On Sunday, I’m leaving for a three week trip around the mediterranean. I’m packing To Say Nothing of the Dog and Foucault’s Pendulum for the trip, but am looking for one or two other hefty-ish tomes to take along (I read very quickly, and the thought of running out of carefully preplanned reading materials makes my palms sweaty).
So. I’m in grad school for English, but I’m still drawing blanks on what to bring… I was thinking, among others, The Moor’s Last Sigh but it’s too short and I’ll be through with it too quickly, so I’m saving that one for when I get back. Yech, I’m rambling. Suggestions? Someone I know suggested Shogun, and I guess that might work, but, um, I haven’t heard any evidence that it’s very, uh, satisfying. You know? Not that it’s stupid or anything, but, well. It’s there for backup. I’ll shut up now about that one.
I’m spending the bulk of my time in Corsica, and will be traveling through southern France and Ibiza as well. Something, err, “themed” to the surroundings would be nice but not necessary. I just want a good long book I can wallow in.
You can always sink your teeth into The Magic Mountain or any of Mr. Thomas Mann’s other works. You might also consider taking one or more of Mr. Robertson Davies trilogies.
For doorstops that make you think, Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon or The Tin Drum by Gunther Grass spring to mind. If you want to nothing but read, then take along Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust - poosibly the longest work of fiction ever.
I believe there was popular film last year about hobbits ‘n’ stuff. It was a long film, maybe the novelisation is worth it
So many of the previous suggestions are worth pursuing. I always manage to drag 3 or 4 books on any trip on I take, usually a mix of fiction and history. One book that springs to mind as possibly of interest: The Pillars of Hercules by Paul Theroux. It’s a wildly funny account of Paul’s journey around the Mediterranean Sea, starting from and returning to Gibraltar.
This is merely passing along a recommendation that’s been made to me several times recently by people whose opinions I trust, since I haven’t gotten round to reading it myself yet: A Conspiracy of Paper, by David Liss. Set in early 18th-century London, concerning a Sephardic Jewish ex-prizefighter who’s hired by the well-to-do as a sort of private investigator. He ends up discovering connections between some of his cases and the death of his own father, from whom he was estranged, and who had been involved in the stock market.
Something more along the lines of Shogun in terms of literary quality, but that’s comparable in scope and theme (and heft) to Foucault’s Pendulum – and includes Corsica, the South of France, and North Africa among its many locations – would be Katherine Neville’s The Eight. As a former Ph.D. candidate in English lit myself, I found lots to cavil at in it (relatively cardboard characters, implausible events, etc.), but it was a pretty absorbing read for all that – something you can wallow in for a while, but not have to spend too much time thinking about later on.
If you haven’t made the acquaintance of Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin novels yet, you could do a whole lot worse than to throw Master and Commander and Post Captain, the first two in the series, into your bag as well. They aren’t big, but they’re absorbing, fun, and despite being technically “genre fiction” they’re the literary equal of anything you’re likely to read – extremely well developed and interesting characters, vivid and engaging prose style, and a very convincing and to all accounts accurate depiction of European (and particularly British) society and mores in the Napoleonic era. Master and Commander takes place almost entirely in the Mediterranean (especially around Minorca, Jack Aubrey’s ship being based in Port Mahon). Don’t sweat the nautical jargon; it’s rarely essential to understanding what’s going on.
Very interesting suggestions. Thanks for the tips, everyone…
xcheopis, I actually have a Robertson Davies work lying around here somewhere-- I had forgotten all about it. Hmm-- might throw that in the bag.
Tapioca Dextrin, I have not yet read Tin Drum (though I’ve read the others) so I’ll take a peep at it in the store today… Just got through reading Thomas Mann a couple of months ago so I htink I’ll leave him at home…
Ms Ann Thrope, I wish to God I had never started reading Theroux because then I could have saved him up for this trip. Excellent suggestion, btw.
rackensack, your suggestions are also helpful… I’ll pick up The Eight at the store (for some reason, the idea of actually reading Shogun really bothers me. I think it might be the bad cover art, or the ridiculous picture of James Cavill looking stern on the back). I have not in fact read anything by Patrick O’Brian, though I’ve been tempted (too many books on my plate as it is)-- If I am not the least bit interested in anything nautical are they still entertaining? Or will I be fidgeting from boredom?
Ellen Cherry: what oddness! I’ve read every single one of the books you suggested. Loved Corelli’s Mandolin, but wasn’t the film version awful? Never saw it-- I knew it would annoy me to hell and back.
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. It’s over 1,000 pages long, takes place in France, Italy and the islands of the Mediterranean Sea, and is a very entertaining story
While actually travelling (like on airplanes, say), you might try a series of five books by a guy named Cecil Adams. They chock full of short, snappy, fun and informative reads. You can purchase them online here: Buy Stuff
Oooo the film version of Corelli’s Mandolin was annoyingly superficial! And most of the quirky fun humor was drained right on out. I tried to watch it with just one eye, for the scenery, because I was pretty sure it would annoy me, and I wasn’t disappointed. I must say that Penélope Cruz and John Hurt were good casting choice for Pelagia and her dad the doc, though.
My bookclub just finished “To Say Nothing of the Dog” We are doing time travel books now - previously read “The Eyre Affair” and are heading into “The Time Travelers Wife”
As an English Lit grad student, you’d enjoy A.S. Byatt’s Possession (about Victorian poets and the academics that study them).
Can’t recommend what I haven’t read, but Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children is sitting by my computer. Won a Booker Prize (as did Possession) so it probably isn’t horrible.
I travel a lot too, and I want to pass on one truly superb choice: ‘Twisted’ by Jeffrey Deaver. It sez ‘16 stunning stories of suspense’ on the cover, and that’s an understatement. Deaver really is a master of the suspenseful short story form, usually with a neatly satisfying twist. Great book, not a dud in it anywhere, and because it’s short stories you can just pick it up and put it down again whenever it suits you. I had this with me on a recent trip and I was really glad to have it near by.
Well, I never really thought I had any interest in nautical matters, and particularly not in naval history – I ignored the first several people who recommended O’Brian’s books to me. I had done a little bit of lake sailing with my boss, so I had some vague concept of how sails worked and all, but was just as ignorant as the next grass-combing bugger when it came to square-rigged ships. I’ve been told by many other people that they thoroughly enjoyed the entire series without having any interest in ships and sailing, and that was certainly my experience; they’re really fascinating portraits of their times and of a variety of memorable and interesting characters – they just happen to involve the officers and men of the Royal Navy in the first few decades of the 1800s (as well as a wide range of other men and women).
ahh, wow, okay, I’ll pick up the first O’Brian book, and check out the Deaver one too-- thank you both. Well, hell, I thank all of you. Dangerosa, I’ve been avoiding Possession, since my sister read it and enjoyed it (she gave me The DaVinci Code for Christmas and hovered over me while I grudgingly read it, and then I had to lie to her and say it was the best. book. ever-- but I’ve heard good things about it from people I trust so I’ll give it a go too.
Uh oh. Maybe I need another bag.
Ellen Cherry, I nearly wept with frustration just watching the trailer for the movie. I cannot speak of it any longer or I’ll kick a hole in the wall.
Banger– I just finished rereading The Count of Monte Cristo and was delighted that my teenage memories of it were not mistaken. God, I loved that book. Great suggestion: it would have been perfect for the trip…
