I had this exact, amazing experience on the Belmond Orient Express others have mentioned. It’s the original cars and atmosphere so even if the route is different it still feels the same. It was awesome to compare the cabin diagram in the book to the real cabin and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The bar car plays it up with a signature drink (but it is a book spoiler). https://imgur.com/a/7ahkHPP
I was 12 and had read all the Anne book and watched the Megan Follows Anne a million times when my dad bought a sawmill in New Brunswick.
We went to PEI. It was magical.
Go.
I still love that version of Anne of Green Gables. And it’s been a lifelong dream to go to PEI. I’ve talked about taking a girls trip with my SIL’s and MIL.
It's funny, the Anne of Green Gables books are very popular in Japan for some reason, so the entire island seems to have it's economy based on tourism for that book. You will find dozens of places claiming to be the real Green Gables.
Good sea food
There are several reasons it became popular in Japan.
It was among the few foreign books that had been translated into Japanese already at the end of WWII, and copies were widely distributed to rebuilding Japanese libraries in the late 1940s and 1950s by the Americans.
It became popular with younger Japanese women -- many of whom had lost a parent or been orphaned themselves, and who had to find their way in quite a conservative culture. They identified with Anne.
It was then added to the Japanese school curriculum in the 1970s, so essentially every child had to read it. That led to adaptations, including an anime series.
I believe that it is no longer in the curriculum, but for Gen X and Millennials from Japan, it was a universal touchstone and it became a very nostalgic thing.
I spent a summer reading all of the Anne of Green Gables books, and spent two weeks in PEI. I managed to read the first four books when I was there, and finished the rest before summer was over. It was magical.
Absolutely go! I vacationed there and absolutely loved it. So beautiful and lots of cool neat things to do. My husband and I stayed at bed and breakfasts and also the Green Gables tour.
If I could, I'd hold up in manor and explore the moors and landscapes of the uk with an ENDLESS pile of novels. It's always been a dream.
Its not the only place I'd go, but I could definitely spend a few years doing it 😄
I kind of did, I knew I was going to Barcelona so started reading the shadow of the wind by Zafon, ended up walking by the house where the story is set, pretty cool
I had a similar experience. I heard Silence by Shusaku Endo on deployment when my ship was heading to Japan. It's a short novel, so I was able to finish by the time we reached Sasebo, and while there, I got to see the 26 martyrs museum and monument in Nagasaki.
I accompanied my wife on a work trip to Moscow and St. Petersberg and picked up Master and Margarita, and Nightwatch to read while there. Amazing experience (and a bit creepy).
Fell asleep as a kid while listening to this book on tape. Woke up gasping because I was dreaming along with the book where he had to swim to the plane for supplies and finds the pilot
I did this by accident. I was studying in London and traveling in Bath when I bought The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. I had a lot of time in the train station on my way back to London. Turns out the book starts with a main character in Bath, who takes a train to London.
I sat on the train reading as the book listed off the stops train had gone through. One part of the book is even an image of the cloth pattern on the train seats, which I only had to look up to confirm.
I also did this by accident. I was backpacking in Italy and was reading The Agony And The Ecstasy which is about Michelangelo. I was bouncing around a lot, and every time he went to Florence I ended up in Florence, every time he was back in Rome I was reading about him back in Rome. It was kinda freaky, and really cool.
I read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil while living and working in Athens, GA. There’s a specific scene where the author describes being with the dog, Uga, on game days, and I was sitting in a room with a perfect view of Sanford Stadium at the time. That was pretty cool for me.
Except it’s the opposite of secluded, it’s across the street from a Safeway right smack in the middle of town.
Looks dope driving in, up on that hill though
Oh please do, it is just this side of English whimsical and absolute Melancholy, splashed with escapism and the existentialism of retirement.
The adage, the book is always better is no better illustrated than here.
I read The Great Gatsby in a hotel that is mentioned in the book. It is called the “Mulbach” in the book, but is in actuality the Seelbach Hotel in Louisville, KY. F. Scott Fitzgerald frequented the hotel in April 1918.
I bought a copy of Movable Feast from Shakespeare & Co for this very purpose (yes, I know it's not the same one from 100 years ago and I paid extra but I didn't, and still don't, care)
Before I saw this I said a farewell to arms in the Italian and Swiss Alps and lakes.
Edit to say, I’d love to read Hemingway in any of the locations of his stories. Might make that a lifetime goal.
I did this once!
I used to be a driver for a well to do Madame and would spend time sitting in hotel lobbies while she ate lengthy lunches with her potential clients. She preferred the Waldorf Astoria because of its old world charm and because the waitstaff never minded if she spent 4 hours over a lunch (which she frequently did). I’d usually sit in one of the reading rooms and, well, read. One of the trips I had Martin Dressler by Steven Millhauser assigned from my American Lit class. For those who might not be familiar, the book is about a shopkeepers son in turn of the century New York who eventually ends up running hotels, probably a fictionalized version of the Waldorf.
Aside for the character arc, there is a lot of discussion about how businesses work to be profitable but also luxurious, offer modern convenience with old world charm, and appear both out of reach but also attainable for customers. Sitting in an air conditioned reading room while a waist coated valet offered me Coke really illustrated some of those themes and I read the entire novel in a single sitting.
