Editor: Here is the third (and final, for now) group of books selected by Laura as inspirational for travel. There is nothing like emptying an old bookcase to bring back memories of great literature that got your travel juices flowing. I hope you enjoy these novels as much as Laura did. And I hope that you find them as fascinating and inspirational. Happy travels.
“Nectar In A Sieve” by Kamala Markandaya makes it real, since travel often exposes us to the dark underbelly of a society. The novel describes the challenging circumstances of growing up poor as a tenant farmer in rural India. Much like “Our Eyes Were Watching God’ by Zora Neale Hurston, which provides a window into the uneasy life of a poor black woman in the American South, this book explores the painful and private realities of someone living on the fringe of a society. Not an easy read, but perhaps a necessary one if you ever want to understand the lives of some of the people you see while traveling.
I picked up “Le’Affaire” by Diane Johnson in an airport (how fitting) when someone left it behind. Probably more on the lines of “chick lit,” is still is an agreeable read that provides a three-act play sort of itinerary between Paris, London, and a skiing expedition in the French Alps. At the time I read it, it held my interest because it provided some needed insight into French inheritance law that I required for work, but the visions of chalets and lodges kept me going, not to mention some rather true depictions of the French concept of fidelity.
“The Eight” by Katherine Neville is probably the smartest and best novel you might never have heard of. Another one of those time-warp reads that flashes between ‘present day’ (which is 1972, when the book was written) and the past (France in the 1700s) the narrative drips with the sort of opulence and decadence that define the two worlds of Paris. The fact that a great mystery, and some excellent discussion of the mathematics of chess, is hidden within the pages is a plus. Not to pick on “The Da Vinci Code” again, but if you to want immerse yourself in the history and scenery of France through a book, this is a much better way to do it.
“A Venetian Affair” by Andrea DiRobilant presents such a lushly drawn picture of Venice in its golden age that it is a landscape with words. A history, a romance, a sure enticement to visit a city glittering with masks, balls and gondolas, with enough reality sprinkled in to keep you guessing (the romance is based on real letters found in the author’s ancestral home). A fast read because you won’t want to put it down.
I never wanted to read another book about Russia after the pain inflicted by “The Gulag” and “The Archipelago” – that is, until I found “A Hero Of Our Time” by Mikhail Lermontov. Filled with the typical antithetical Russian affections of angst and apathy, it nonetheless presents a stirring vision of the Caucasus. And you can’t get past the romantic symbolism of an author that never enjoyed the success of his first novel because he died young (age 26) shortly after finishing it, and was shot in a duel which eerily mirrors one in the book. Alleged to be somewhat autobiographical, (Lermontov served in the dragoons in the region after being sent there by the Tsar) the work is rife with emotion that is as rich as the landscape that sets the stage for it.
Finally, if you want both glamour and a social message in one of the most beautiful settings on Earth, read “Monaco” by Eric Robert Morse. Set in 1937, it captures the essence of the polished and pampered champagne, roulette and motoring set that populates the world’s biggest oyster. With a plot as surprisingly deep and sparkly as the pure azure ocean that is never too far from the narrative, it defies categorization- sensuous but serious, juicy but not jaundiced. Guys, if you write this off as girls-only, I pity you, you will miss some of the best Grand Prix race scenes ever written.
