Review: Booked: A Traveler's Guide to Literary Locations Around the World by Richard Kreitner

 Title: Booked: A Traveler's Guide to Literary Locations Around the World

Author: Richard Kreitner

Format: Hardcover

Publisher: Black Dog Leventhal

Publish Date: April 23, 2019

Source: Owned

What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "A must-have for every fan of literature, Booked inspires readers to follow in their favorite characters footsteps by visiting the real-life locations portrayed in beloved novels including the Monroeville, Alabama courthouse in To Kill a Mockingbird, Chatsworth House, the inspiration for Pemberley in Pride and Prejudice, and the Kyoto Bridge from Memoirs of a Geisha. The full-color photographs throughout reveal the settings readers have imagined again and again in their favorite books.

Organized by regions all around the world, author Richard Kreitner explains the importance of each literary landmark including the connection to the author and novel, cultural significance, historical information, and little-known facts about the location. He also includes travel advice like addresses and must-see spots."

My Two Cents:

"Booked" is a fantastic book for those who love armchair traveling. Since the beginning of the pandemic, I really have not been able to travel widely the way that I used to in the "before times." This book was a great way to get to "see" some other places and add a few more bullets to the list of places I'd eventually like to go. 

Many of the places in the book I was already familiar with but there were also some that I was not as aware of. Some of my favorite parts of the book were the maps and associated paragraphs that laid out multiple literary sites in a single city. It was an interesting way to look at a familiar place with a new lens on it (London and New Orleans were especially cool to me - I'm so ready to go to both again!). 

The downside of the book is that while billed as an around-the-world book, it is very American and Euro-centric, which felt a bit limiting to me. It did raise an interesting conversation for me though: did the book only look at these places because it is what the author picked or is it a reflection of how far our literary world has to go for authors from all different places to have equal footing? It's interesting to think about.

All in all, this was a good book to whet my appetite for literary travel but left me looking for a bit more robust travel guide that truly fits the around-the-world descriptor.