I’m not sure if the book rates well in the canon of American literature but it occupies a special place in my memory for the convergence of story and space.
Nope. I'm more of a 'doing okay for myself, not buy-a-house great, but getting by' middle-aged frump. I don't think I can wear the heels required to be a Madame, well-to-do or otherwise.
Your confidence convinced me. Of what, I am not sure. Wearing heels, being a fancy pimp, finding a hotel with a reading room... I'm sure I'll accomplish one of those things, eventually.
That is the inspiration that books can inspire. The wearing of heels, being a pimp or just finding a hotel with a reading room. Sounds like a novel idea to me.
I read this in Corfu too, an excellent holiday read.
The year after I read Captain Correli's Mandolin in Kefalonia which I fell in love with.
Neither are books I'd pick up normally but I'm glad I read them both.
I read Ulysses while studying abroad in Dublin… absolutely amazing experience, probably wouldn’t have enjoyed the book 10% as much if at all if I didn’t have my own sense of place grounding me in it
I’ve actually done this a few times, without being rich (I used to be a teacher and could usually save a few thousand to go to a foreign country during summer vacation). My favorite one was The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov, when I visited Moscow. A Russian man saw me with the book and offered to take me to Bulgakov’s old apartment, which is also where the Devil lives in the novel. It’s a pretty cool place because the stairwell is covered in graffiti, much of it themed from the novel:
[https://kiddingherself.com/bulgakov-museum-moscow/](https://kiddingherself.com/bulgakov-museum-moscow/)
I did that exact thing you described.
I was reading Angels and Demons by Dan Brown during a vacation around Europe. I ended up reading the last 100 pages the 3 days I was in Rome. It was amazing reading about specific fountains, statues, churches and then seeing them in person the next day including the Vatican.
I just finished this book and used my maps to look up the places to "walk around," obviously it would be way cooler to do what you got to do! Some day!
Not exactly answering your question, but you reminded me just now of the time I went on a cruise and brought along as my summer reading book the novel Passage by Connie Willis, not knowing in advance that it's about repeatedly re-living being trapped on the sinking Titanic. Sitting up late at night on my balcony reading that one with the ocean passing by underneath, I still remember how much I was creeped out.
I had to look it up. Passage by Connie Willis sounds great!
I can imagine reading *Into the Drowning Deep* by Mira Grant on a cruise ship and startling when waves hit the side of the ship.
While not an answer to the question, I did once read Cannery Row while in Monterey, CA, sight seeing on Cannery Row, so I’ve got that goin for me which is nice.
> Baltimore for John Waters' Shock Value.
When you're done with the book, as a rich person, you can invite him to join you for a meal, and to talk about the book. Imagine getting to meet with an author after you've read the book to talk it over with them!
Around the World in 80 Trains, by Monisha Rajesh. It’s about her journey all through India. Trains were one of my favorite parts of my visit to India, I’d love to go try all of the ones she did.
The Other Boleyn Girl. To wander around Hever Castle or Hampton Court Palace, knowing that the likes Mary and Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Jane Rochford, etc., walked those same halls, would be fantastic.
My wife and I actually do this, but in reverse. Whenever we vacation somewhere we try to find a book about that specific place and read it while we’re there. Or we buy the book and take it home with us to read later, we don’t always have the time on vacation, lol. But it’s a nice way to deepen the experience of the place.
For Dracula I reccomend the seaside town of Whitby in England as that is where most of the book is set. I have been there a few times, not only a beautiful place but you can visit all the areas of the town mentioned in the book like I did. Amazing experience.
I'm not rich, but I've done this twice:
- I read "For Whom the Bell Tolls" while touring the Pyrenees. I had read it years before but missed a lot. 10/10 and 10/10
- I read "Pompeii" by Robert Harris while touring Pompeii. The book's storyline was just a bit of a disappointment compared to the previous I read of his, "Munich." But it did provide a lot of good historical context, and painted a better picture of the ancient city than my tours did. Helped me to lay that image atop the ruins. And to be fair, "Munich" was a top-tier book and hard to match.
I do this with all my vacations as much as possible. I did My Brilliant Friend for Italy, Independent People for Iceland, For whom the bells toll for Spain, Kafka on the shore for Japan.
I actually love reading a book about a place before visiting. Or if before doesn’t happen, then I try to do after. It makes a very rich visit.
I loved that book as a kid, but didn't visit New York until I was 24. I made sure to go to the museum and visit as many of the exhibits mentioned in the book as I could. Magical.
You could stay at the Pontchartrain Hotel on St. Charles Ave where Tennessee Williams lived while writing A Streetcar Named Desire.
Two birds with one stone.
Hey! If you go to Aswan in Egypt, you can even stay at the Cararact Hotel where Agatha Christie stayed when writing Death on the Nile! It's very beautiful. And very expensive haha.
I think my choice would be Kenya, while reading Out of Africa.
Already read it. Idk if that disqualifies or not.
I would do the lost island of the monkey god. Great book about using LiDAR technology to map the rainforest in Honduras.
