Reading suggestions?

[JMNL]

Greetings -

 

I am very excited and pleased to have the chance to cruise the Mediterranean this fall for my 64th birthday and to celebrate my retirement. Does anyone have suggestions for novels, memoirs, interesting non-fiction or special guide books about cruising and/or Venice, Rome, Florence, etc.? I want to enjoy anticipating this dream trip in all possible ways. Thanks in advance.

 

Happy day - Joanne

[euro cruiser]

There are so many good choices.

 

For Rome, I especially enjoyed A Thousand Bells at Noon, by G. Franco Romagnoli. If you like mysteries, David Hewson has a good series that each take place in Rome, as does Conor Fitzgerald, and Donna Leon has a series that take place in Venice.

[paul929207]

As a guide book, Rick Steves' Mediterranean Cruise Ports is great.

[TLCOhio]

Greetings - I am very excited and pleased to have the chance to cruise the Mediterranean this fall for my 64th birthday and to celebrate my retirement. Does anyone have suggestions for novels, memoirs, interesting non-fiction or special guide books about cruising and/or Venice, Rome, Florence, etc.? I want to enjoy anticipating this dream trip in all possible ways. Thanks in advance. Happy day - Joanne

 

Congrats, Joanne, on your upcoming retirement and exciting Med trip. Love your town of Charlestown. So super charming and lovely. Plus, great, interesting history. Like you'll see and love in Venice and other parts of Italy.

 

From our previous travels to these great cities/ports of Europe, here are some of my book and research tips. You might grab, maybe from your public libraries or ask for them to do a book transfer they can process for you, such super excellent visual books such as Eyewitness, Insight, etc. Rick Steves, Fodors, Frommers, etc., can work well, too. In my opinion, no one travel book has it "ALL", perfectly and completely for all of your needs. These resources, especially the visual ones, can help you better figure out your priorities, in advance, for what you want to do and see. That early research is very important. Don't wait until you get on the ship to "GUESS" what might be of interest. I always build a "file" on my laptop computer for each port stop with highlights from that reading and then pulling up stories/articles from the travels sections of the New York Times, Telegraph of London, Wikipedia, etc. All of those help to consider your many great options. Amazon can be very good in providing such books at reduced prices, plus some used books websites. Lots of great options!!! Especially in these days of the Internet, it makes things easier to research and plan ahead. You can use Google.com for great access to various text items, plus a wide variety of visuals and maps. One option for some private tour and other local options is to contract the tourism office in each of your ports. You can use Google.com and put in the search term such as "city/port name tourism office". Then follow-up to each of those office by e-mail, ask your questions, get their suggestions, options to consider, etc.

 

As you pull together this info, it easier to go back to read, re-read items, pull out key highlights using the cut and paste computer features, etc. We are doing New Zealand and Australia in early 2014 and I have already pull together over 500 pages of info, news clips, options, etc. Then, there are my photo files. I will search Google.com in the images section to look at visual examples for these key places we are going to visit for the first time. The visuals in both travel books and from the Internet really help get a "picture" for what to do and visit.

 

Since Venice is one of your key stops, you might look at this earlier posting that I did on the Italy board that shows many options and visual potentials for this city that is so great for "walking around", personally sampling the great history and architecture. This posting has now had over 13,000 views and I appreciate those who have dropped by and tuned in. Don’t be shy in sharing any questions or comments.

Venice: Loving It & Why??!!

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1278226

 

Are you visiting the Naples area? Check my live/blog from last year on visiting Venice, other key Italy stops, etc.

 

Keep these good questions rolling along!! Lots of great ideas and people are here on these boards and they are happy to help. Don't be shy!! The only "dumb" question is the one you don't ask. Keep researching and planning. It will be very helpful for when you do your actual trip and that experience.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Did a June 7-19, 2011, Solstice cruise from Barcelona that had stops in Villefranche, ports near Pisa and Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice and Dubrovnik. Enjoyed great weather and a wonderful trip. Dozens of wonderful visuals with key highlights, tips, comments, etc., on these postings. We are now at 98,363 views for this live/blog re-cap on our first sailing with Celebrity and much on wonderful Barcelona. Check these postings and added info at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1426474

[cruisemom42]

There is a lot of good historical fiction set in Italy -- you can enjoy reading and still learn something. ;) Here are a few of my favorites set in the Renaissance period:

 

Leonardo's Swans -- Karen Essex -- Tells the story of the d'Este family in Renaissance Italy)

 

In the Company of the Courtesan -- Sarah Dunant -- Tale of a woman who escapes the sack of Rome in the early 1500s and takes up residence in Venice. (not as bawdy as the title would make it seem...)

 

The Birth of Venus -- Sarah Dunant -- Great story set in Renaissance Florence.

