Things To Do in Newport, Rhode Island

May 27, 2013 Terri Peterson Smith Leave a comment

There’s plenty to do in Newport, Rhode Island, year-round, but “America’s first resort” really swings into action starting Memorial Day weekend, through Labor Day. For example, you can spend a weekend sampling great chowder in Newport any time of year, but the Great Chowder Cook Off takes place June 1. You can plan a picnic and head for Brenton Point State Park to fly kites and enjoy the fabulous scenery and the Newport Kite Festival July 13 and 14. And, there’s the world famous Newport Jazz Festival August 2, 3, and 4. You can watch polo events and tennis tournaments, attend sailing regattas and find opportunities to go sailing yourself.

Admittedly, when you arrive in Newport, you may feel like you somehow stepped out of your car and into a Ralph Lauren ad. The town is a haven for hot-pink and lime-green plaid shorts, deck shoes, and monogrammed sweaters. But, as you may have seen from a few of my previous posts (see “The American Stories Behind Downton Abbey,” “Gifts for Mom“) I really love Newport, because it offers activities for just about every taste, even if you’re not part of the preppie set. And, while modern-day events like those above abound, the town also offers a special chance to glimpse its Gilded Age history when you go “calling” at the fabulous mansions along Bellevue Avenue. To get in the mood for your Newport trip, be sure to read Edith Wharton’s The Buccaneers, Thornton Wilder’s Theophilus North, or non-fiction works such as Lucius Beebe’s The Big Spenders or Amanda Mackenzie Stuart’s Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt: The Story of a Daughter and a Mother in the Gilded Age. You’ll also want to check out a blog I’ve found, The American Countess, which is written by someone even more intrigued with Gilded Age Newport than I.

Newport is one of the destinations I investigate in Off The Beaten Page:
The Best Trips for Lit Lovers, Book Clubs and Girls on Getaways. Find out more at http://www.terripetersonsmith.com

California, Minnesota, San Francisco

For San Francisco Travel, Armistead Maupin’s “Tales” Are Still Relevant

May 20, 2013 Terri Peterson Smith Leave a comment

Unknown-12 — The first volume of Armistead Maupin’s many tales of San Francisco

Author Armistead Maupin was in the Twin Cities last week speaking at the wonderful Pen Pals, an author lecture series that raises funds for the Hennepin County Library system. I’m sure that when they booked him for the event no one knew that it would coincide with the passage of the bill that made Minnesota the twelfth state to legalize gay marriage, but his appearance last week couldn’t have been more timely.

Maupin is the author of the beloved Tales of the City series that began as a newspaper column in the 1970s, first in a Marin County paper and then in the San Francisco Chronicle. Much the way Charles Dickens’s work appeared in serial installments, each Tales of the City column delivered a new episode in the lives of a quirky and sometimes bizarre collection of transsexual, straight, and gay characters who reside at the fictional 28 Barbary Lane, San Francisco. The series grew into eight best-selling novels, a television miniseries, a film and a musical.

Maupin was one of the first openly gay authors and his stories were ground-breaking in a time when there were no gay people in popular culture. I was thinking as he spoke about how much things have changed, particularly in light of Minnesota’s new marriage law. His conversation was peppered with a few “motherfuckers” and some colorful comments about his sexual behavior. I wondered if such in-your-face speech seemed a bit dated, unnecessary in the era of Ellen Degeneres and “Modern Family” when gay people are more part of the mainstream. That was Friday. Then Saturday night in New York’s Greenwich Village, a gay man was murdered in what was clearly a hate crime. So, that answered my question. Maupin’s attitude and his stories are as pertinent as ever. When he started writing there was the homophobic Anita Bryant. Now we have Rep. Michelle Bachmann.

Maupin’s groundbreaking stories incorporate the politics of the 1970s but also focus on universal themes of love and longing that have made the “Tales” endure over the decades with broad appeal. Maupin says, “We read to feel less alone, to find our experience reflected in that of others.” I would add that reading opens our minds to the the experience of others even if it isn’t the same as ours. The best thing about reading: it fosters empathy.