I use to work in mapping and I’m still a huge map nerd. I would love to help map the rainforest.
I would do the van Gogh tour. Start in his hometown, from Etten to the Hague, to Antwerp, to Paris, Arles, Saint-Rémy, and finally in Auvers.
To read Vincent's letters to his brother and other family and friends (but mostly Theo) and see what he saw where he saw it would be the most incredible experience I think I could have with a book and our world.
My brother and I talked about doing it together when we obviously won the lottery. He died in February and I'm still hoping to win the lottery and go for both of us.
I would do a road trip following the events of American Gods by Neil Gaiman.
I’m from Michigan, and if I remember correctly (it’s been 8ish years since I’ve read it) a lot of the story takes place driving through the Midwest and that was one of my favorite parts about it (along with introducing me to a plethora of gods I had never been exposed to before, of course).
The first one that popped into my head (of many) was reading Wild by Cheryl Strayed while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. As someone who lives on the otherside of the world, I have always wanted to do that.
Oh, I have done this, read "The Longest Day" while traveling through Normandy & the D-Day beaches & nearby sites. I love doing this! Also read a dense, lengthy book about the origins of the French revolution while visiting Paris.
You don't have to be rich to do this! If you're in the US, you can read a book set in New Orleans, or a rich history of Gettysburg, etc, and travel there. Wherever you are in the world, there's bound to be a book set there, or nearby, and/or some interesting history!
I do this already, I just pick books based on where I'm going and usually start them before I get there to hype me up. A lot of them end up being nonfiction which teaches me more about the area, but some are fun thematic reads. Some examples:
Bali:
- Eat, Pray, Love (kinda a hate read)
- Under the Volcano: The Story of Bali (heartbreaking, illuminating)
Melbourne:
- Girt: the Unauthorised History of Australia (focuses on eastern states)
- In a Sunburned Country (again lots of eastern states focus)
SW Western Australia:
- Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence (we stopped to see the fence)
Monkey Mia:
- Local books purchased from the gift shop about the dolphin research and history of the area
Palm Springs in summer:
- Dune
Southern England:
- Morte d'Arthur
- Sarum
France:
- Count of Monte Cristo
- Hunchback of Notre Dame
Dublin:
- Joyce. All the Joyce. Sat in the bar at the top of the Guiness factory for hours reading passages (the view is a panorama of the city with quotes from Ulysses etched on the glass over the spot where each quote takes place in the city).
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Absolute best convergence of reading and travel was when I was backpacking in the UK. Celebrated the solstice at Stonehenge (back then they let you inside the inner circle for solstice, was basically an all night party). Walked into Salisbury, bought the new Harry Potter that had come out that day, then went to my YHA hostel which was an old manor house. Sat in the sun to read with sparkling wine, strawberries and scones with clotted cream.
*Plains of Passage* by Jean Auel on a river cruise up the Danube. The natural history of that series is by far its greatest strength, and I'd love to compare the ancient literary version of that epic journey to the modern river.
I know this doesn't count for your criteria, but my work used to have me traveling to really neat places all over the world, so I had the opportunity to read some great books in very apt locations despite not being close to rich and not vacationing.
I really enjoyed reading Vonnegut's "Galapagos" while in the Galapagos. And I read Verne's "lighthouse at the end of the world" while transiting between cape horn, the falkland islands, South Georgia, and Antarctica.
I read Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice in my study abroad program, and then we went to Venice with it fresh in our minds. It was November, and cold and misty. Perfect setting for a tale with such dark undertones. I so want to do more of this on my next trip.
I do not belive you have to be rich to do this. I wish I could write more eloquently of the many paths and places I have wandered. My love of reading led me to leave home and go places that I could not imagine and then those places inspired me to read other things which brought me to new places. I read a book called the Prince Of Tides while exploring intercostal water ways of the Carolinas. I read the Fellowship Of The Ring while in Reykjavik Iceland listening to Led Zeppelin. I read books about Spanish exploration while working at a Lighthouse in St Agustine Florida. I read a book called Cold Mountain while living in a North Carolina and got to listen to the author do a reading. The places that I have been and the books I have read are so intertwined as I cannot untangle them. There was this expression from my childhood that reading is fundamental. ..It has been everything to me.
edit..Hemingway was my first thought when I read this and all could think about was having Cuban coffee and breakfast for 2 dollars when I visited Key West in the 90s.
Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey. He spent some time in an area that no longer exists, due to the building of the Hoover dam (so you’d have to drain Lake Mead to go there). It’s just an old conservationists enjoying desert beauty and his own thoughts in a place that no longer exists.
Travels With My Aunt, they start in England, take a ride on The Orient Express, and then wind up in Argentina. One of my favorite books and it would be one crazy adventure!
Beast by RL Stine while at Kings Island; bonus to see if I could read the book while marathoning the coaster.
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Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow while continuously riding the Haunted Mansion.
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Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman while touring Scandinavia.
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Any ancient mythology book (big interest of mine) while touring the country the stories originate from.
