americaine

I just love reading travel narratives and travelogues. I particularly loved Paris to the Moon, A Year in Provence, Neither Here Nor There, and Under the Tuscan Sun.

My question is, does anyone know of any good travel narratives that people have written about coming to the U.S. as a foreigner? I think these would be very interesting. If you know of any written in English or French and where they can be found, I would great appreciate it! Thanks.

capo

Hi Americaine. Same here. I still have not read Tuscan Sun, but I've enjoyed Peter Mayle's books and brought both Paris to the Moon and Neither Here Nor There with me to read in Europe last year. Paris to the Moon was very good, although a little to much about food for my taste, and I absolutely LOVED Bryson's book...very funny.

As for the kind of book you're seeking, you might want to consider Jonathan Raban's Hunting Mister Heartbreak: A Discovery of America. Raban is a British writer now making his home in Seattle.

You can read some customer reviews at Amazon.com's website.

Cluny

For an English take on the US, look for any of Jonathan Raban's books about his travels in the the US--Old Glory (along the Mississippi), Hunting Mr. Heartbreak, Bad Land (part history, part travel book about Montana), and Passage to Juneau (sailing the Inside Passage from Seattle) --or for Gavin Young's From Sea to Shining Sea.

mclaurie

The closest I can think of is Bill Brysons' "I'm a Stranger Here Myself" after a 20 year absence.

Alistaire Cooke (of Masterpiece theater fame) has been writing a column called "A letter from America" for years. There may be a book with a collection of his articles.

Finally, not about America but Ireland-you might enjoy Bill McCarthy's "McCarthy's Bar" and "Road to McCarthy".

JoeG

mclaurie beat me to the punch - Bill Bryson's "I'm a Stranger here Myself:Notes on Returning to America After 20 Years Away." It's a collection of articles that he wrote describing moving back to the US with his British wife and young children - Very funny.
JoeG

americaine

Oh yes! I did read I'm a Stranger Here Myself. I loved it. Keep 'em coming! Thanks.

Lesli

"Ciao, America: An Italian Discovers the U.S.", by Beppe Severgnini is pretty funny.

I've also enjoyed Tim Park's books (though they are about a Brit living in Italy), especially "An Italian Education."

Go to Amazon.com and search for books under "Italy memoir" or the like to find many others. "Extra Virgin", "Driving Over Lemons" and "A House in Sicily" were all good.

There are lots of previous threads here as well, which some text searching should bring up for you.

Dori

I just got done reading "Ciao, America!" by Beppe Severgnini. He and his wife came to America from Italy to live in D.C. during the mid-90's. He also has an updated chapter at the end of the book. It was an enjoyable read. I bought it at Borders.

Christina

The main popular one I can think of that is contemporary is called "Ciao, America! An Italian Discovers the US" by Beppe Severgnini. This is the same type of thing and humorous -- he lived in Washington DC for a while (where I do) so that's why I've heard of it and he's a funny guy. I also heard him interviewed on the radio about the book. It just came out in paper, I think.

The other main one I was thinking of is not going to be what you want, I'm sure -- but Chateaubriand wrote some works about his travels to the United States around 1800. I don't really like Chateaubriand myself, though.

Okay, a good book but not humorous, but in French--that is "L'Etudiant Etranger" by Philippe Labro (1988, came out in paper in 1990). He is a French journalist/filmmaker who came to study in the US at a male college in Virginia in the 1950s and this is a memoir of that and differences in culture, especially regarding some Southern race issues at that time. I believe this has been translated, but I'm not sure. You can get it on Amazon.com either way (The Foreign Student in Eng trans), they have some French books now.