For anyone traveling to San Francisco, the Tales are a must read and Maupin’s web site offers a great map to the real places that you read about in the books. That reading and travel combination gives insight into the city’s history not only as ground zero in the gay rights movement but also its position as the America’s foremost place for iconoclasts–the Beats, hippies, immigrants from around the world, and cultural and spiritual seekers of all sorts who have changed the way we think and influenced our culture.

Though he will forever be associated with San Francisco, Maupin and his husband Christoper Turner, have decamped for Santa Fe, for what Maupin says is a new adventure in a place that has amazing vistas, adobe homes, and wide open spaces. But, he says, “San Francisco is still in my heart.”

Uncategorized

Gifts for Mom: Ten Book Ideas to Inspire A Mother’s Day Adventure

May 6, 2013 Terri Peterson Smith 2 Comments

Give your mom the Mother’s Day gift she really wants: time with her kids and a good book.

SONY DSC — My 80-plus-year-old mother and I went sailing last year in Narragansett Bay while doing a Edith Wharton-related trip to Newport, Rhode Island. You can create a lit-trip just about anywhere, a great Mother’s Day gift.

It’s often a challenge to find an interesting way to celebrate Mother’s Day beyond flowers and candy, or maybe breakfast in bed. But the gift of a good book and a book-based adventure to go with it makes a present any Mom will treasure.

Women love to bond over books. The popularity of book clubs proves that. But Moms and their kids—of any age—can also share the experience of reading a great book together. Better yet, take reading a step further with a “lit trip,” based on the book. Meaningful time with her kids is the gift every mother wants.

My book, Off The Beaten Page: The Best Trips for Lit Lovers, Book Clubs, and Girls on Getaways offers reading lists and itineraries for three-day “lit trips” to 15 U.S. destinations. But it’s easy to create your own lit trip close to home, no matter where you live. Think “field trip” like the kind you took in school, only without the yellow bus and the sack lunch. Find a book topic that interests both you and your mother (or your kids), then think of place to go where you can experience the subject of the book in person. These don’t have to be high-brow or “girly” outings. We’re not talking reading Keats or Shelley and dancing the gavotte. Here are a few of my ideas for Mother’s Day lit trips for readers, from young adults to the young at heart:

For those who love horses or horse-racing- Read Laura Hillenbrand’s Seabiscuit
Read Seabiscuit and head for the racetrack

and spend an afternoon at the track or visit a horse farm.
For fans of “whodunits” – Read a book about an art heist such as The Gardner Heist: The True Story of the World’s Largest Unsolved Art Theft by Ulrich Boser or The Rockwell Heist by Bruce Rubenstein and visit an art museum.
For history buffs – Read Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell (or ask a librarian for tips on great books about your local history) and visit an historical society, battlefield or landmark.
For baseball fans – Read Bernard Malmud’s The Natural or Michael Lewis’s Moneyball and take in a game together.
For animal lovers – Read Temple Grandin’s Animals Make Us Human or Julie Klan’s Love at First Bark: How Saving a Dog Can Sometimes Help You Save Yourself and visit or volunteer at an event at your local humane society or animal rescue group.
For the outdoorsy – Read Cheryl Strayed’s memoir Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail and go take a hike.
For music fans– Read an autobiography by a favorite musician or other book about music and take in a concert. Try Cash: The Autobiography; Blues All Around Me by B.B. King; or Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon and the Journey of a Generation by Sheila Weller.
For cooks – Read Animal Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver or My Life in France by Julia Child and visit a farmers’ market or take a cooking class.
For movie goers – Read F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby or Therese Anne
How does the movie compare to the book? Read the Great Gatsby and then take in the movie. A great outing for Mother’s Day.

Fowler’s Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald and see the new Gatsby movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
And, for moms who really do love flowers, read The Language of Flowers: A Novel, by Vanessa Diffenbaugh and go on an arboretum or garden tour.