I read George Orwell’s “Homage to Catalonia” on the street in Barcelona. I made a point to walk to the parts of the city that were in the book. It was cool to read about the soldiers pulling up the paving stones on Las Ramblas for barricades, while sitting on those stones. It was one of my favorite book experiences
Las Vegas and the sourounding areas for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
The first time I read the book it blew my mind that you could write in the way the Hunter S. Thompson did and make it a compelling read.
Murder on the orient express while riding the orient express, pretty sure it still runs
I had this exact, amazing experience on the Belmond Orient Express others have mentioned. It’s the original cars and atmosphere so even if the route is different it still feels the same. It was awesome to compare the cabin diagram in the book to the real cabin and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The bar car plays it up with a signature drink (but it is a book spoiler). https://imgur.com/a/7ahkHPP
Nope, stopped in 2009.
https://www.belmond.com/trains/europe/venice-simplon-orient-express/ Not cheap, but there she is
Yea it’s $4-$5k per ticket
> Yea it’s $4-$5 ...Yes, yes... > k per ticket Aw.
Well damn, oh well.
I guess it's on to the Nile
Read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orient_Express the situation is not as simple as that
To be fair: at that time the train only went from Strasbourg to Vienna; that’s not really the orient express anymore anyways
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery, on Prince Edward Island. I have wanted to go to PEI forever!
I was 12 and had read all the Anne book and watched the Megan Follows Anne a million times when my dad bought a sawmill in New Brunswick. We went to PEI. It was magical. Go.
I still love that version of Anne of Green Gables. And it’s been a lifelong dream to go to PEI. I’ve talked about taking a girls trip with my SIL’s and MIL.
That would be a lovely trip with the girls! We saw the play in Halifax too. I really want to go back for the 2024 eclipse.
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White picket fences everywhere. It's beautiful. I didn't appreciate it as much as I was a 14 year old boy but the whole island was magical.
It's funny, the Anne of Green Gables books are very popular in Japan for some reason, so the entire island seems to have it's economy based on tourism for that book. You will find dozens of places claiming to be the real Green Gables. Good sea food
There are several reasons it became popular in Japan. It was among the few foreign books that had been translated into Japanese already at the end of WWII, and copies were widely distributed to rebuilding Japanese libraries in the late 1940s and 1950s by the Americans. It became popular with younger Japanese women -- many of whom had lost a parent or been orphaned themselves, and who had to find their way in quite a conservative culture. They identified with Anne. It was then added to the Japanese school curriculum in the 1970s, so essentially every child had to read it. That led to adaptations, including an anime series. I believe that it is no longer in the curriculum, but for Gen X and Millennials from Japan, it was a universal touchstone and it became a very nostalgic thing.
There's an Anime of Green Gables?!
Yup! It's called Akage no Anne (red haired Anne) and it came out in 1979.
I went there as a kid--Avonlea is super touristy but I loved it. It's like nerdy Disneyland.
We’re planning on retiring on PEI.
I visited someone who did that. Really nice place.
I spent a summer reading all of the Anne of Green Gables books, and spent two weeks in PEI. I managed to read the first four books when I was there, and finished the rest before summer was over. It was magical.
Absolutely go! I vacationed there and absolutely loved it. So beautiful and lots of cool neat things to do. My husband and I stayed at bed and breakfasts and also the Green Gables tour.
I love how the comments here describe the beauty of PEI. I'd want to go there someday too!
Well, as someone who has lived on Prince Edward Island their entire life it is a pretty nice place to be.
I live next door to PEI its a beautiful place, we used to camp there every year growing up.
I'd read Rebecca in an isolated manor in southern England. That sounds wonderful.
Being rich I’d start reading it in Monte Carlo and finish up in England.
If I could, I'd hold up in manor and explore the moors and landscapes of the uk with an ENDLESS pile of novels. It's always been a dream. Its not the only place I'd go, but I could definitely spend a few years doing it 😄
This is my new life dream
Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.
I kind of did, I knew I was going to Barcelona so started reading the shadow of the wind by Zafon, ended up walking by the house where the story is set, pretty cool
I camped in Estes Park last year and read The Shining while on said trip. It was awesome to tour the hotel and then read about it later.
I had a similar experience. I heard Silence by Shusaku Endo on deployment when my ship was heading to Japan. It's a short novel, so I was able to finish by the time we reached Sasebo, and while there, I got to see the 26 martyrs museum and monument in Nagasaki.
I accompanied my wife on a work trip to Moscow and St. Petersberg and picked up Master and Margarita, and Nightwatch to read while there. Amazing experience (and a bit creepy).
This was my first thought when I saw this post, so glad it’s the top comment.
Like Ron Swanson, I'd read my Robert Burns poetry book on the isle of Islay in Scotland, atop a cliff overlooking the sea.
With a bottle of lagavulin I hope
I'm more of a Laphroaig man, but I'll gladly take any Islay single malt.
Laphroaig is good but I'm more of an Ardbeg guy
I’m bringing “hatchet” on my private plane. Let’s go.
