marfa book company, where i found the history of giant, which was later written into a movie filmed in marfa
in case you haven’t heard, my husband is now a doctor. not the real kind of doctor, as he likes to say, but the kind that still gets some awesome initials after the name (i’d like to think that “cpa” still counts for something, but so far it’s not working in my favor). these initials (ph.d. in case you haven’t yet caught on) are from his five years spent learning everything there is about government and history. this proves to be a really useful skill when we travel and i say things like “now this country was on which side of the war?”
it’s official: he’s a doctor!
history was always my worst subject (ok, and chemistry). i could never remember the names and the battles, and the years just always blended together for me (is there really much difference between 1225 and 1290?). thankfully, travel is changing that, and making it more real to me than the pages of my former textbooks.
i have found that i really enjoy immersing myself in a travel destination through books, movies, and music. when traveling last summer to monterey, california, i read john steinbeck’s cannery row. not only did we visit cannery row and see the places on which the book was based, but we were also able to visit the steinbeck center in salinas and learn about steinbeck’s life growing up in salinas, and the true stories that inspired the book.
the pacific biological laboratories, fictionalized into western biological labs in steinbeck’s cannery row (monterey, ca)
i watched vicky cristina barcelona before my trip to barcelona. i read giant while traveling to marfa (still a favorite). i picked up a copy of a moose and a lobster walk into a bar while stopped at a light house in portland, maine. and a tale of two cities made the french revolution come to life much more than that world history class i took as a freshman. what better way to learn about the people and culture of a place than to read their stories and learn the history that defines the location?
interior of marfa book company, with tons of books on art, texas, and art in texas
other suggestions:
– read don quixote when in madrid and alcalá de henares (alcalá claims to be the birthplace of cervantes)
– read the age of innocence when in new york
– watch paris, je t’aime before heading to paris
what are some of your favorite location-specific reads/movies?
update: after writing this post, i was strolling through elliott bay book company in seattle (great bookstore if you are in the area), and came across an amazing resource, book lust to go. this book lists reading options (fiction and non-fiction) based on destinations. since i was about to head to barcelona, i checked the spain section, and it had the recommendation of the shadow of the wind, which takes place in 1945 barcelona, and was perfect for my trip (and long enough for the trans-atlantic flight). book lust to go is exactly what i’ve been looking for – pick up a copy!
visiting park guell in barcelona, as seen in vicky cristina barcelona
map of steinbeck’s travels in “travels with charley” at the steinbeck center in salinas, ca