Travels with my book
For several holidays I tried to take with me a book set in the country I was about to visit, thinking that it was a more interesting way of discovering something of the local culture and attitudes than reading a dry guide book.
And so it proved. Reading Maximum City on the flight over to Mumbai not only gave me a glimpse of the traffic chaos I was about to experience, it helped me understand why some of my Indian colleagues are so determined. To survive in a city of more than 18 million, you have to be flexible as well as persistent. Around 75% of the population of the city live in the north but work in the south – and there is really only one north south main road. It’s supposed to have four lanes but the concept of lanes is really only notional in India. Faced with total gridlock, Indian drivers do what their counterparts all over the world do – pound on the horn. But then they find the narrow gap between two ‘lanes’ of vehicles and go for it – no matter if the vehicle to the left or right has to move over or there is a tuk tuk driver who has exactly the same idea. They all ‘adjust’ to make room.
Dr Zhivago was a good introduction to the complexities of Russian names though nothing could have prepared me for the bone-chilling winter conditions.
But my favourite ‘travel-related’ book of recent years was Alice Steinbach’s Adventures of a Curious Woman. Immediately I read the chapters set in Paris, I knew I had to go to the Church in the Left Bank area and stand like Alice bathed in the light from its stained glass windows.
All of which is a long introduction to an interesting marketing promotion that landed in my in box today from the Book Depository. Each day for the next 12 days they will be highlighting a selection of books set in one of 12 countries in the world. Today is the turn of Spain. Maybe seeing what countries they feature in the next few days could help me make up my mind where to go for this year’s holiday – well it beats sticking a pin in the globe!
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It’s a great idea. I have sometimes bought books by authors from the country I’m visiting. When in Amsterdam a couple of years ago, I had a woman in a great English bookstore recommend books by the Dutch author Harry Mulisch. If traveling places with less famous authors, this can be very interesting! I bought two books by Mulisch, read one (The Discovery of Heaven) and it was really, really good.
good idea from Book Depository …. I will check out the next 12 days … thanks for the info
it’s a clever idea for sure – astonishing that someone hasn’t done it before. Every year we get the same old articles in the culture magazines with Times, Telegraph about what to read on holiday but no-one seems to have thought of linking to actual holiday destinations
I could have done with The Book Depository’s venture when I was planning this year’s Summer School and offering the members trios of books from different countries to choose from for their week in August. I did come up with lists for Canada, Australia, Italy, India and Egypt but it would have been a lot easier with some professional help.
I’m intrigued by this summer school that you are running. Where/what is it Alex?-
Thanks for the interest. I’ll do a post about it in the next couple of days. It would take too much space in a comment.