Off The Beaten Page: The Best Trips for Lit Lovers, Book Clubs, and Girls on Getaways, published by Chicago Review Press, is available now in bookstores and online everywhere.

Uncategorized

Off The Beaten Page Interview on Minnesota Monthly Blog

April 28, 2013 Terri Peterson Smith Leave a comment

Minnesota Monthly recently posted an interview that Joel Schettler did with me about

Off the Beaten Page: The Best Trips for Lit Lovers, Book Clubs and Girls on Getaways is now on sale everywhere.

Off the Beaten Page and literary travel.

“Designed for lovers of literature and travel, Off the Beaten Page: the Best Trips for Lit Lovers, Book Clubs, and Girls on Getaways, written by Edina resident Terri Peterson Smith, turns the power of a great story into a travel experience, taking readers on a tour of America’s most literary destinations. From a Mark Twain-inspired steamboat cruise on the Mississippi, to a walking tour of New York in the shoes of Holly Golightly from Truman Capote’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s, detailed travel ideas and itineraries are crafted for 15 destinations across the United States that are featured in the works of famous writers—including an entire chapter on Minneapolis and St. Paul.

“I had opportunity to ask the author about her inspiration for the book, which will be published next week. Hear her speak in person on May 28 at Barnes and Noble at the Galleria in Edina beginning at 7 p.m.” Read the rest of the article.

Chicago

Weekly Photo Challenge: Up, Up and Off The Beaten Page in Chicago

April 22, 2013 Terri Peterson Smith Leave a comment

Wherever you go in Chicago, it's important to keep looking up at the city's fabulous architecture. Above, one of the latest additions to Chicago's skyline, Cloud Gate, a.k.a. The Bean. — Wherever you go in Chicago, it’s important to keep looking up at the city’s fabulous architecture. Above, one of the latest additions to Chicago’s skyline, Cloud Gate, a.k.a. The Bean.

Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic Paul Goldberger says, “Architecture is one area in which we in New York truly do have a second city complex toward Chicago–not the other way around, as it is in so many other realms. And for all that has happened over the years, little has changed in the sense that those of us in New York, as well as the rest of the country, still have of Chicago as being the essential city of American architecture.”

But you don’t have to be a connoisseur of skyscrapers to understand Chicago’s pivotal place in architectural history and the innovative, risk-taking outlook that continues to make Chicago “America’s City.” Two books have generated sky-high interest in Chicago by combining the stories of the city’s architectural lions with juicy plots. The first, Erik Larson’s The Devil in The White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America. The other book, Nancy Horan’s Loving Frank, a novel of historical fiction, tells the tale of architectural genius Frank Lloyd Wright’s scandalous relationship with his client, Mamah Borthwick Cheney.

Each chapter in Off the Beaten Page includes an essay about a couple of books that create a theme or focus for your visit to that city, extensive reading lists, and three-day itineraries that offer ways to experience in person the books you’ve read and have fun in other ways, too. For example, the White City is long gone, but you can get a taste of what is was like by taking a tour with the Chicago Architecture Foundation. Wander Jackson Park, the site of the World’s Fair in The Devil in the White City, then tour Millennium Park, a modern-day bookend to the architectural innovation that began with that fair. Wherever you go, keep looking up.

Morocco

Are You a Travel Snob? Take this quiz and find out.

April 18, 2013 Terri Peterson Smith 2 Comments

During one of our recent “What is the world coming to?” discussions spurred by politics and other recent disasters, a friend handed me a book by David Brooks called Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There. In it, Brooks, who is a columnist for the New York Times, examines a social group that he has labeled bourgeois bohemians, or Bobos. He says a Bobo is a mix of bourgeois establishment square and bohemian artist intellectual. Like an anthropologist studying an exotic tribe, Brooks looks at Bobo business culture, social, intellectual and spiritual life. It’s a fun read because he seems like good-natured guy who admits he’s part of this group and doesn’t hesitate to point out its idiosyncrasies in a very humorous way.

