Book Picks: Europe

Like all great travelers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen. Benjamin Disraeli

Europe (in general)

Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe
Bill Bryson

Although most anyone who has read Bryson is immediately drawn to his eccentric and funny sense of humor (I defy you to read any passage in this book about his sidekick Katz and not laugh out loud), his genius is evident in the things reader don't notice: his informative tidbits and his ability to simultaneosly convey the sense of wonder of a first time traveler and the sophisticated comments of a lifelong adventurer. As a writer, I respect Bryson immensely. Combining both the ability to entertain and inform is hard and no one does it as well as Bryson.

The North Sea (Iceland, Greenland, Faeroe Islands, etc)

Last Places: A Journey in the North
Lawrence Millman

A Journey in the North is one of those rare books that so deftly tells the allures and challenges of a remote corner of the Earth that it makes you fall in love with a place you never thought you'd care much about. How does Millman acheive such a hard task? First, Millman truly loves the eccentric people and places that inhabit this barren but dramatic region of the Earth. Second, he is the consummate researcher and explorer. The result: one of the few travel books written in the last twenty years that seems bound to be a classic!

Great Britain

The Kingdom by the Sea: A Journey Around Great Britain
Paul Theroux

Kingdom by the Sea is one of Theroux's best work. While ostensibly a tale of the people Theroux meets while traveling around the country (just like his other books), Kingdom by the Sea displays a subtle sense of intimacy with the people under examination -- the British -- that does not exist in Theroux's other tomes. Reading this book gives you a revealing, and ultimately flattering, view of the British soul (at least as it existed twenty years ago).

My Love Affair with England: A Traveler's Memoir
Susan Allen Toth

My Love Affair with England is an elegantly written, compassionate look at how the author's relationship with England has both mirrored and changed her life. While overall the book is an unapologetic paean to all of Britain's charms, Toth skillfully avoids becoming too "rah-rah". She tells us with great honesty about the times she had a roller coaster relationship with Britain. By the end of the book, you find Toth's Britain loveable and picturesque. In fact, Toth gave me an urge to go back to Britain that didn't exist before I read the book. I can't give a book higher praise than that!

Ireland

Round Ireland with a Fridge
Tony Hawks

Round Ireland with a Fridge is one of the most entertaining and ultimately uplifting travel books I've read. Hawks' journey which originally started out as a pub bet (the bet is that Hawkes can't make it all the way around Ireland hitchhiking with a refrigerator within a month's time) becomes a funny and enduring look at the soul of the Irish people. Hawks' descriptions of his adventures wooing the daughter of an island King and taking his refrigerator out surfing are classics!

France

A Year in Provence
Peter Mayle

A Year in Provence launched a movement. Mayle's deft and endearing description of the French people and countryside ignited a movement in the US and Britain. Thanks to Mayle thousands of tourists have discovered this corner of France, other authors have been inspired to write literary memoirs extolling the joys (and trials) of living abroad, and some inspired souls have even decided to set up a new life in this beautiful, rich corner of Europe. Who can blame them? Mayle's descriptions of the region's gourmet meals and lavender fields are enough to get anyone packing.

Italy

Under the Tuscan Sun
Frances Mayes

Ever wanted to chuck it all and live in the romantic Italian countryside? If not, you will after you read this book. Despite of (or maybe because of) all the difficulties that Mayes experiences in renovating her Tuscan villa, you can't help but fall in love with Tuscany. I will never forget Mayes descriptions of the food and sights of Tuscany. My mouth waters just thinking about the Mayes' Tuscany (and I read the book six years ago)!

As the Romans Do
Alan Epstein

This book is awesome! Never before have I read such an informed, yet passionate view, written by foreigner (Epstein is an American professor) of another culture. By the end of this extremely well written and gentle book, you?ll both admire and love the Italians while understanding their culture?s foibles and faults. I guarantee it!

Extra Virgin: A Young Woman Discovers the Italian Riviera, Where Every Day is Enchanted
Annie Hawkes

While most readers will probably be attracted to Hawkes' funky stories about the eccentric beliefs of the Ligurians (people who live on the Riviera next to France and speak their own language), I think this book is at its best, when it explores the difficult interaction between the Ligurians and the rest of Europe (the area is very popular among German tourists in the summer). It is also an interesting look at how Liguria has changed in the past twenty years (since Hawkes first moved there) and how Hawkes has become a member of this quirky community.

