Novel Destinations: Literary Landmarks from Jane Austen's Bath to Ernest Hemingway's Key West by Joni Rendon; Foreward by Matthew Pearl; Shannon Mckenna Schmidt
	List Price:   $25.00 Unit Price:   $20.00 You Save:   $5.00 (20%) ISBN-10:   1426202776 ISBN-13:   9781426202773 Publisher:   Random House PS [MD]; National Geographic Category:   Reference Pub. Date:   May 2008 Pages:   357 Format:   Hardcover
Subjects
GREAT BRITAIN_GUIDEBOOKS LITERARY LANDMARKS UNITED STATES_GUIDEBOOKS AUTHORS, ENGLISH
Description/Notes
For the new breed of vacationer who craves meaningful trips and unusual locales, the combination of reading and travel can be a heady mix—especially if you happen to be checking into Hemingway’s favorite hotel in Sun Valley, or strolling about Bath’s Royal Crescent while entertaining fantasies of Lizzie Bennett and her Mr. Darcy! Cue National Geographic’sNovel Destinations—a new offering that guides bibliophiles to more than 500 literary sites across the United States and Europe. From the moody, windswept moors that inspired the Bront?s to the Old Courthouse immortalized by Harper Lee, the authors create a veritable life-list of must-see sites from literary history—and tell travelers how to visit on your own. The book begins with thematic chapters covering author houses and museums; literary festivals and walking tours; and hotels, bars, and restaurants. Then, in-depth explorations of author and place take readers roaming Franz Kafka’s Prague, James Joyce’s Dublin, Louisa May Alcott’s New England, and other locales. Peppered with great reading suggestions and little-known tales of literary gossip,Novel Destinationswill appeal as a unique travel guide, an attractive gift book, and the ultimate browser’s delight. In this travel guide for ardent readers, two book lovers team up to create an eclectic and infinitely browsable guide to literary landmarks in Europe and the United States. Divided into two sections, the book begins with broad thematic chapters: Author Houses and Museums, Literary Festivals and Walking Tours, and Hotels, Bars, and Restaurants where famed scribes sipped, supped and slumbered. From Shakespeare's Globe Theatre to the Old Courthouse Museum immortalised in To Kill a Mockingbird. The second half of the book is devoted to ten in-depth explorations of author and place - peppered with still more interesting facts, cross-references, sidebars, pull-quotes, and reading suggestions, this book is an ideal bedside companion and browser's delight. Among the possibilities to ponder? Joining in a rousing rendition of Robert Burns' 'Auld Lang Syne' during a Burns' Night Supper, standing in the spot where The Maltese Falcon's Miles Archer met his match with a dangerous dame, morphing into Mr. Darcy or Lizzie Bennett for a promenade around Bath's Royal Crescent, walking the windswept moors that inspired the Bront?s, and taking part in a Stella and Stanley Shouting Contest in the Big Easy. Whether it's checking into the Sun Valley hotel where Hemingway penned For Whom the Bell Tolls, or doing battle with the 400- year-old windmills in La Mancha, Spain, that Cervantes' Don Quixote famously mistook for oppressive giants, one thing is certain: For literary-minded wanderers, the combination of reading and travel is a heady mix--especially if you happen to be sipping a pint in the pub where James Joyce and his heroic everyman Leopold Bloom once did the same. Even celebrated writers felt the allure of following in the footsteps of the authors they admired, such as John Steinbeck, who once dreamed of making like Jack London and sailing across the Pacific on a freighter. Readers of Novel Destinations will discover a truism that Steinbeck well knew: 'No two journeys are alike' -- whether the final destination lies between the pages of a favourite book or across the expanse of the open road ahead. National Geographic leads book-loving adventurers on a whirlwind tour of 500 literary landmarks and offers practical trip-planning advice for visiting in person. Peppered with great reading suggestions and little-known tales of literary gossip, this book is the ultimate browser's delight. It's often said that a good book takes us somewhere we've never been before, and here's the proof: a book-lover's Baedeker to more than 500 literary locales across the United States and Europe. 'Novel Destinations 'invites readers to follow in the footsteps of much-loved authors, discover the scenes that sparked their imaginations, glimpse the lives they led, and share a bit of the experiences they transformed so eloquently into print. If you're looking to indulge in literary adventure, you'll find all the inspiration and information you need here, along with behind-the-scenes stories such as these: After Ernest Hemingway survived two near-fatal plane crashes during an African safari, he perused his obituaries and sipped champagne on a canal-side terrace in Venice. Washington Irving's wisteria-draped cottage in the Hudson Valley was once occupied by members of the Van Tassel family, immortalized in 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.' A mysterious incindet at a stone tower near Dublin made such a vivid impression on James Joyce that he drew on it for the opening scene of 'Ulysses,' Sir Arthur Conan Doyle consulted on the mystery of Agatha Christie's 1926 disappearance before she resurfaced under an assumed name in northern England. Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'The House of the Seven Gables 'was inspired by a seaside manse in Salem, Massachusetts, infamous witch trials in which his ancestor played a role.