Oh What a Tangled Web! | Novel Destinations: Literary Landmarks From Jane Austen's Bath to Ernest...

The travel guide that book lovers have long been waiting for | Novel Destinations: Literary Landmarks From Jane Austen's Bath to Ernest Hemingway's Key West | Shannon Mckenna Schmidt, Joni Rendon

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	• Novel Destinations: Literary Landmarks From Jane Austen's Bath to Ernest Hemingway's Key West Shannon Mckenna Schmidt, Joni Rendon National Geographic, 2008 - 368 pages average customer review:based on 10 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Novel Destinations

This book definitely meets my expectations of a National Geographic publication. I expected descriptions of places where authors had lived and worked but was thrilled to find tours of the places within these great authors' novels mapped out for me.

These are not the staid entries of most travel guides. The authors provide a bit of history and biography with each entry. This, combined with quality writing, makes Novel Destinations a great read for any lover of literature, travel, or both.

Oh What a Tangled Web!

This is a book in which literary travelers (armchair and otherwise) will lose themselves -- literally and figuratively. Literary history, criticism, geography, biography, anecdote, sidebars, and small but relevant photos are woven into this exploration of writers and their haunts. From Shakespeare to Dashiell Hammett, Robert Burns to Emily Dickinson, the authors visits graves, festivals, birthplaces, bars, libraries, cafes, gardens, hotels, cottages, meadows, and lanes.

The book seems to wander in time and place and in its focus and organization. This is both appealing and maddening. You will, for example, find Hemingway on more than 40 pages; first in a brief mention of a bar in Paris (the Dingo American Bar where he met F. Scott Fitzgerald), later in a 7-page biography, "Rugged Adventurer." Farther along is a 6-page feature on six Heminway watering holes (in France, Spain, and Cuba). Later still, there is a 14-page section on Hemingway in Key West -- more bars there as well. He is also found on other pages having to do with other locales (New Orleans, Venice) and various festivals -- Ketchum, Idaho; and Key West.

Nevertheless, this is a wonderful book (for reasons listed by other reviewers), a book to get lost in and with . . . in Harper Lee's Monroeville, Alabama; Steinbeck's Salinas Valley; Jane Austen's Bath, England; in Joyce's Dublin . . . jump in anywhere, and away you go.

Marsh Muirhead - author of "Key West Explained - a guide for the traveler."

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The travel guide that book lovers have long been waiting for

I have a friend who delivers a hilarious monologue about her book obsession that opens with the line, "My name is Kathy, and I am a biblioholic." Kathy, this book is a dream come true for you and for all your biblioholic friends.

In NOVEL DESTINATIONS, Shannon McKenna Schmidt and Joni Rendon, two self-described "lifelong voracious readers who share an equally passionate appetite for exploration," have delivered nothing less than a delightful and long overdue guide for travelers for whom books are a way of life, not merely a diversion. It's a compact, attractive book, chock full of helpful and friendly advice more than sufficient to fuel a lifetime of literary tourism.

In creating a book that goes far beyond the guidance found in the snippets of literary information offered by conventional tourist guides, Schmidt and Rendon recognize that novels have provided "a new dimension to our travel experiences," while at the same time the literary places they've visited have given them "a deeper perspective on the books we cherish." They've engagingly demonstrated that book-oriented travel can be as fun and intellectually stimulating as treks to historic sites or tours of classic works of architecture.

The book is divided into two parts. Part One consists of a thematically organized potpourri of literary attractions, ranging from author houses and museums (more than 60 authors of all styles and genres receive mention) to destinations frequented by literary titans Fitzgerald (a small quibble: his gravesite near a busy intersection in downtown Rockville, Maryland is omitted), Hemingway, Twain, Wharton and Henry James, to prominent literary festivals like the Guardian Hay Festival in Hay-on-Wye, Wales, and preeminent libraries. This section concludes with an ample offering of literary lodgings, restaurants and bars, both in the United States and around the world.