The Mediterranean

The Pillars of Hercules: A Grand Tour of the Mediterranean
Paul Theroux

In typical Theroux style, the Pillars of Hercules is a literate and entertaining look at diverse cultures found around the Mediterranean. Theroux is at his best when he describes places like Albania that are off the typical tourist map. His interviews with prominent authors and his discussion of the work of the region's great classical writers (set against the backdrop of the places he visits) bring this book to life.

Moldavia

Playing the Moldavians at Tennis
Tony Hawks

While not as funny or gentle as Hawks' Round Ireland with a Fridge, Playing the Moldavians at Tennis is nonetheless a great read. Hawks interweave cultural and historical tidbits about this obscure corner of the world with a hardbitten, yet ultimately sympathetic, portrait of the Moldavian people. He also does a better job than other book I've read giving voice to the way that Eastern Europeans feel about life in the post Communist era.

Russian Voices
Tony Parkes

Though written during the Soviet Union's glasnost period, Russian Voices still serves as the best primer you can read into the psyche of that vast country. Of all the books I read before I went to Russia ten years ago (I lived there for a year and a half) the interviews in this book with ordinary Russian citizens did the best job of preparing me for what I saw and felt. I would love to find a similar book about post Communist Russia today.

All the Clean Ones are Married and Other Everyday Calamities in Moscow
Lori Cidylo

I love this book. Of all the books I've read about Russia, Cidylo does the best job of capturing a real sense of life for everyday Russians today. If I were to write a book about my experiences in postwar Russia (note: you can read some of my observations in my sample article: The Other Side of the Moon), I would hope that it would be as insightful and entertaining as this book.

The Land of the Firebird
Suzanne Massie

While most people associate Russia with drabness and Communism, most don't realize that it was during Czarist times one of the most sophisticated societies on the planet. Massie's excellent treatise examines in great detail the beauty and richness of Czarist Russia's artists (I love their impressionist painters), authors, and craftsmen. Land of the Firebird is one of those rare books that though academic in tone never becomes pedantic. Read this book before you go to Russia. You'll be able to talk to Russians knowledgably about their most proud possession -- their rich culture.

Empire of the Czar
Marquis de Custine

Justifiably compared to Alexis deTocqueville's Democracy in America, the Empire of the Czar is a thorough portrait of life in Russia during the early nineteenth century. Though not terribly sympathetic, the Marquis de Custine (like deTocqueville) managed to capture a view of many aspects of Russia's culture that still seems fresh and accurate almost two centuries later.

Casino Moscow: A Tale of Greed and Adventure on Capitalism's Wild Frontier
Matthew Brzezinski

Brzezinski reveals a Russia that is so different than the one I experienced (even though we were there at about the same time), that it hardly seems like the same country. The Russia I know is the land of every day professionals and their children struggling to eke a modest living in capitalism's wake. Brzezinski's Russia is a crazy, surreal land of speculators living high off the hog during the early days of Russia's boom economy in the mid 1990s. It is also a country stuffed with expatriates who tried to piggy back on the gains of these Russian high rollers. By the end of the book, I almost wanted to see Brzezinki's Russians and expats get there comeuppance in the bust of 1997. Yet, I'm saddened by the collapse because I know it also hurt the "real" Russia that I know and love.

The Fire Escape is Locked for Your Safety: On the Road in the Former Soviet Union
Molly J. Baier

Want to know what it is like to travel and live in the former Soviet Union today? If so, you've come to the right place. Baier does a marvelous job of conveying a sense of the odd mixture of infuriating, heart rendering, funny, poignant, and strangely alluring facts of life for travelers and residents of the former Soviet Union. All in all, a great read!

Notes

• I, (Paul Heller, founder of Big Blue Marble) have prepared these reviews to help you travel-like-a-local.
• Check out my upcoming reviews of links related to travel in the Europe.
• Do you agree or disagree with my comments about the books listed on this site? Know of any books that should be added? If so, please send me your comments. I promise to post your comments on the Big Blue Marble blog.
• indicates that I highly recommend these books.