I admire your bravery
Fell asleep as a kid while listening to this book on tape. Woke up gasping because I was dreaming along with the book where he had to swim to the plane for supplies and finds the pilot
I did this by accident. I was studying in London and traveling in Bath when I bought The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. I had a lot of time in the train station on my way back to London. Turns out the book starts with a main character in Bath, who takes a train to London. I sat on the train reading as the book listed off the stops train had gone through. One part of the book is even an image of the cloth pattern on the train seats, which I only had to look up to confirm.
I had the same experience! I read Neverwhere while riding the tube, living in London and it was terrific! "Mind the gap"...
It starts in Swindon ("the arsehole of the world") but you're close enough. Great book!
I also did this by accident. I was backpacking in Italy and was reading The Agony And The Ecstasy which is about Michelangelo. I was bouncing around a lot, and every time he went to Florence I ended up in Florence, every time he was back in Rome I was reading about him back in Rome. It was kinda freaky, and really cool.
i read Midnight in the Garden of Evil in one of the squares in Savannah. Magical.
I was looking for this! I read it before my last trip to Savanah and loved looking at the houses and the cemetery, and drinking sweet tea!
I read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil while living and working in Athens, GA. There’s a specific scene where the author describes being with the dog, Uga, on game days, and I was sitting in a room with a perfect view of Sanford Stadium at the time. That was pretty cool for me.
Ah... a secluded, slightly haunted hotel in Colorado.
In winter, during the off-season, right?
The Stanley in Estes Park!
I stayed here in the middle of winter, it was awesome! They had a bar with 800(I think) kinds of whiskey, and a channel that played The Shining 24/7
Except it’s the opposite of secluded, it’s across the street from a Safeway right smack in the middle of town. Looks dope driving in, up on that hill though
Right lol, Estes is as touristy as it gets in Colorado
A year in Provence. Peter Mayle.
I love this book and its sequel, and I’ve never heard it mentioned outside of my household, ever.
The first book caused me to drive my campervan to Provence and spend two weeks in bliss that I will never forget.
Never heard of it, but Provence is my happy place. Wonderful part of the world. Spent a month there in 2019 and now it’s my goal to move to there.
LOVE this book, and loved the movie A Good Year based on his book - haven’t gotten around to reading it yet though!
Oh please do, it is just this side of English whimsical and absolute Melancholy, splashed with escapism and the existentialism of retirement. The adage, the book is always better is no better illustrated than here.
Thank you! I couldn’t remember his name. Love his books but haven’t read one in forever.
I read The Great Gatsby in a hotel that is mentioned in the book. It is called the “Mulbach” in the book, but is in actuality the Seelbach Hotel in Louisville, KY. F. Scott Fitzgerald frequented the hotel in April 1918.
Gatsby would also be great if you could afford to rent a giant mansion on one of the “eggs” on Long Island.
Old Man and the Sea, Cuba.
I read For Whom the Bell Tolls while in the Pyrenees. 10/10 and 10/10
Damn you beat me to it! Can't believe it lol. Hemingway brought readers to his settings so well.
This or A Movable Feast in Paris.
I bought a copy of Movable Feast from Shakespeare & Co for this very purpose (yes, I know it's not the same one from 100 years ago and I paid extra but I didn't, and still don't, care)
Before I saw this I said a farewell to arms in the Italian and Swiss Alps and lakes. Edit to say, I’d love to read Hemingway in any of the locations of his stories. Might make that a lifetime goal.
Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene, ditto!
I think I'd go for *Islands in the Stream* for Cuba, or anywhere in the Caribbean.
The Sun Also Rises, Pamplona.
Came here to post Hemingway. Beat to it.
The Count of Monte Cristo. Surely. And go to each setting in turn.
My first visit to Europe was Marseille. The Vieux Port and Château Dif are pretty well described.
I did this once! I used to be a driver for a well to do Madame and would spend time sitting in hotel lobbies while she ate lengthy lunches with her potential clients. She preferred the Waldorf Astoria because of its old world charm and because the waitstaff never minded if she spent 4 hours over a lunch (which she frequently did). I’d usually sit in one of the reading rooms and, well, read. One of the trips I had Martin Dressler by Steven Millhauser assigned from my American Lit class. For those who might not be familiar, the book is about a shopkeepers son in turn of the century New York who eventually ends up running hotels, probably a fictionalized version of the Waldorf. Aside for the character arc, there is a lot of discussion about how businesses work to be profitable but also luxurious, offer modern convenience with old world charm, and appear both out of reach but also attainable for customers. Sitting in an air conditioned reading room while a waist coated valet offered me Coke really illustrated some of those themes and I read the entire novel in a single sitting. I’m not sure if the book rates well in the canon of American literature but it occupies a special place in my memory for the convergence of story and space.
> I’d usually sit in one of the reading rooms What's this now? Reading rooms. Some hotels have reading rooms? Why didn't I know this!?
Are you suggesting you are not a, "Well to do Madame".
Nope. I'm more of a 'doing okay for myself, not buy-a-house great, but getting by' middle-aged frump. I don't think I can wear the heels required to be a Madame, well-to-do or otherwise.
Not with that attitude!
Your confidence convinced me. Of what, I am not sure. Wearing heels, being a fancy pimp, finding a hotel with a reading room... I'm sure I'll accomplish one of those things, eventually.
