OFELIA

<BR>We are going to prague, Austria and Germany next year. Any suggestion on books to read <BR>aside from the usual guidebooks and insight books. <BR> <BR>I would appreciate any suggestions. <BR> <BR>thanks, <BR>ofelia

Amanda

Definitely the Time Out guides to Prague, Vienna, Berlin, etc..... They are the best on the market with the most varied and up-to-date information, no matter what your interests are or your age.

Lee

Ofelia: I had lived in Frankfurt for a time and didn't really purchase any books on Germany. However, for our last trip, I picked up "Germany's Best Loved Driving Tours" and found it to be very helpful with lots of tidbits and backround. <BR> <BR>We are going to Prague in November and I am reading the Insight Guide to Prague and the Eyewitness Guide for Prague and they both contain some very good information about the city and some outlying areas. Together, they seem to augment each other, so I shouldn't arrive there as a total moron as it is our first trip into The Czech Republic. <BR> <BR>Maybe give those a try.

wes fowler

Ofelia, <BR>For Austria, particularly Vienna, consider Frederic Morton's "A Nervous Splendor" which recaptures Vienna at the end of the 19th century. You'll meet Freud, Mahler, Herzl, Schnitzer, Klimt, Crown Prince Rudolf and Emperor Franz Joseph and Sissi, Empress Elizabeth. Look, too, for Edward Crankshaw's "The Fall of the House of Habsburg". For Prague, look for the writings of Vaclav Havel, the Czech Republic's current president. For Germany, try W. Carr's A History of Germany 1815-1985.

Christina

For Germany, I would suggest "These Strange German Ways" by Susan Stern--an amusing, but good, insight into the German psyche and culture and customs; I bought it just to understand my German background and grandparents. For CR, I would suggest "Prague in Black and Gold", a history of the city, as well as Derek Sayer's "The Coasts of Bohemia: A Czech History" which is about the Czech struggle to define themselves as a nation, people and culture. Finally, if you can find it and have kids (or not), I would strongly recommend "The Three Golden Keys" by Czech children's author/illustrator Peter Sis, which is a book he write integrating Czech fairy tales and his own childhood in Prague.

ofelia

<BR>thanks to all of you guys for responding.. <BR> <BR>do you know of any novels (fiction or non-fiction set in these places. <BR> <BR>ofelia <BR>