We just made a last-minute decision to visit Budapest in mid-September and I'm looking for a good book recommendation which will give me some insight to the country and its history, which I do not know much about.

I'd prefer a memoir of sorts, as I usually find them to be the most informative. (For instance, while in Ireland I read Tillyard's "Aristocrats" and found it to be very insightful for our stay there).

Any must-reads? I don't have much time, thanks!

Read Arthur Phillips' novel <i>Prague</i> (which is set in Budapest).

http://tinyurl.com/5wmw6t
Here's a few books.

See if you can rent the movie <i>Sonnenschein</i>.

Between the Woods and the Water: On Foot to Constantinople: From The Middle Danube to the Iron Gates by Patrick Leigh Fermor

Embers by Sandor Marai--is a very good novel -- maybe take it with you after you've done other reading in advance?

The first part of the book, The Great Escape, Nine Jews who fled Hitler and Changed the World by Kati Marton, takes place in Budapest in the early 1900s, during the golden age. The 9 Jews are all Hungarian.

When we visited the region (Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia) earlier this year, I searched for books that were more specifically about the events of 1989. Here are some I read; none were solely about Hungary, but they gave me a good perspective:

The Walls Came Tumbling Down, the Fall of Communism in Eastern Europe, by Gale Stokes. This is a scholarly book, not a memoir, but has separate chapters on the various countries; you could read just the Hungary portion, and learn a lot about the event of 1989 and the 1956 Uprising.

The Haunted Land: Facing Europe’s Ghosts After Communism, by Tina Rosenberg. This is the most like a memoir, but she focused on East Germany, Czechoslakia and Poland.

Caf&eacute; Europa, by Slavenka Drakulic. She's formerly from Croatia (Yugoslavia when she lived there), but traveled throughout the area. It's a series of separate essays.

The Magic Lantern: The Revolution of '89 Witnessed in Warsaw, Budapest, Berlin, and Prague, by Timothy Garton Ash.

A great book/Hungarian Movie is Egri Csillagok but you can get it on amazon: Eclipse of the Crescent Moon, about the turkish invasion and the protection of Eger...it's a great read by Geza Gardonyi. It will give you the desire to visit Eger which is actually a great City to visit.

Thanks so much for the recommendations. I'll read some reviews on all those mentioned and hopefully get to watch a movie and read the book on the plane hopefully! Appreciate it.