrence Wright
     Dallas: "The Bells" by Edgar Allen Poe
                 11/22/63 by Stephen King
                 The Presidents Club
                 "Lost in Paris" by Billy Collins
Utah
Vermont
Washington
     The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin
     Orcas Island: The Girl Who Wrote in Silk by Kelli Estes
West Virginia
     Harpers Ferry: Notes on the State of Virginia by Thomas Jefferson
                           The Good Lord Bird: A Novel by James McBride
Wyoming  
Washington, D.C.
     A. Lincoln by Ronald C. White, Jr.
     Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
     Killing Lincoln (Video), narrated by Tom Hanks
     Mount Vernon Love Story by Mary Higgins Clark

CANADA
British Columbia
Ontario

2 comments:

  1. The is great. I also have similar list, but mine is one book per country and I choose local authors from each.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love the idea of reading a local author! I do that some of the time, but not consistently.

      Delete