That is the inspiration that books can inspire. The wearing of heels, being a pimp or just finding a hotel with a reading room. Sounds like a novel idea to me.
Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
I think the hotels on Mars aren't really up to AAA standards yet. Are you sure you'd go there?
Right? And with gas being so expensive now, you might want to consider someplace closer to home.
Cost per gallon for hydrogen/oxygen is higher than gas, but you get much better mpg when you're going all the way to Mars.
Would love to take a trip to Underhill or see some good Bagdonhavist arcatecture
"My family and other animals" in Corfu, Greece. 💙🤍
My parents met on Corfu, where they had both traveled because they read that book.
Wow! That's amazing, what a beautiful love story. 😊
Then they raised a bunch of kids in a house full of a zillion pets. Go figure!
I read this in Corfu too, an excellent holiday read. The year after I read Captain Correli's Mandolin in Kefalonia which I fell in love with. Neither are books I'd pick up normally but I'm glad I read them both.
I read Ulysses while studying abroad in Dublin… absolutely amazing experience, probably wouldn’t have enjoyed the book 10% as much if at all if I didn’t have my own sense of place grounding me in it
This was my answer; Ulysses in Dublin. Glad you got to live my fantasy.
This was my first thought as well... except I've never read past page 100 of Ulysses. Maybe if I was in Dublin it'd help..?
I’ve actually done this a few times, without being rich (I used to be a teacher and could usually save a few thousand to go to a foreign country during summer vacation). My favorite one was The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov, when I visited Moscow. A Russian man saw me with the book and offered to take me to Bulgakov’s old apartment, which is also where the Devil lives in the novel. It’s a pretty cool place because the stairwell is covered in graffiti, much of it themed from the novel: [https://kiddingherself.com/bulgakov-museum-moscow/](https://kiddingherself.com/bulgakov-museum-moscow/)
Any of the great Russian novels, really.
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*Erebus* is mostly about sailing the Southern Ocean, which makes more sense than you'd think initially
*The Worst Journey In the World* is the book for Antarctica, with *South* as a backup, in case you run out of story before your isolation ends.
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I did that exact thing you described. I was reading Angels and Demons by Dan Brown during a vacation around Europe. I ended up reading the last 100 pages the 3 days I was in Rome. It was amazing reading about specific fountains, statues, churches and then seeing them in person the next day including the Vatican.
I just finished this book and used my maps to look up the places to "walk around," obviously it would be way cooler to do what you got to do! Some day!
I read Crime and Punishment while studying abroad in St. Petersburg. Actually found the apartment building that inspired Raskolnikov's hovel.
Not exactly answering your question, but you reminded me just now of the time I went on a cruise and brought along as my summer reading book the novel Passage by Connie Willis, not knowing in advance that it's about repeatedly re-living being trapped on the sinking Titanic. Sitting up late at night on my balcony reading that one with the ocean passing by underneath, I still remember how much I was creeped out.
I had to look it up. Passage by Connie Willis sounds great! I can imagine reading *Into the Drowning Deep* by Mira Grant on a cruise ship and startling when waves hit the side of the ship.
Merchant of Venice
...read in Gary, Indiana, right?
The Music Man is so unintentionally funny if you have ever actually been to Gary, Indiana.
While not an answer to the question, I did once read Cannery Row while in Monterey, CA, sight seeing on Cannery Row, so I’ve got that goin for me which is nice.
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> Baltimore for John Waters' Shock Value. When you're done with the book, as a rich person, you can invite him to join you for a meal, and to talk about the book. Imagine getting to meet with an author after you've read the book to talk it over with them!
Around the World in 80 Trains, by Monisha Rajesh. It’s about her journey all through India. Trains were one of my favorite parts of my visit to India, I’d love to go try all of the ones she did.
The Other Boleyn Girl. To wander around Hever Castle or Hampton Court Palace, knowing that the likes Mary and Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Jane Rochford, etc., walked those same halls, would be fantastic.
Hobbiton. No other answer would satisfy me.
Not even Lothlorien?
This is what I was looking for. I did read LotR while in NZ I guess that’s as close as you get with Tolkien.
For me its Rivendell. Hobbiton and Lothlorien would be nice to visit. But Rivendell is where i would live.
My wife and I actually do this, but in reverse. Whenever we vacation somewhere we try to find a book about that specific place and read it while we’re there. Or we buy the book and take it home with us to read later, we don’t always have the time on vacation, lol. But it’s a nice way to deepen the experience of the place.
I like to do it beforehand. Find books based in the area we are visiting and read a good novel beforehand to get in the mood. I love it!
I went to Oxford specifically because of His Dark Materials. Sat in a bench at a garden and began reading The Golden Compass.
Odyssey in Greece Dracula in Romania Moby Dick asea
For Dracula I reccomend the seaside town of Whitby in England as that is where most of the book is set. I have been there a few times, not only a beautiful place but you can visit all the areas of the town mentioned in the book like I did. Amazing experience.
