Prunksaal (State Hall) in the old imperial library and part of the Hofburg palace in Vienna, Austria
Although I’ve always been a voracious reader, I can’t say that I’ve ever attempted to coordinate my reading list with what is happening in my life. At times, I’ve accidentally read exactly the book that spoke to my circumstances. More often, I’m likely to find myself in Shanghai while reading George Bush’s Decision Points and Jonathan Frazen’s Freedom. Then there was the trip to Hawaii where I read The Book Thief and a week spent in Florence where I devoured the The 19th Wife. Each was a great book, but none were exactly befitting of my surroundings at the time I was turning the pages.
I can think of at least one instance when I read the right book in the right place by pure happenstance. We were in Iceland in early 2011, and the country was still reeling from the financial collapse, while I devoured The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine. Everyone we met told stories of what had transpired in Iceland since October 2008 and we saw the devastation ourselves in the form of eerily abandoned construction projects – tools left where they were set down by the workers on the day the banks stopped paying the bills and housing plans laid out with roads and street lights, but no buildings.
Having some background on the stories I heard in Iceland added to the vacation experience and provided a deeper understanding of what I saw. With this in mind, I resolved to dive into the literature, history and recorded culture of England when we learned that this would be our home for a year. In the last seven months, 2/3 of the books I’ve read have adhered to my chosen theme. Here’s what I’ve read so far (my reviews are available on Goodreads):
English history (nonfiction)
When London was Capital of America
Citizens of London: The Americans who Stood with Britain in its Darkest, Finest Hour
Britannia in Brief: The Scoop on All Things British
Stories of English History
A Short History of England
England, My England and Other Stories by D.H. Lawrence
The Sisters Who Would Be Queen
A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599
The Invention of Murder: How the Victorians Reveled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime
Salt: A World History
Vintage Fashion: Collecting and Wearing Designer Classics
Millennium by Tom Holland
Set in England (fiction)
The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes
A Vintage Affair
And Then There Were None
The Return of Sherlock Holmes
Vanity Fair
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
London by Edward Rutherfurd
A Respectable Trade
Cambridge connections (nonfiction)
The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking
Isaac Newton by James Gleick
Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA
Cambridge connections (fiction)
The Night Climbers: A Novel
Cambridge Blue: A DC Gary Goodhew Mystery
Dark Matter: The Private Life of Sir Isaac Newton
English authors (nonfiction)
Two Lipstick and a Lover
Talk to the Snail: The Ten Commandments for Understanding the French
The Undercover Economist
The Rational Optimist
English authors (fiction)
Utopia by Sir Thomas More
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
To get a complete picture of England, what other books should I add to my list?
Try Nourishment by Gerard Woodward :)
The potato peel society book is fantastic – hope you enjoy it!
Elizabeth and Mary by Jane Dunn is an interesting read.
Thanks for the suggestions – I’ve made note. I’m a little Tudor-ed out right now, but I’ll circle back to that topic after a rest.
The Potato Peel Society was a lovely, quick read. If the Channel Islands weren’t already on my list of places to go, they would have certainly been added after reading this book.