And no I don't mean travel guides. My favorites are books that give me more back round about where I am going and what I will be seeing. Some are non fiction but others are historical fiction that make it more readable for some. Here are some of my favorites:
Planning a stop at Versailles while you are in Paris? The Sun King by Nancy Mitford is easy to read and is an excellent biography of Louis XIV and how and why he transformed Versailles from a small hunting lodge into the seat of the French Government. For a more extended history of the palace, try To Dance with Kings by Rosalind Laker. It covers the history of the palace till the French Revolution through the fictional story of a family and how their history is interwoven with Versailles.
Heading to Hawaii or doing an Alaskan cruise? James Michener's books Hawaii & Alaska should be on your reading list. While they are fictional, Michener always did a thorough job of historical research, so the books are very readable and it gives you a view of how these states grew and some of the challenges of the different types of people who populate the state view each other.
God Save the Queen! Heading to the UK? Read up about Her Majesty. Elizabeth, The Queen by Sally Bedell Smith was publish for the Diamond Jubilee in 2012. Ms Smith had access to friends of the Queen and there are some funny antidotes in there. Even better is The Final Curtsey, by Margaret Rhodes, who is 1st cousin to HM. Mrs. Rhodes was also a lady in waiting to her aunt, the late Queen Mother. So lots of good insider information and great informal family pictures of the Queen. Also any of the books written by the late Dowager Duchess of Devonshire about her family estate Chatsworth are a must if you are visiting "stately homes". Her and her late husband really lead the way in saving and changing the views of the great country houses of England. Plus she's Nancy Mitford's youngest sister and like Nancy, she has a very readable style of writing.
Istanbul a port of call on your Eastern Med cruise? Did you know it was previously known as Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, later the Byzantine Empire? They kept the Greco-Roman knowledge alive while the West went through the Dark & Middle Ages. Lars Brownworth's Lost to the West is a great readable history of the Byzantine Empire from the foundation of the city by Constantine the Great to 1453 when the city was taken over by the Ottoman Turks. Andrew Novo's Queen of Cities is the story of the last siege of Constantinople.
Why do a little reading before your trip? If you are doing a tour your guide will appreciate that you did a little homework before hand and seem really interested in what you are seeing and can ask intelligent questions. Also maybe this wasn't your top vacation pick, instead of doing some low level sulking maybe doing a little swotting up before hand may change your mind that this isn't that bad. Plus if you play nice next time you may get your top vacation pick.
No comments:
Post a Comment