What really caught my eye is his description of Bobo travel habits. I have to admit, to some extent, he’s describing me, many of the people I know, and almost all of the people you read about in travel magazines and and on travel blogs. Tell me if this sounds familiar:

“There are a certain number of sophisticated travelers who wear their past destinations like little merit badges.” According to Brooks, these aren’t people who simply name drop about the super luxe hotels and resorts where they stay. “Their main joy in life comes from dropping whopping hints that everywhere you are just going they went to long ago when it still meant something.” They’re masters of insufferable questions like “Didn’t the atabeg of Damascus stop there in 1139?” And, says Brooks, “They don’t say, ‘I know such-and-such a language.’ They say, ‘I have a little Portuguese” or ‘I have a few of the romance languages, of course,’ in that faux offhand manner that makes you want to stick the person’s head in a vise and squeeze it until the eyes pop out.”

But, we’re all travel snobs to some extent. For example, I was accused of travel snobbery when I said I didn’t really have a great desire to visit the Wisconsin Dells for vacation. I also make snide comments about the oddly dressed tourists who pile off cruise ships and tour buses. But it’s a matter of degree. I definitely rate myself lower on the food chain of travel snootiness than the guy who rues the day electrification came to Belize, though I have told people I remember when the streets weren’t paved on Ambergris Caye.

The Quiz

Where do you rate on the travel snob-o-meter? With the help of Brooks analysis, I’ve developed the following quiz so you can rate yourself. Give yourself 10 points if you answer yes to the following: 1. Have you ever one-upped someone in a travel conversation?

2. Do you avoid places that are “touristy” even though you’re dying to see them?

3. Do you wear outdoorsy travel gear acquired at places such as Eddie Bauer or REI even when you’re not on an expedition? Five extra points if your togs have lots of pockets.

4. Have you ever said you have a language instead of I speak a language? Or, another of my favorites, do you use a “French” pronunciation for a word when it isn’t a French word?

5. Do you label yourself as “serious” about a travel or sporting pursuit, i.e. a “serious hiker,” or “serious kayaker?” Says Brooks, “The most accomplished are so serious they never have any fun at all.”

6. Do you seek out locales where simple peasants live in abundance farming or creating folk art?

7. Do you frequently mention using alternative modes of transportation, such as camels or tuk-tuks?

8. What’s that you say? You don’t travel because there’s no place that’s better than right where you are? If you say yes, you’re a reverse travel snob. Bam! 10 points.

Finally, does your idea of a great vacation involve pain and exertion– for example biking across a state larger than Rhode Island, or kayaking around Lake Superior or canoeing length of the Amazon? If your answer is yes, award yourself 20 points. “At the tippy top of the leisure status system are those vacations that involve endless amounts of agony and pain,” says Brooks.

Here’s how you stack up. 10 points: not a travel snob, but a little dull. 20-50 points: emerging snob, you just need to add on a few more miles, perhaps while trekking in Nepal. 60-80 points: You’re a snooty pants, and I’m sure those pants are made by Patagonia. And you’re probably a Bobo, too. 90-100 points: You’re an insufferable travel snob. We’d all like to go where you’ve been, but we don’t want you to tell us about it, so go kayak around Lac Superieur.

Boston, Uncategorized

Dennis Lehane’s Boston

April 15, 2013 Terri Peterson Smith Leave a comment

And speaking of Boston (see my last post), I want to emphasize how well Dennis Lehane’s books convey the Boston “voice,” and life in the tough, working class parts of Boston where he grew up. You may not want to actually spend your vacation in the Dorchester neighborhood, for example, but you can visit those places through Mystic River, Gone, Baby, Gone and his latest, Live by Night, which all make great reads before a trip to Boston and a nice diversion from the Freedom Trail.