One noteworthy example among the many cited is the Library Hotel, in midtown Manhattan, where each of the hotel's 10 floors is devoted to a different category of the Dewey Decimal System. I can personally vouch for the excellent food and charming atmosphere at John's Grill in San Francisco, a favorite restaurant of Dashiell Hammett and one of the settings for THE MALTESE FALCON. A cautionary note to travelers on a budget: the hotel and restaurant recommendations aren't accompanied by any price information, and it's fair to say that many of the establishments cited tend toward the pricey side. The good news is that the authors provide sufficient contact information so that readers contemplating a trip can conduct their own research.

Part Two focuses on tourist opportunities in places associated with the works of 10 icons, among them Bath, England (Austen), Monroeville, Alabama (Harper Lee), Prague (Kafka) and Salem, Massachusetts (Hawthorne) for literary types who are eager to immerse themselves in the world of a favorite author and see the places that sparked their creativity come to life. In this section, Schmidt and Rendon do a fine job of weaving together helpful tourist tips with anecdotes about their author subjects and discourses on the characters and themes of their works.

Like a pair of food critics writing about their favorite restaurants, Schmidt and Rendon are knowledgeable and informative, consistently conveying their enthusiasm for this unique project. This is the kind of book that cries out for frequent updating, and if that's the case, perhaps the authors will consider a couple of friendly suggestions for future editions. In addition to the book's conventional index, a geographic index and some maps to accompany the thumbnail photographs that dot the pages would be welcome. And although there are occasional references to independent bookstores, some more extended coverage of that economically challenged segment of the bookselling world would be useful.

NOVEL DESTINATIONS is the type of book that can be opened to any page to reveal some entertaining or enlightening tidbit. But it should be accompanied by a warning that casual browsing may lead to extended reading and perhaps even a detour into the works of one of the authors who occupy its pages. Whether you're actually planning a literary trip, or simply want to sit by the fireside contemplating that delightful possibility, this volume is guaranteed to provide many hours of pleasurable and rewarding reading.

--- Reviewed by Harvey Freedenberg

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Indispensible guide to literary hotspots

Novel Destinations is a uniquely wonderful idea for a book. The two authors, both huge literature fans, visit the places around the world associated with certain authors and detail their findings in a travel guide for fellow bibliophiles. At first I was a little disappointed, because I expected personal journal style escapades, but instead I was quickly pulled in to their descriptions of the museums devoted to Shakespeare, Jane Austen, and Ernest Hemingway. They thoroughly cover each of the selected authors even including local pubs and restaurants that bestow honors. I was tickled to discover that there is a Stella Shouting contest in honor of A Streetcar Named Desire as well as a Papa Hemingway look-a-like contest. The book really shines in its focus in the back on very specific authors like Austen and Steinbeck. Short, concise biographies are given with detailed places to tour to get to know them better. It made me want to read those classics as well as biographies of their writers. This is one of the few books that I would actually want to own and keep on my shelf for future reference, because who would ever want to go on a vacation again without checking to see if a great literary spot is near by?

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A Collection of Amazing Journeys!

First and foremost, [...]

I have had the distinct pleasure of knowing one of the authors since she was born. Not only is Shannon my sister, she happens to be one of my best friends. My mom, my daughter and I have all had the pleasure of accompanying Shannon on several literary jaunts. With that being said, I will seek to be as impartial as possible. :)

Recently, the community in which I live chose the book, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee as the "one book, one community" read. Novel Destinations was a super complement to this. I was able to learn interesting facts, not only about the book, but about the reclusive, elusive author herself...Harper Lee. I had no idea that she had written only one book. Reading the section contained in Novel Destinations provided me with helpful information about the book which aided me in my preparation for the section that I eventually read on live radio.

Perusing Novel Destinations also brought back many memories of novels that I had read in high school as well as in more recent years. One of my all time favorites, Gone With the Wind and the author Margaret Mitchell, are also included in Novel Destinations.

I enjoyed the fact that the book is a read that one can pick up at any time, open to any page and find something interesting to read about. It is light, engaging and transports you to places without even having to leave the comfort of your own home. Novel Destinations has inspired me to re-visit some of the novels from my youth as well as venturing into new and uncharted literary territory.

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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 incident 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.

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reviews: page 1, 2

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