Wednesday, June 5: Day 44 – Travel Books

Today was a train ride through the Alps. The scenery was stunning. We passed by the snow capped mountains of Grenoble where the 1968 Winter Olympics were held. I had a first class window seat to enjoy the view AND a book.

I asked my Facebook friends at Travel Fashion Girl about books that they would recommend while traveling the world fashionably. I have compiled a list of their titles and sometimes author suggestions and alphabetized the list by country. (No attempt was made for correct title, spellings, etc., but you get the idea and it is a starting point.)

These were their suggestions:

Australia – Tim Winton’s books
In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson
The Thornbirds

Austria
*The Tobacconist
Vienna
The Diaries of Alma Schindler

Azerbaijan
*Ali and Nino

Belgium
War and Turpentine

Bhutan
*A Portrait of Bhutan

Canada
*With Faith and Goodwill: 150 Years of Canada-US Friendship

Chile
*La Casa de Los Espíritus

China
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China

Becoming Madame Mao
The Good Earth by Pearl Buck
The Last Chinese Chef
The Porcelain Thief
Shark’s Fin
Sichuan Pepper by Fuchsia Dunlop
Fortune Cookie Chronicles by Jennifer Lee
Authors: Amy Tan, Lisa See, Peter Hesseler

Colombia
*One Hundred Years of Solitude

Cuba
The Handsomest Man in Cuba by Lynette Chiang
Love and Ruins
Next Year in Havana

Czech Republic
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Denmark
A Year of Living Danishly
*Smilla’s Sense of Snow

England

Estonia
*The Man Who Spoke Snakish

Ethiopia
Cutting for Stone

Finland
*The Book about Moomin and Mymble

France
Paris by Edward Rutherford
The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff
Orphan’s Tale by Pam Jenoff
My Life in France by Julia Child
Wine and War by Don and Petie Kladtrup
Toujours Provence by Peter Mayle
A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle
Author: Peter Mayle
All the Light We Cannot See
The Invisible Bridge
A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway

Germany
The German Girl
*Tschick
All the Light We Cannot See

Greece
*Freedom and Death by Nikos Kazantzakis
The Magus by John Fowler
The Odyssey by Daniel Mendelson

Holland
An Embarrassment of Riches

Hong Kong
TaiPan
Author: James Clavell
Golden Boy by Martin Booth

Hungary
Prague by Arthur Philips

Iceland
The Saga of Grettir the Strong
*Independent People by Hallador Larness
Names for the Sea: Stranger in Iceland

India
A Long Way Home
*Freedom at Midnight

Ireland
*Transatlantic by Colum McCann
Ireland by Edward Rutherford
Angela’s Ashes
The Dubliner by James Joyce
Portrait of an Artist by James Joyce

Israel
Mornings in Jenin
Exodus
The Source by Michener

Italy
A Room with a View
Angels and Demons
Inferno
A Tuscan Childhood
Under the Tuscan Sun
La Passione: How Italy Seduced the World
Florence
Brunelleschi’s Dome
Milan
Beneath the Scarlet Sky
Venice
Donna Leon’s Inspector Brunetti series

Jamaica
A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James
Selected Poems

Japan
The Ramen King
I, Wrong
Authors: James Clavell, Haruki Murakami

Malta
The Story of Malta
The Kappillan of Malta
*In the Name of the Father (And of the Son)

Mexico
Water like Chocolate
Mexico by Michener

Morocco
A House in Fez
A Caliphs House: A Year in Casablanca by Tahir Shah

Netherlands
The Boy Between Worlds by Annejet van der Zijl
Girl With a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
Diary of Anne Frank
The Infidel
The Assault by Harry Mulish

New Zealand
*The Whale Rider

Norway
*The Snowman Jo Nesbo from the Harry Hole Series
Kristin Lavansdatter by Sigrid Under translated by Tina Nunnely

Peru
Turn Right at Machu Picchu

Philippines
The Best of Lola Basyang: Timeless Tales for the Filipino Family by Severino Reyes

Poland
Poland by Michener

Portugal
The Elephant’s Journey by Jose Saramago

Puerto Rico
Isla Verde

Russia
A Gentleman in Moscow
Russia by Edward Rutherford
Siberia
The Endless Steppe

Scotland
Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh
Da Vinci Code

Singapore
Crazy Rich Asians

Slovenia
*I Saw Her That Night

South Africa
The Elephant Whisperer
The White Giraffe
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

South Korea
Pachinko

Spain
Iberia by Michener
Cathedral of the Sea
Map Makers Daughter
Shadows of the Wind series-Zafron
Barcelona
Origins by Dan Brown
Granada
Driving over Lemons

Sweden
*Nordic Ways
Dragon Tattoo Series

Switzerland
Hiking with Nietzsche: On becoming Who You Are by John Kaag

Turkey
Acts from the Bible
Istanbul
My Name is Red
Kedi
The Turk Who Ate Apples by Matt Stone

United Kingdom/England
*Atonement
Old Sarum by Edward Rutherford
London by Edward Rutherford
Author: Phillips Gregory
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Author: Kate Morton
Jane Austen
The Secret Keeper
Clock Maker’s Daughter

Miscellaneous
Out of Africa (Safari)
Eat Pray Love (Italy, India, Bali)
The Turk Who Loved Apples
As Eve Said to the Serpent: On Landscape, Gender and Art

* denotes recommendation by Foreign Ambassadors in an interesting article found here

Books Recommended by US Ambassadors

Other websites with lists of books to read while traveling are on Rick Steves’ and Goodreads, but my favorite new website find is:

http://taleaway.com

I KNOW that I will continue to travel through books when this current adventure becomes a fond memory.

My mother was an avid reader. She traveled the world through books. Her favorite quote summing up the gist of the poem Goshen was: “I do not live in Goshen but live around the world.”

GOSHEN
by Edgar Frank

“How can you live in Goshen?”
Said a friend from afar,
“This wretched country town
Where folks talk little things all year,
And plant their cabbage by the moon!”
Said I
“I do not live in Goshen,—
I eat here, sleep here, work here;
I live in Greece
Where Plato taught.
And Phidias carved,
And Epictetus wrote.
I dwell in Italy,
Where Michaelangelo wrought
In color, form, and mass,
Where Cicero penned immortal lies,
And Dante sang undying songs.
Think not my life small
Because you see this puny place;
I have my books, I have my dreams;
A thousand souls have left for me
Enchantment that transcends
Both time and place.
And so I live in Paradise,
Not here.”