Some books prepare one to travel to a destination or, having returned home, call to mind the splendors and spell out some of the mysteries encountered on excursions.
International destinations
Africa | Clayton Freiheit, Denver Zoo’s President/CEO, is wild about “The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency” series by Alexander McCall Smith. On his photo safaris to Africa, Freiheit has read these bestsellers that focus on themes of African traditions and national pride. “Readers are sure to fall in love with the lead character, Precious Ramotswe, the charming detective of Botswana,” he said.
Panayoti Kelaidis has collected plants from far afield for the collection at Denver Botanic Gardens. He puts in a plug for “Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela.” After a journey to South Africa, Kelaidis cracked the spine as his return flight to Atlanta took off. “It’s about 800 pages, and I read it in one sitting,” he said. “Mandela is an extraordinary man who took a country that was a tinderbox and made it into best-case scenario for all to see what could happen with people working with one another.”
India| “Salman Rushdie’s ‘The Moor’s Last Sigh’ captures the strange and beautiful mix of cultures you find in India, and, well, most everywhere,” said the learned Adam Lerner, executive director of the Laboratory of Art and Ideas at Belmar. “Actually, if you’re traveling anywhere? Read it. Not traveling? Read it. Every sentence sounds like music. Pick it up at any point and just enjoy the melody.”
Ireland|Helen Thorpe, the book-loving wife of Denver mayor John Hickenlooper, wrote via e-mail, “Probably the place to which I have traveled most often is Ireland. I always make sure to go to one of two bookstores in Dublin, and to pick up a book of contemporary Irish poetry. In Ireland, poets occupy a significant role in society and comment on current events and are widely read; in effect, they function like very popular newspaper columnists, almost. The bookstores that I love are Eason’s, on O’Connell Street, and Hodges Figgis, on Dawson Street.”
Thorpe recommends the following bards from the isle of saints and scholars: Patrick Kavanagh’s “Collected Poems,” anything by Paul Durcan, and also “Contemporary Irish Poetry,” published by Faber & Faber, edited by Paul Muldoon.
Israel|Rabbi Steven Foster of Temple Emmanuel gives his blessing to a book by Mitchell Geoffrey Bard titled “Myths & Facts: A Guide to the Arab-Israeli Conflict.” He keeps extra copies to give away. “It’s probably the best single book if you were only going to read one thing about what led up to the conflict,” Rabbi Foster said. “It has maps and charts and does a fine job in helping people understand the conflict.”
Italy|Touring the Chianti region of Tuscany – Try “Too Much Tuscan Sun,” by Dario Castagno, a tour guide who relates the foibles of his clients over the years, but also talks about the history and highlights of Chianti and places to explore.
Touring Venice – Crack the cover on “City of Falling Angels,” by John Berendt. This nonfiction story presents the events surrounding the burning and rebuilding of the Venice Opera House and also about people and places of Venice.
Touring Rome and Florence – Architect Brit Probst touts “Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling” by Ross King as an immersing historical novel close to biography.
Russia|Leonid Vyssokov, a Khazikstan native and the owner of Izba Spa, recommends “Master and Margherita” by Mickhael Bulgakov. “It’s satirical, political fiction, and it had been a banned book,” he said. “One episode is set in Moscow, and I took the exact route of the novel.”
Latin America|When Zee Ferrufino, a native of Bolivia, went to Buenos Aires, he read “The Motorcycle Diary: Notes on a Latin American Journey,” by Ernesto Che Guevara. “The book takes place after Guavara just became a doctor and is helping people all over South America,” said Ferrufino.
Domestic destinations
Chicago|Devotchka’s drummer Shawn King proposes reading “The Devil in the White City,” by Erik Larson, the true story of a late-19th-century serial killer.
Gulf Coast of South Florida|Chicago native Lee Goodfriend – co-owner of Racines, Dixons Downtown Grill and Goodfriends restaurants – recently returned from a childhood vacation spot in Sarasota, Fla., where she read “Water for Elephants,” by Sara Gruen. A confirmed bibliophile, Goodfriend said, “This love story about a veterinarian who joins the circus in the 1930s was researched at the historical Ringling Brothers museum in Sarasota.”
Iowa|Veterinarian Paul Oberbrokling was packing to return to his home state for his brother’s 59th birthday celebration. When he returns to Iowa, he rereads “Spillville,” by Patricia Hampl. Taking its title from a little-known small town where Czech composer Antonin Dvorak spent a summer and began writing the American Quartet, this slim volume packs a historical and imaginative wallop. “A true connection to the land, people, culture and climatic atmosphere of the place,” Oberblockling said.
Montana|Mayor John Hickenlooper sanctions “The Last Good Kiss,” by James Crumley and “Dancing at the Rascal Fair,” by Ivan Doig.
New York City|King bangs the drum for “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay,” the Pulitzer Prize-winner by Michael Chabon.
Hick’s wife Helen Thorpe, who used to reside in the Big Apple and wrote for The New Yorker, vouches for “Here is New York,” a classic by E.B. White. Thorpe said, “Nobody’s ever written anything finer.”
San Francisco|King suggests “The Confessions of Max Tivoli,” by Andrew Sean Greer.
Texas|Thorpe also lived in Texas, and for travelers to the Hill Country, she suggests reading the first of the Lyndon Johnson biographies by Robert A. Caro for an amazing history of that part of the state. And if you are going to be anywhere in West Texas, she urges the reading of “Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team and a Dream,” by H.G. (Buzz) Bissinger.
Taos, Santa Fe or any region along the Santa Fe Trail|Read “Blood and Thunder: An Epic of the American West,” by Hampton Sides, a nonfiction epic of the American West in the second half of the 19th century, framed by the birth and death of Kit Carson. Closer to home, yet far from pedestrian.
– Colleen Smith
