Great Novels to Read in Great Places
Great works of fiction have the power to transport us to different times and places. In a similar vein, reading an involving piece of fiction in a new travel destination can open doors to understanding you’re the world around you.
You read guidebooks for the places you visit, so why not a novel? Like guidebooks, novels can be great tools for discovering more about the history, culture and folklore of a city. To take things a step further, reading a really great piece of fiction in the city it’s set in can lead you to experience your location in new and unexpected ways.
Even if you aren’t an enormous bookworm like I am, there are a lot of classic books that can broaden your understanding of a city. It’s often called literary tourism. Here are some of my top picks:
A Study in Scarlet, Arthur Conan Doyle
Where: London, UK
Just underneath the busy surface of modern London life lies a notorious Victorian past. Many authors, from Dickens to Trollope, wrote about life during this exciting, smoky time, but no fictional character is as iconic as Sherlock Holmes. In this, the first of Doyle’s stories about Holmes, you can see the detective race about the streets of the sinister, foggy London that existed just 150 years ago.
Visit: 221b Baker Street- a museum of the “historic home of Watson and Crick” (not many literary tourism characters are vivid enough to spark their own house museums).
The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway
Where: Madrid and Pamplona, Spain
Oh to be beautiful, rich and nihilistic in post-war Europe. The characters of Hemingway’s first masterpiece spend most of their time drinking and hooking up among the sights of Western Europe (early backpacker prototypes perhaps?). Twisted through the narrative are vivid descriptions of the running of the bulls and the culture of bullfighting in Pamplona, imagery often not associated with literary tourism.
Visit: Botin’s restaurant in Madrid. A favorite of Hemingway’s which he wrote into a late scene of the novel.
Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Where: Cartagena, Colombia
In addition to being one of the great love stories of the twentieth century, Marquez’s novel takes place in a fictional version of this flowery Colombian city. Although the author renames most of the landmarks he mentions, many iconic square and houses are vividly described. The flowery prose of the novel reflects the leafy, colonial style and charm of the crumbling city.
Visit: The Plaza Fernández de Madrid (renamed in the novel as the Park of the Evangels) is one of the primary settings of the book and a must-see literary tourism spot.
The Quiet American, Grahame Green
Where: Ho Chi Ming City
Vietnam is a country with a dramatic and complex past; a good novel is a great way to explore the human side of this history. Greene pulls from his own experiences as an ex-pat in Saigon during the disintegration of French-colonial rule in the 1940’s. While obviously an ethnocentric view of events, this literary tourism cum novel provides a great peek into a bygone era and lifestyle.
Visit: The Continental Hotel- a swanky, historic gathering place of foreign journalists for almost a century now, which was a frequently mentioned meeting place in the novel.
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, John Berendt
Where: Savannah, Georgia
Savannah is a beautiful and complex southern city. Although not technically a novel, Berendt’s dramatization of a high-profile murder case and the colorful characters that surround it provides a key to unlocking the city culture. While the city needs no assistance in feeling elegantly old-fashioned, the book sheds light on a more personal, local experience.
Visit: Skip the packaged book tours and take a drive out to Bonaventure Cemetery, an impressive and beautiful tract where Berendt spends a spooky night with a local voodoo princess.
These are just a few examples of the ways that the right piece of literature can open your eyes and mind. If you’re interested in exploring the concept of literary tourism more thoroughly, here are some websites to check out:
Photo by raindog, Eneko Alonso, luchilu, *etoile’s, byrdiegyrl
Stephanie Yoder runs Twenty-Something Travel, a travel blog dedicated to assisting new or young travelers with the skills, resources and opportunities available to them for travel abroad. When not traveling the world she lives in Washington DC.
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May 24th, 2010 at 5:33 pm
One of my favorite books takes place in my home and favorite city: Confederacy of Dunces and New Orleans.
May 24th, 2010 at 7:34 pm
Enjoyed the post and will have a look at the sites you mentioned.
I nearly always read something set in the place I’m visiting. After my last year I’ve even got a bit of a backlog and am currently reading “The Museum of Innocence” by Orhan Pamuk , a novel set in Istanbul. I’m not sure I would have taken it on a trip as it is quite a large volume. ( His book called Istanbul would be a better travel choice).
May 24th, 2010 at 10:32 pm
I love Study in Scarlet but I’ve always thought that Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is overrated. I could add a lot more to this list but one that has directly impacted our travel plans is the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith who beautifully describes Botswana.
May 25th, 2010 at 12:53 am
I want to visit Savannah BECAUSE OF the Midnight Garden of Good and Evil. I can’t wait to get there some day!
May 25th, 2010 at 5:12 pm
“The Quiet American” is such a great Vietnam novel–or novel, period. I also recommend the less well-known “In the River Sweet” to anyone going to that country. It provides a glimpse of life in Saigon during the early years of the war. And I recommend “Fieldwork” to travelers heading to the north of Thailand–or wishing they were heading there, anyway.
May 25th, 2010 at 5:13 pm
I read The Da Vinci Code right before going to Paris and Angels and Demons while in Rome. I got way too into it and dedicated a chunk of my trip to going to all the churches mentioned in Angels and Demons. I also read Memoirs of a Geisha while in Kyoto and visited the town in which it took place. I always read Eat Pray Love before taking off on a big trip to give me the excitement and inspiration.
This makes traveling and reading more fun!
May 25th, 2010 at 5:28 pm
This article is kind of frustrating. Now I am DYING to go to some of these places – like Savannah (road trip, JoAnna?) but now I feel like I have to re-read these classics and revisit places I’ve already been. Oh, the woes….
May 26th, 2010 at 2:12 pm
Shucks, I was hoping there would be at least one book on the list that I’ve already read. I need to go to the library now.
May 28th, 2010 at 12:17 am
Lovely article, and you’re SO right about novels providing a good guide to a place. Great pictures, too. Are they yours?
Finally, thanks so much for mentioning A Traveler’s Library.
June 20th, 2010 at 7:19 pm
I’m a big fan of this kind of travel. I just read Don Quixote in southern Spain for this very same reason. Also Love in the Time of Cholera is one of my favorite books!
June 24th, 2010 at 7:38 pm
So inspiring!
Do any of you have any tips for books to read when traveling to Chicago, Nashville and Memphis?
July 29th, 2010 at 1:31 pm
Brilliant! I’m putting A Study in Scarlet on my burgeoning To Read list!
August 22nd, 2010 at 7:14 pm
The Southeastern Literary Tourism Initiative (SELTI) is a blog written by Patrick Brian Miller. He writes fictional short stories about real places to help promote tourism. Patrick Brian Miller is a very talented writer and spends a great deal of time researching the location before his writing begins. He adds photos throughout that enhance the story and illustrates the fact that he is talking about a real place. I have enjoyed visiting places in the Southeastern US through his work.
August 24th, 2010 at 11:35 pm
Great tip, Nancy, thank you!