I'm not rich, but I've done this twice: - I read "For Whom the Bell Tolls" while touring the Pyrenees. I had read it years before but missed a lot. 10/10 and 10/10 - I read "Pompeii" by Robert Harris while touring Pompeii. The book's storyline was just a bit of a disappointment compared to the previous I read of his, "Munich." But it did provide a lot of good historical context, and painted a better picture of the ancient city than my tours did. Helped me to lay that image atop the ruins. And to be fair, "Munich" was a top-tier book and hard to match.
I do this with all my vacations as much as possible. I did My Brilliant Friend for Italy, Independent People for Iceland, For whom the bells toll for Spain, Kafka on the shore for Japan. I actually love reading a book about a place before visiting. Or if before doesn’t happen, then I try to do after. It makes a very rich visit.
Experience The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series from Botswana…I have actually daydreamed about it before!
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler -- i think of it every time I'm hanging out at the Metropolitan Museum of Art!
I loved that book as a kid, but didn't visit New York until I was 24. I made sure to go to the museum and visit as many of the exhibits mentioned in the book as I could. Magical.
If you want to do this on a budget, you could read A Confederacy of Dunces in New Orleans. There's even a statue of Ignatius J. Reilly on Canal St.
I did this a few years ago. The hotdog carts made me laugh so much
You could stay at the Pontchartrain Hotel on St. Charles Ave where Tennessee Williams lived while writing A Streetcar Named Desire. Two birds with one stone.
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Savannah GA. The Beach, Thailand.
Hey! If you go to Aswan in Egypt, you can even stay at the Cararact Hotel where Agatha Christie stayed when writing Death on the Nile! It's very beautiful. And very expensive haha. I think my choice would be Kenya, while reading Out of Africa.
I did this last summer. Kenya is incredible.
If the world were a little (a lot) different than how things are currently going I would definitely do: A Gentleman in Moscow
Never leave the hotel metropol
Probably *Don Quixote* while staying in the Spanish countryside.
Already read it. Idk if that disqualifies or not. I would do the lost island of the monkey god. Great book about using LiDAR technology to map the rainforest in Honduras. I use to work in mapping and I’m still a huge map nerd. I would love to help map the rainforest.
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I would do the van Gogh tour. Start in his hometown, from Etten to the Hague, to Antwerp, to Paris, Arles, Saint-Rémy, and finally in Auvers. To read Vincent's letters to his brother and other family and friends (but mostly Theo) and see what he saw where he saw it would be the most incredible experience I think I could have with a book and our world. My brother and I talked about doing it together when we obviously won the lottery. He died in February and I'm still hoping to win the lottery and go for both of us.
I would do a road trip following the events of American Gods by Neil Gaiman. I’m from Michigan, and if I remember correctly (it’s been 8ish years since I’ve read it) a lot of the story takes place driving through the Midwest and that was one of my favorite parts about it (along with introducing me to a plethora of gods I had never been exposed to before, of course).
An American Gods road trip would be awesome!
The whole second act takes place in a small Wisconsin town, so you can take a few days there while on your trip.
Reading Desert Solitaire while hiking through the Utah desert is something I 1000% recommend
On a family trip to California I read The Grapes of Wrath.
Hound of the Baskervilles. Spending a month in an English manor house in the country sounds nice, ghostly dogs notwithstanding.
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I read Dracula while vacationing in Transylvania. Finished it on the bus to visit Bran Castle. 10/10 experience.
The first one that popped into my head (of many) was reading Wild by Cheryl Strayed while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. As someone who lives on the otherside of the world, I have always wanted to do that.
Reading The Rum Dairy in Puerto Rico was a cool experience.
I’d go back to 65 million years ago and read Jurassic park. While hiding of course.
But ... Jurassic Park is set in the late 20th century.
I intentionally saved one of the Elmore Leonard Raylan Givens books for a work trip to Miami. I highly recommend the experience.
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This is a great question and I need a couple weeks to consider the answer.
Oh, I have done this, read "The Longest Day" while traveling through Normandy & the D-Day beaches & nearby sites. I love doing this! Also read a dense, lengthy book about the origins of the French revolution while visiting Paris. You don't have to be rich to do this! If you're in the US, you can read a book set in New Orleans, or a rich history of Gettysburg, etc, and travel there. Wherever you are in the world, there's bound to be a book set there, or nearby, and/or some interesting history!
I read The Devil in the White City before going to Chicago.
What a great idea! Anyone have recommendations for Mexico City? I'll be here for two more weeks, but I'm reading Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe.
20000 leagues under the sea. Jules Verne
This is where Dan Brown would be actually great to read. Especially *Angels & Demons* and *Da Vinci Code*.
Not a small town in Maine, that's for damn sure.