 

The Secret Book of Grazia dei Rossi -- Jacqueline Park -- Story of a literary Jewish woman during the Renaissance in Italy, her tale moves from Mantua to Florence to Venice and ultimately to Rome.

 

 

 

For Ancient Rome, it is hard to beat the lengthy historical novels of Colleen McCullough (Masters of Rome series) that cover the period of time from the late Republic through the rise and fall of Julius Caesar and establishment of the Roman Empire.

 

If you like detective stories, there is also a series called Roma sub Rosa by Steven Saylor that covers, in a number of novels and short story collections, roughly the same time period: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_pop_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=Sarah%20Dunant&search-alias=books&sort=relevancerank#/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_2_8?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=roma+sub+rosa+series&sprefix=Roma+sub%2Cstripbooks%2C505&rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3Aroma+sub+rosa+series

[JMNL]

All of these suggestions are great and very much appreciated. Please keep the ideas coming.

 

Happy day - Joanne

[Gracie115]

Pompeii, by Robert Harris. Historical novel, very good, and when finished he has two more based on Rome....read them all before my first trip to Italy....

[TLCOhio]

All of these suggestions are great and very much appreciated. Please keep the ideas coming. Happy day - Joanne

 

Then, also, there are the great movie options featuring Venice. This includes a number of James Bond, Indiana Jones, etc., etc., films. Love the visuals of Venice!!

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Did a June 7-19, 2011, Solstice cruise from Barcelona that had stops in Villefranche, ports near Pisa and Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice and Dubrovnik. Enjoyed great weather and a wonderful trip. Dozens of wonderful visuals with key highlights, tips, comments, etc., on these postings. We are now at 98,363 views for this live/blog re-cap on our first sailing with Celebrity and much on wonderful Barcelona. Check these postings and added info at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1426474

[billrco90278]

Try "the Agony and the Ecstasy" by Irving Stone which is a historical fiction novel centering on Michaelangelo.

[Gracie115]

Try "the Agony and the Ecstasy" by Irving Stone which is a historical fiction novel centering on Michaelangelo.

 

 

and is EXCELLENT reading it now....:)

[Chloe1500]

The Botticelli Secret by Marina Fiorato is a fun read set in Renaissance Florence and Pisa. It's not going to get the Pulitzer, but I enjoyed reading it on the plane since we were staying in Florence post-cruise.

 

The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje is one of the best-written contemporary novels I've read (English major here) and partly set in Italy during WWII.

[Earl Rosebery]

Greetings -

 

I am very excited and pleased to have the chance to cruise the Mediterranean this fall for my 64th birthday and to celebrate my retirement. Does anyone have suggestions for novels, memoirs, interesting non-fiction or special guide books about cruising and/or Venice, Rome, Florence, etc.? I want to enjoy anticipating this dream trip in all possible ways. Thanks in advance.

 

Happy day - Joanne

 

For Venice , don't miss 'city of falling angels' and all of Donna Leon's Inspector Brunetti crime novels. Start at the beginning with 'Death at La Fenice and work your way through. When you are finished you will think you KNOW venice.

[euro cruiser]

For Florence, E.M. Forster's A Room With A View and Robert Hellenga's The Sixteen Pleasures.

 

For Naples, Anthony Capella's The Wedding Officer.

[HarpHarp]

Rome

Angels & Demons by Dan Brown

Some of the tour companies have an Angels & Demons walk

 

Love of my youth by Mary Gordon

Miranda and Adam, high school sweethearts now in their late fifties, arrive by chance at the same time in Rome, where they once spent a summer deeply in love, blissfully living together

 

Florence

Midnight Angels by Lorenzo Carcaterra

In the secret passageways of one of the world's most majestic cities, an American woman must risk everything to keep the long-lost work of a Renaissance master from falling into the hands of thieves

 

The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant

She writes many historical fiction novels

 

Venice

The Botecelli Secret by Mariana Fiorato

When the painter Botticelli doesn't pay Luciana Vetra for her work as one of his models, she steals an unfinished painting. After people around her start dying--murdered by someone who wants the painting and its secrets back--Luciana goes on the run, looking for answers.

Also writes historical fiction set in Italy

 

The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke

Two brothers, having run away from the aunt who plans to adopt the younger one, are sought by a detective hired by their aunt, but they have found shelter with--and protection from--Venice's "Thief Lord.

This is classed as a Juvenile book, but is just great.

 

 

Others

Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes

Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert The Eat part is Italy

 

Cindy in librarian mode

[lisiamc]

I really loved No Vulgar Hotel: The Desire and Pursuit of Venice by Judith Martin and also Venice by Jan Morris, and Pompeii, Imperium and Lustrum (all novels) by Robert Harris

[Gracie115]

wow this is a great thread for those of us looking for new reading material!!!!:D