moosey

Hi, this is sort of a tangential topic, but I am looking for book recommendations prior to a trip to the Dolomites. I like to try to read a book to not only get some context about where I am headed, but also build some excitement for the trip (vacations are expensive - need to stretch out the enjoyment!). Not a travel guide, but I prefer non-fiction. Does not need to be sweeping history or anything like that. For example, I have read:

St. Petersburg - Nicholas & Alexandra by Robert Massie (story of the Romanovs)
Poland - The Zookeeper's Wife (story of a family that hid Jews in their Warsaw zoo during the Nazi occupation)
Japan - Dog Man: An Uncommon Life (story of a man who saved the Akita breed from extinction

Anyone have any suggestions?

My husband is reading "The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front" about the Great War, so I have that to fall back on. But it is a little battle-intense for me.

Thanks!

MmePerdu

I have no personal recommendations but did a quick subject search in my library's catalog. This one sounds interesting to me: Untrodden Peaks and Unfrequented Valleys : a midsummer ramble in the Dolomites, by Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards (1831-1892). Amazon has a number of choices for it, including a Kindle edition for $5.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_no...uented+Valleys

MmePerdu

By the way, I do realize that this is travel essay, unsure how broad your definition of "travel" is. This is obviously a Victorian lady, not current "travel".

moosey

Mme Perdu - will check it out thanks!

VGF

Dolomites?!! Hope you have a great trip! Also, I hope you've checked out the Dolomite trip reports I put up here in the last month or so! I think if you click on my user id, it would show all of them, but here's the most recent...

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...olomites.cfm?8

Lexma90

I like to do the same kind of thing. How about "The Man in the Ice," by Norman Spindler?

HappyTrvlr

The Brenner Assignment, WWII, spies

Ackislander

A Farewell to Arms?

moosey

Thanks everyone!

VGF - thanks for the link. I missed your reports- when I was doing my general searching a few months ago, they were not out yet. I will read up!

Lexma - I will check that out. We start/finish in Bolzano and will see the Iceman himself (I am assuming this is about Otzi), so that could be a good one.

HappyTrvlr - had not heard of that one (but have definitely heard about Brenner Pass). Will check it out.

Ackislander - I somehow have never read A Farewell to Arms (and I was an English major!) and would not have thought of it. Maybe it is time to finally read it.

laverendrye

I always go to Longitude Books for a book list when planning a trip. They have quite useful selections of tour guides, maps, non-fiction and novels for areas all over the world. Here's their selection for the Dolomites:

http://www.longitudebooks.com/find/d...taly/mcms.html

bvlenci

It's a somewhat different mountain chain, on the opposite side of the Po Valley, but I can highly recommend Eric Newby's <i> Love and War in the Apennines </i>. He was a prisoner of war in World War II, but was able to escape during the period after the Italians overthrew Mussolini and declared a truce. However, the Germans soon invaded and started trying to round up all the ex-prisoners. Newby was hidden by various families in the mountains, and met his future wife, a Slovenian refugee working for the Italian Resistance.

All of Newby's books, or at least the ones that I have read, are worth reading. He has another about Italy, <i> A Small Place in Italy </i>.

D.H Lawrence has several books about Italy, including one about his time on Lake Garda, which is pretty near the Dolomites. I forget the name. I enjoyed his <i> Etruscan Places </i> better.

Ackislander

Oh, yes, "Love and War in the Apennines" is so good that being set in the "wrong" mountains doesn't matter!

I have all of Newby's books, but this is the best. I have loved POW escape books since I was a kid, and this is a great one, but so much more!

When Newby gets out of Colditz at the end of the war and returns to Italy -- no spoilers here -- it always makes me cry. I think I'll go read it again as soon as I get back to my home and books!

moosey

wow, thanks for all of the suggestions!

Kathie

There is an article about the WWI battles the the Dolomites in the June Issue of The Smithsonian Magazine.

Cori77

Hi! Just wondering if you've finished your trip and if you ever did find a good book about the Dolomites? I'm Canadian who lived two years there and in the process of writing a book about it, so I'm curious about what you would be hoping to learn/read about and if there's anything similar out there. Thanks!