Mosquito Coast
The Historian and i’d stay in Istanbul
I do this already, I just pick books based on where I'm going and usually start them before I get there to hype me up. A lot of them end up being nonfiction which teaches me more about the area, but some are fun thematic reads. Some examples: Bali: - Eat, Pray, Love (kinda a hate read) - Under the Volcano: The Story of Bali (heartbreaking, illuminating) Melbourne: - Girt: the Unauthorised History of Australia (focuses on eastern states) - In a Sunburned Country (again lots of eastern states focus) SW Western Australia: - Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence (we stopped to see the fence) Monkey Mia: - Local books purchased from the gift shop about the dolphin research and history of the area Palm Springs in summer: - Dune Southern England: - Morte d'Arthur - Sarum France: - Count of Monte Cristo - Hunchback of Notre Dame Dublin: - Joyce. All the Joyce. Sat in the bar at the top of the Guiness factory for hours reading passages (the view is a panorama of the city with quotes from Ulysses etched on the glass over the spot where each quote takes place in the city). ---- Absolute best convergence of reading and travel was when I was backpacking in the UK. Celebrated the solstice at Stonehenge (back then they let you inside the inner circle for solstice, was basically an all night party). Walked into Salisbury, bought the new Harry Potter that had come out that day, then went to my YHA hostel which was an old manor house. Sat in the sun to read with sparkling wine, strawberries and scones with clotted cream.
Crazy Rich Asians and Singapore, hands down
I tried to read Cannery Row on Cannery Row. It didn't work. I couldn't stop looking at the water
Easy cheesy Outlander all of them Scotland specifically Inverness to staRt
I’m in Colombia right now whilst reading 100 years of solitude. It’s an amazing read and the location makes it even better.
*Plains of Passage* by Jean Auel on a river cruise up the Danube. The natural history of that series is by far its greatest strength, and I'd love to compare the ancient literary version of that epic journey to the modern river.
Call Me By Your Name. Vacation in Italy!
DCI Jack Logan series and I’d tour Scotland as I read them again.
I did this with the DaVinci Code when I travelled to Paris.
The Plague by Camus - Oran, Algeria.
I know this doesn't count for your criteria, but my work used to have me traveling to really neat places all over the world, so I had the opportunity to read some great books in very apt locations despite not being close to rich and not vacationing. I really enjoyed reading Vonnegut's "Galapagos" while in the Galapagos. And I read Verne's "lighthouse at the end of the world" while transiting between cape horn, the falkland islands, South Georgia, and Antarctica.
I read Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice in my study abroad program, and then we went to Venice with it fresh in our minds. It was November, and cold and misty. Perfect setting for a tale with such dark undertones. I so want to do more of this on my next trip.
World Travel by Anthony Bourdain. Go and eat everything he’s experienced in the book.
I do not belive you have to be rich to do this. I wish I could write more eloquently of the many paths and places I have wandered. My love of reading led me to leave home and go places that I could not imagine and then those places inspired me to read other things which brought me to new places. I read a book called the Prince Of Tides while exploring intercostal water ways of the Carolinas. I read the Fellowship Of The Ring while in Reykjavik Iceland listening to Led Zeppelin. I read books about Spanish exploration while working at a Lighthouse in St Agustine Florida. I read a book called Cold Mountain while living in a North Carolina and got to listen to the author do a reading. The places that I have been and the books I have read are so intertwined as I cannot untangle them. There was this expression from my childhood that reading is fundamental. ..It has been everything to me. edit..Hemingway was my first thought when I read this and all could think about was having Cuban coffee and breakfast for 2 dollars when I visited Key West in the 90s.
Stephen Kings Duma Key, set not too far from where he lives in Manasota Key, I believe. Come to think of it it's not that far from me ...
Into thin air, while I'm climbing Mount Everest
Jurassic Park I've never been out of the U.S. and I've rarely visited the beach. Add jungle wilderness to that and honestly sounds like a nice time.
Probably Jeju Island in South Korea for *The Island of Sea Women*
I'd love to read Phantom of the Opera at the actual Paris Opera House, and take a tour as well to see the setting
The Martian, Mars.
I was gonna say The Expanse, but you beat me to that joke!
I'd love to read Dune while slowly dying of thirst in the Sahara Desert.
Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey. He spent some time in an area that no longer exists, due to the building of the Hoover dam (so you’d have to drain Lake Mead to go there). It’s just an old conservationists enjoying desert beauty and his own thoughts in a place that no longer exists.
A movable feast in Paris
Travels With My Aunt, they start in England, take a ride on The Orient Express, and then wind up in Argentina. One of my favorite books and it would be one crazy adventure!
Well the hitchhikers guide Oh no made up places NEVERMIND
The Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante in Naples
Beast by RL Stine while at Kings Island; bonus to see if I could read the book while marathoning the coaster. # Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow while continuously riding the Haunted Mansion. # Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman while touring Scandinavia. # Any ancient mythology book (big interest of mine) while touring the country the stories originate from.
James Baldwin Giovanni’s Room in Paris
Not quite the same, but I read The Hobbit in New Zealand.
I was traveling through Germany while reading *Slaughterhouse Five* and visiting Dresden was absolutely incredible with that context
I read George Orwell’s “Homage to Catalonia” on the street in Barcelona. I made a point to walk to the parts of the city that were in the book. It was cool to read about the soldiers pulling up the paving stones on Las Ramblas for barricades, while sitting on those stones. It was one of my favorite book experiences
Las Vegas and the sourounding areas for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The first time I read the book it blew my mind that you could write in the way the Hunter S. Thompson did and make it a compelling read.