Booking A Trip
March 27, 2014
Before we take off on a trip, we do our homework—travel books, online research. My husband is the family tour agent and organizer and always books our flights, land travel, and rooms. I read the fiction. A good novel can often set the scene better than the guidebooks with their lists of things not to miss, places to stay and eat. To put me in the mood and introduce me to the setting, I love a good work of fiction, whether it’s historical or contemporary. We’re off this spring to visit Italy. Here are some of my favorites, set in my favorite Italian city, Florence: The Sixteen Pleasures by Robert Hellenga, A Room with a View by E. M. Forster, The Passion of Artemisia by Susan Vreeland, The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant, and my own novel, The Lost Madonna.