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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Decent but Basic Literary Travel Guide, 20 May 2008
Whenever I travel, I try and take a few books with me that are either set in the place I'm visiting, or by authors from there. And I have, from time to time, taken literary-themed walking tours. That said, I've never been particularly interested in visiting the birthplaces of famous writer, nor their graves, nor the hotel room they spent a week in passing through a century ago. But if you are interested in such places, this is the book for you.
The first 2/3 are devoted to a potpurri of literary-themed destinations grouped roughly by type. Leading off is the largest section, "Author Houses and Museums", which ranges from Shakespeare's England to literary Moscow, the American South, and more, including a stew of locations related to crime fiction. "Novel Dispatches" covers places relating to five much-traveled writers: Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Twain, Wharton, and Henry James. "Festivals, Tours, and More" includes a listing of various literary festivals and author-themed walks and tours. "Booked Up" includes literary-themed hotels, restaurants, New York bars, Paris cafes, and London pubs. This last bit gives a sense of the book's overall emphasis, which is heavy on the U.S. and England, with a few small excursions elsewhere (Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Paris, Moscow, etc.). Indeed, the final 1/3 is dedicated to ten specific places: Jane Austen's Bath, Charles Dickens' London, Victor Hugo's Paris, James Joyce's Ulysses, Franz Kafka's Prague, Louisa May Alcott's Concord, MA, Nathaniel Hawthorne's Salem, MA, Ernest Hemingway's Key West, FL, Harper Lee's Monroeville, AL, John Steinbeck's Monterey and Salinas, CA.
On the whole, the book appears to be well-researched and ably written, but contains few surprises. Anyone with reasonable research skills could probably recreate the essentials of any particular entry by spending half an hour online. However if one is interested in literary-themed vacationing, the book is a nice compendium, full of ideas and listings. The layout is somewhat annoying, with far too many intrusive sidebars, cross-references, and visual clutter.
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