"Novel" ideas for England
 

(Sorry for the cheesy title)

For those traveling to the U.K., what books are you bringing?

When I travel I enjoy bring along non-fiction books set in or near the place where I am visiting. So far I have Possesion, by A.S. Byatt, and Slammerkin, by Emma Donoghue on my list. Both are set in England, and both have been recommended by my local bookshop. What's on your list?

London & Sarum by Edward Rutherfor. Pillars in the Earth by Ken Follet. Any of the Richard Jury mysteries by Martha Grimes. the list goes on & on...

Isn't this a bit coals to Newcastle-y (or mafiosi to New Jersey-y?)

By all means take a couple or three novels for the flight over. But the heaviest concentration of books about England is going to be in England. And most tourist places don't just have decent new bookshops: practically every town in the visitor belt has a dynamite secondhand bookshop too.

I'm with you: I like reading about the US when in the US. But it wouldn't occur to me - whatever the exchange rate - to take more than a flight's worth of books to another English speaking country.

Monica Ali's Brick Lane is the current fave rave, BTW.

Hi
If you are going to Cornwall, the "Poldark" series by Winston Graham
is good, not great literature but good stories, it's old Cornwall, late 18th century.

For Oxford, and also for Castle Howard in Yorkshire, "Brideshead Revisited" is wonderful (Castle Howard was the model for the country estate mentioned in the title). And also for Yorkshire, the James Herriott books.

For humor, Bill Bryson's "Notes From a Small Island" is wonderful, laugh-out-loud funny, and a little travel info along the way.

Ummmm.....

you said NON-ficton and then mentioned a book of fiction and one I've never heard of and everyone else has followed up with more fiction.

Which is it you want?

good point, Sheila

Oops, I meant fiction. Sorry!

I just returned from UK last week and would second Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. It is a novel about an English stone mason (and his family) who realizes his dream of being the master builder of a great cathedral. It is an enthralling read, although I haven't finished it yet.

Steve

OK, so you want recommendations for books of fiction set in England. How long have you got?:):)

Cold Comfort Farm; Brighton Rock; The Go-Between; Wuthering Heights; Emma; The French Lieutenant's Woman; Jamaica Inn; Hotel Room; I Don't Know How She Does It; anything by Joanna Trollope of her relataive, Anthony;

And that's just fom 2 shelves in my study

Splendid question. I list favourite books that best capture, to my mind, parts of the country:

E M Forster's Howards End, for the Hertfordshire area north of London, where Forster lived as a boy

Definitely Waugh's Brideshead Revisited, for Oxford -- but for Oxford also Zulieka Dobson (Max Beerbohm)

NB: Castle Howard was used in the TV series but the real home of Earl Beauchamp and the Lygon family, some of whom appear in BR, is Madresfield Court (in Glos.????)

Tess of the Durbervilles (Hardy) for the west country -- esp. the scene where she awakes after her flight and finds herself at Stonehenge

That shameless old pot-boiler Rebecca (du Maurier) for Cornwall

Cranford (Mrs. Gaskell) for Cheshire -- it's a Victorian portrait of Knutsford, outside Manchester

Knole -- or Pepita -- by V. Sackville West, for Kent. Or Dickens' Great Expectations

Could go on endlessly and boringly but will stop there....Happy reading

My bookcases have most of Sheila's titles, not to mention a whole lot more. I was pleased to see "Cold Comfort Farm" at the top of the list--it's one of my all-time favorites. And I'm also a big Joanna Trollope fan.

Some others: anything by Jane Austen; any of Jean Plaidy's history novels; "The Remains of the Day;" "An Instance of the Fingerpost."

Don't get me started on non-fiction.

A couple of comic novels: Diary of a Nobody (Mr. Pooter could teach Hyacinth Bucket a thing or two) and Three Men in a Boat.

Just back from marvelous London, where I read "Any Human Heart" by William Boyd, which is set in Oxford, London, Paris, etc.

For a taste of before and after WW II London, all of the "Cazalet Chronicles" (which are 4 separate, highly readable books) by Elizabeth Jane Howard. And there's "Charlotte Gray" by the wonderful writer, Sebastian Faulks.

I also recommend Joanna Trollope. and for some light and funny village life, books by Barbara Pym. Happy reading!

I agree with Flanneruk's recommendation of Monica Ali's Brick Lane. I'd also recommend Zadie Smith's White Teeth...why not read something about the contemporary multi cultural country Britain has become.

Here's an expanded angle on the theme: take books that may add to experiencing particular places you might go to in England. Some English places celebrate their authors. So, "Wuthering Heights" if going to Haworth in Yorkshire, where you'll find the Bronte's old parsonage decked out as a Bronte museum, "Under Milkwood" if going to Laughanne in Wales where you'll find Thomas's old boathouse home now decked out as a Dylan Thomas museum, "The Forest" by Edward Rutherfurd if going to New Forest, "The French Lieutenant's Woman" if going to Lyme Regis, any Ian Rankin mystery if going to Edinburgh, and so on. One could go on forever! I'm talking about books that are not merely "set" in a particular location, but books wherein the location is an integral part of the setting - to the point where you feel you know the place and want to go there.

And in an increasing number of places, you will be told what books are relevant - 'Herriot Country', 'Catherine Cookson Country', 'Doone Valley' and so on. Just watch the road signs (no doubt the local tourist board literature and websites will make a point of it too).

I haven't yet read it, but "The Other Boleyn Girl" by Philippa Gregory has been highly recommended to me by a friend that I trust to recommend good stuff.

I suggest the books of Helen Forrester, a Liverpool writer. She's written four frank memoirs about growing up poor during the Depression. She's also written several fiction books, some of which are set in the Liverpool area. You can't find her books in the States! I purchased several of them from Alibris, on the web.

Well, if you're going to Dorset, then you must take Thomas Hardy.

Has anyone mentioned "Lorna Doone" for Exmoor and "To Serve Them All My Days" ?-- can't recall the exact location. J.