I saw Lehane last week when he spoke at Pen Pals, the author series that raises funds for the Hennepin County Library system which serves the Minneapolis area. He’s one of the best speakers I’ve ever heard, mixing insightful literary observations, stories of his relationship with Clint Eastwood who directed Mystic River, writing for HBO’s The Wire, and hilarious anecdotes about his gigantic Irish American family. He learned his storytelling expertise at family gatherings (and sometimes in bars) where his dad and his uncle told “true” stories that changed with every retelling.

You can see how his skills as a raconteur translate to novel writing, which he says is a much more difficult task than screen-writing. His novels, like his storytelling, incorporate great pacing, tightly wound plots, and characters drawn from the Boston streets. That’s one reason that Lehane isn’t, in my opinion typical of the crime genre where anyone with a laptop seems able to get published. His work could better be described as well-crafted literary fiction…with a purpose. One of his comments about fiction sticks with me: fiction is “the lie that tells the truth.”

On your way to Boston? You’ll also want to pick up some of the books that Lehane suggested in a In New York Times interview, which included classics such as The Friends of Eddie Coyle, by George V. Higgins, The Last Hurrah and The Edge of Sadness, by Edwin O’Connor, and in nonfiction, Common Ground, by J. Anthony Lukas. I also have scads of other Boston books on the reading list in Off The Beaten Page: The Best Trips for Lit Lovers, Book Clubs, and Girls on Getaways.

Boston

Off the Beaten Page in Boston

April 9, 2013 Terri Peterson Smith Leave a comment

Literary travel doesn't have to be too serious. I love this sign in Rockport, Massachusetts. — Literary travel doesn’t have to be too serious.

My book, Off The Beaten Page: The Best Trips for Lit Lovers, Book Clubs, and Girls on Getaways comes out May 1. So, between now and then, I’m offering a glimpse of the 15 U.S. cities featured in the book. First up, Boston, Massachusetts where, with the help of great books, you can experience the city’s colonial heritage as well as its maritime tradition. Each chapter offers an essay relating a couple of books to the city to create a theme for your trip, an extensive reading list, and a detailed itinerary…. read the book, go see where the story takes place.

Boston itineraries include colonial sites from the perspective of the founding mothers, whose story has only recently begun to be told.

You can also experience “fish tales” such as Moby Dick

or The Perfect Storm through activities such as sailing or whale watching in the Stellwagen Banks Marine Sanctuary with the New England Aquarium.

Shades of Moby Dick.... a breaching whale in the Stellwagen Banks off the coast of Massachusetts. — Shades of Moby Dick…. a breaching whale in the Stellwagen Banks off the coast of Massachusetts.

Uncategorized

Major League Vacation: Baseball Books to Inspire Your Summer Travel

April 1, 2013 Terri Peterson Smith Leave a comment

It’s 33 degrees here in Minneapolis, a might nippy for the Minnesota Twins home opener. I suspect there will be more hot coffee ordered in the stands than cold beer, and fans will wear hats and mittens instead of their usual sun screen. Nonetheless, things will warm up soon and for lovers of Major League Baseball everywhere ‘tis the season to both take in a game and to check out the latest additions to the library of baseball lore.

The best baseball stories make great literature even if you’re not the most devoted baseball fan. They’re always stories of moral crises, human foibles, victory, defeat, and ultimately the character of America. Minneapolis author John Rosengren has his own contribution on deck, just in time for the season opener, Hank Greenberg: The Hero of Heros. Greenberg, a Hall of Famer, played in the 1930s and 40s, primarily as a first baseman for the Detroit Tigers (who incidentally, the Twins will play this afternoon). One of the great power hitters of his generation, he racked up home runs and RBIs the way Hillary Clinton has logged frequent flyer miles. But what Rosengren zeros in on, and what makes the story most interesting, is Greenberg’s integrity in the face of the intense religious and racial bigotry of the times. He was the first Jewish superstar in professional sports and played against the backdrop of the Hitler era, the anti-Semitism of Detroit’s Henry Ford, and that of his own teammates. Greenberg became the center of national attention in 1934 when he refused to play on Yom Kippur, though the Tigers needed him to win the pennant race. He was also among the first players to welcome Jackie Robinson to Major League baseball.

