Around the World discussion

I recently took a vacation to Italy and some of the surrounding countries. Why did I choose my particular route? Because I'd read books by authors from these countries, and these choices swayed me toward this itinerary.

Italy: Italo Calvino: Cosmicomics
We had several stops in Italy, and the Calvino is my Italy book not because it evokes the place but because I admire Calvino's contribution to postmodernism. Since we were in cities with a focus on the ancient (Rome, Herculaneum, Mt. Etna, Venice), this was an interesting contrast. I'd like to read an author from Sicily sometime soon. I'm slowly working my way through Uccelli, which has the disadvantage that I don't read Italian, and the advantage that it identifies local birds more accurately. It doesn't include the feral Psittacula krameri (rose-ringed parakeet) flock we saw at Villa Borghese, where it seems to have firmly established itself.

Vatican City: Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI): Milestones: Memoirs, 1927-1977
I wasn't a giant fan of Pope Benedict XVI, so it was great to have a fortuitous papal sighting of Francis in St. Peter's.

Malta: Professor Sir Themistocles Zammit: Prehistoric Malta: Tarxien Temples and Saflieni Hypogeum
Everyone in Malta seems to be related to Professor Zammit, including the guy at the desk of the archeology museum, who directed us to his bust on the staircase. Malta was my biggest draw for the trip precisely because of Zammit's book on the hypogeum and Tarxien temples, which was the only book I could find for Malta when I did my world books challenge. Tickets are required for the hypogeum and are best purchased a couple of months in advance through Heritage Malta. I was glad we had booked this as the next opening was 6 weeks out on the day we arrived. Only 8-10 people are admitted at a time, and it was a fantastic archeological site, supplemented by the temples and the archeology museum. St. John's Co-Cathedral was also excellent.

Greece: Olga Broumas: Beginning with O
Corfu, both ancient and modern, provided a great day for browsing, looking at walled city sites, and eating olives. Early Broumas is my favorite period. This was her poetry that won the Yale Series of Younger Poets, and I have a lot of bits of it memorized, which was fun to recite as we walked.

Montenegro: Bajram Angelo Koljenovic & James Nathan Post: Blood of Montenegro
Kotor's harbor and walled old city are set in a sweep of protective mountains. I was able to provide some historical and cultural background for the people I was with based on Koljenovic's book.

Croatia: Dubravka Ugrešić: The Ministry of Pain
Again, a mix of old and new, with the added interest of being a post-communist state. Ugrešić speaks to place, identity, and longing in a way that brought Split's emotional backstory alive.

Slovenia: Slavoj Zizek: Iraq: The Borrowed Kettle
Zizek's book isn't about Slovenia, but I could picture him drinking coffee and brandy and arguing with someone at one of the many cafes in Koper.

San Marino: Unknown: Guida fotografica di San Marino
I've read two photographic guidebooks to San Marino, so I had a strange sense of deja vu as we raced up to one of the towers to enjoy the view. I think every city we visited had at least a partial walled old city, but San Marino's is largely unscathed and intact. We enjoyed meandering around, though we didn't locate a bookstore where I could buy a non-guidebook by a Sammarinese author.

In addition to being a trip I might well have skipped over if I hadn't become curious about some of these countries, I found that my reading had greatly enhanced my knowledge and interest in the lands and their people. It also gave me a starting point for desultory conversation with local people. And if I hadn't read these books (some due more to exigency than choice), I never would have known how cool Malta and San Marino were and probably never would have visited them.

Osho, have your readEleni for Greece and Nothing in the World for Croatia and Black Lamb and Grey Falcon. It can be fun reading after a trip too. All three were excellent.

Osho wrote: "I recently took a vacation to Italy and some of the surrounding countries. Why did I choose my particular route? Because I'd read books by authors from these countries, and these choices swayed me ..."

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Re Malta I visited the hypogeum and thought it was amazing. I read Zammit's book after my visit and found it very interesting.
Have you read The Kappillan of Malta? I know it's fiction, but I understand it gives a very accurate depiction of life in Malta during WW2.