Books To Read About European Cruising Area

[librarian]

As you can see by my name I am a retired librarian who loves to read. As I will be cruising from Amsterdam to the Black Sea in the Spring I would like to find books to read about the areas. Part of the area I have traveled before on a land WW2 tour which was fantastic- so I have that area( WW2 history) covered by reading material.

I have looked at the ones recommended by Grand Circle and have read 1-2 already. Does anyone have any suggestions for books about Amsterdam, Germany, Romania, Bulgaria, Austria and Serbia- fiction or non fiction? I have located the incredible voyage about the Danube and Rhine river voyage by Tristan Jones

I just saw a history channel episode about Dracula and that made me want to read In search of Dracula by McNally.

I really do not want travel accounts as I have that from Fodors, Frommers, Rick Steves, Lonely Planet etc.

I like to read books pertaining to the area before I get there as it makes it personal to me. Thanks in advance

[nbevins]

http://www.insighttravelguides.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=3025

[frankwilflinders]

There is a series of books from the 1930s written by Patrick Leigh Fermor. I read the first (A Time Of Gifts) a couple of years ago, just before we went on an Amsterdam-Budapest cruise. I haven't ever followed up the other two books - A Time To Keep Silence, and Between the Woods and the Water. A Time of Gifts, at least, is still in print.

 

The books are about his own travels as a young man, which roughly followed the Rhine and Danube. A Google search will find reviews and discussions of Fermor's writings. One is at:

http://www.powell-pressburger.org/Reviews/57_IllMet/IllMet08.html

[WIT]

Check out "With Their Backs to the World" for a pro Serbian account of their recent history - it is by Asne Seierstad.

WIT

[MaisonRose]

This is the delightful story of an 11 year old boy whom his uncle sends from his home in Columbo, Sri Lanka to London, unaccompanied. This is a classic rite of passage, literally and figuratively, an amusing engagement of ship characters from a botanist with a garden in the ship's hold to an Australian young lady who skates the promenade deck each dawn. Michael falls into an adventurous exploration with two other pre-pubescent shipmates, and the resulting story will having you taste and smell the dusk of your own childhood, to say nothing of the corners of a ship where dark corners beckon. Get this book for your voyage, or give it as a gift to the neighbor going on a first cruise. Available electronically.

[Hoyaheel]

I know this is a very old thread, but I'm always looking for reading recommendations! We're not traveling on Viking but I noticed on their website they have a recommended reading list for various itineraries.....