Recommended travel reads
 

As part of our travel ritual, my husband and I try to read at least one book about an area prior to making the trip. I know that many fodorites are voracious readers, so I thought that perhaps we should start a thread where we could share our reading lists with fellow travelers? ((I)) My intent is not to recommend travel guides or coffee table books, but rather to suggest good non-fiction or fiction reads about areas to which we have traveled.... What do you think ((Y)) or ((N)) ?

Atlantic Canada - <u>Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World</u> by Mark Kurlansky

China: River Cruise on the Yangtze - <u>The River at the Center of the World: A Journey Up the Yangtze and Back in Chinese Time</u> by Simon Winchester

Russia: River Cruise from St. Petersburg to Moscow - <u>Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia</u> by Orlando Figes

The Florida Keys by Joy Williams.

It is a must read even if you never visit the Florida Keys.

&quot;Hawaii&quot; by James Michener - read this before I went and was a wonderful background. Long, but worth it.

&quot;A Year in Provence,&quot; &quot;Toujours Provence&quot; by Peter Mayle. I enjoyed these before we went to France in October. Easy, light reading and it was fun to find the places in the book when we actually were there.

Anything by Maeve Binchy, (&quot;Tara Road,&quot; &quot;The Glass Lake,&quot; &quot;The Evening Class,&quot; &quot;Scarlett Feather,&quot; &quot;Quentins&quot; to name a few, regarding Ireland. I've not seen Ireland yet and am itching to go. She makes the story and setting come alive. Ireland is next on my list.

&quot;Daily Life in a Medeival Village.&quot; I'm not sure of the exact title, nor can I remember the author. It was so interesting to read what life was like hundreds of years ago. Wandering the streets and villages of England, I could imagine what it was like when these towns were first built.

I read A LOT, so there are many more that I cannot recall right now. I'm sure I'll think of them as soon as I post this!

Thumbs up! I love to hear about good reads.

These are all non-fiction:

Chicago - &quot;The Devil in the White City&quot; by Erik Larsen.

Sicily - &quot;Mattanza&quot; and &quot;The Stone Boudoir&quot; by Theresa Maggio.

Charleston....&quot;Charleston&quot; by John Jakes

Savannah......&quot;Midnight in the Garden of good and evil&quot;

Savannah......&quot;Savannah&quot; by John Jakes

Before having to postpone our trip to Italy this year I read &quot;The Agony and the Ecstasy&quot; by Irving Stone--the biographical book based on Michael Angelo. Fantastic, engaging read.

Currently, I'm at the tail end of reading &quot;East of Eden&quot; by John Steinbeck where much is going on in the Salinas valley of California. Never before has time in an airport, or on an airplane, passed so quickly! One of my favorite books of all time.

Great thread! :-)