Rosengren will speak about his book at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, on May 18, which brings me to the idea of baseball-related travel. He advocates Cooperstown as not only a must for baseball fans but also as an attractive and historic destination for those less passionate about the sport. While Cooperstown is mecca for baseball pilgrims, he also suggests a jaunt to the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory, an iconic place in baseball history. Of course tons of people make visiting baseball stadiums across the country a priority for their summer travel. Check out one of the best blogs I’ve seen about baseball stadiums as travel destinations, Yards of Summer, from another Twin Citian, Tyler Sachse. He offers reviews of the parks he has visited, some great photography from his trips, and his own list of recommended baseball reads.

So, all you boys and girls of summer…. indulge your passion with a few baseball field trips. And to enhance your travel, here’s a list of baseball books, both recent and classic, to pack along.

Babe: The Legend Comes to Life, Robert W. Creamer. Our most famous baseball player ever, in the context of his times.

Bang the Drum Slowly, Mark Harris. Baseball fiction, yes, but Bang the Drum has also been called “a haunting meditation on life, death, friendship, and loyalty.”

The Catcher Was a Spy, The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg, Nicholas Dawidoff. Berg is characterized as a strange fellow who was a professional ball player, a spy during World War II, and who ended his life in poverty.

Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series, Eliot Asinof. Lance Armstrong and his USPS team were by no means the first to shock and disappoint their fans. This book covers one of all-time biggest sports scandals, set against the end of World War I and the beginning of the Roaring Twenties.

Hank Greenberg: Hero of Heros, John Rosengren. See above.

Jackie Robinson: A Biography, Arnold Rampersad. The gripping story of the first African American man to in baseball, subject of the current film 42 The Movie.

Moneyball, Michael Lewis. The book behind the movie, the story of Billy Beane, manager of the Oakland A’s, and his struggle against the conventional wisdom of baseball management.

The Natural, Bernard Malmud. The fictional story of Roy Hobbs (remember the Robert Redford movie?), considered the best baseball book of all time.

October 1964, David Halberstam. The 1964 World Series between the Yankees and Cardinals as seen against the social and political tumult of the 1960s.

Shoeless Joe, The Iowa Baseball Confederacy, and other books by W.P. Kinsella. This author’ books combine baseball with a rich imaginary world. (Shoeless Joe was the inspiration for the movie Field of Dreams.)

You Know Me Al: A Busher’s Letters, Ring Lardner. The hilarious fictional letters of a bush league pitcher who blames everyone but himself for his failures.

Ideas for Book Clubs

More Book Club Travel Tales: Exploring Lubeck, Germany, with Thomas Mann

March 28, 2013 Terri Peterson Smith 2 Comments

Lubeck2 — Visiting Lubeck, Germany on a Thomas Mann-inspired tour.

This is the second part of an interview with Susan Jessop who has shared with me the experiences of her fabulous book club in Ottawa, Canada. In my previous post, we covered some the group’s ideas for book-related travel close-to-home and some suggestions for Canadian authors you’ll want to add to your reading list, no matter where you live.

Next, we cover the group’s big trip: to Lubeck (a.k.a. Luebeck), Germany. Admittedly, they have a leg up because Susan has family there, hence, the inside scoop on accommodations and tours. I’ve never been to Lubeck, but from the pictures I’ve seen it’s old town area looks wildly charming. She has excellent tips to make a successful trip. Hopefully, their ideas will inspire you and your travel companions to venture out into the world with a few good books.

So, Susan, tell us in a nutshell about your lit trip to Germany.

I’m not sure who launched the idea initially but as I own a condo in the town of Lubeck, Germany and my brother has several tourist apartments, I thought that this was quite doable. I checked with family for dates and availability. Once we’d settled on a date, I agreed to put together a program and run it past our group (I was really hoping for full executive control knowing that I’d wear this if we took a haphazard approach!). We had a planning meeting with the six ladies who finally committed to going.

I settled on the book Buddenbrooks: A Family in Decline written by Thomas Mann in 1918 at the age of 23. The selection was a no-brainer as there is nary a German alive who doesn’t know of and admire this book. Thomas Mann won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923 mainly for this novel. Lubeck is the setting for the book and many landmarks are still there today. In fact, a few years earlier a German production was filmed on location and my sister-in-law and nephew were film extras. It was a natural choice, but at over 700 pages and written almost 100 years ago I was worried the ladies would kill me if they didn’t like it!

Our itinerary included a hop on/hop off tour, which had the worst English translations imaginable, of the city highlights. We were in stitches as we travelled through town. Fortunately, the tour I arranged at Buddenbrook Haus [if you can read German, check out their Web site, http://buddenbrookhaus.de%5D was led by a highly competent tour guide who captivated us for two hours on Mann family lore. We also arranged for a viewing of the movie (the very one featuring my nephew walking down the street from behind!). My brother has a wonderful retro home theatre complete with red velvet movie seats for 20. He served us champagne and home made popcorn! We also took an afternoon boat trip up the Trave River to the Baltic Sea where the Buddenbrooks holidayed, and a day trip to Hamburg where one of the characters lived. In between, I made sure there was lots of down time for shopping and entertainment (notably wine and good food). I think we had a really good time. The book was also a great read and really came alive as we walked the streets of this lovely medieval town.

Did the trip bring your group closer together? How so?

I think the trip did bring us closer together. It’s an interesting group. Some women are close friends but mostly I would describe us as acquaintances that really enjoy each others’ company in the context of books. We all know the old adage that traveling is the surest way to get to know someone, for better or worse! We did indeed get to know each other better. There was a cranky moment or two, but when you have that many independent, take charge women together, it’s bound to happen!

Did it give you a greater understanding of the book(s) you read relating to the trip and the culture where you traveled? Please explain.

Absolutely! My imagination has been fueled by reading all my life, but as an English major in university, the feelings I had when I finally walked through the locations from my favourite novels were special.

Any tips or suggestions for people who are organizing book-related travel?

I think I implied in one of the previous answers that planning is really important! You want to make sure that you have your activities lined up and not left to chance. If you’re the organizer, ask your book club members for permission to take charge and give them a bit of a preview before the trip to confirm that you’re not out in left field. Our trip was about 6-7 days but I still made sure there were a couple of down days. For sure the first day has to be relaxed to allow for some recovery from jet lag if that’s a factor and leave time for shopping during the trip.

One other thing that proved to work well was that I provided a budget in advance, so that folks could have a sense of what the costs would be for the week (everything but the airfare). I collected the money at the beginning and we made all our purchases from “the kitty,” including food, wine, restaurants, admissions, bus, boat and rail fares, etc… I had calculated it quite carefully and we came in almost exactly on the Euro! As such we had no fussing around money and going to the bank, etc…

Anything else you want to add?

Do try this! Book club outings enrich the experience! You could reasonably begin with a local outing and move up to a weekend and finally an international trip. We are starting to talk and plan our next trip to Bath, England …. Jane Austen territory!!!! Woo Hoo. One of our members has a sister in Bath and she is doing some reconnaissance for us. One activity we’ve discussed is bringing her sister’s book group together for a meeting with ours while we are there. Now that will be interesting!

Off The Beaten Page Travel

Things To Do in Newport, Rhode Island

For San Francisco Travel, Armistead Maupin’s “Tales” Are Still Relevant

Gifts for Mom: Ten Book Ideas to Inspire A Mother’s Day Adventure

Off The Beaten Page Interview on Minnesota Monthly Blog

Weekly Photo Challenge: Up, Up and Off The Beaten Page in Chicago

Are You a Travel Snob? Take this quiz and find out.

Dennis Lehane’s Boston

Off the Beaten Page in Boston

Major League Vacation: Baseball Books to Inspire Your Summer Travel

Travel to the places you read about. Read about the places you travel.