Number 5 in The A to Z of the Writer’s Affliction, part of the A to Z blogging challenge.
Writers are readers too, and like all readers, they like to get as full an experience as possible. One way of doing this is to read the book in the place where it is set. Thus, my experience of The Quiet American was greatly enhanced by reading it in Vietnam. Every so often I still take out my copy of the book and flick through the pages, recalling the spot where I bought it from a street hawker in Ho Chi Minh (the Graham Greene estate got nothing, I’m afraid, as the whole book was a photocopy). I could have done the same with Burmese Days, touted in similar fashion in Yangon, but as I’d already read it, I passed. Under The Volcano, though – where better to read it than in the shadow of Popocatepetl? The list could go on: Passage to India, Our Man in Havana, or more recently the wonderful Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi by Geoff Dyer. Closer to home, I’m thinking of reading The Girl on the Train on the 7.32 from Royston to Paddington. Just, you know, to get the full feel of the rumble and clatter, the sweaty commuters, the tut-tutting delays. I may even swig gin while I’m at it.
Of course, it might not always work. I don’t know if Brighton Rock would be improved when read by the Royal Pavilion. And I have my doubts about Anna of the Five Towns – do I really want to visit Tunstall, Burslem, Hanley, Stoke and Longton? (Wikipedia? Moi? How dare you!) Frankly, I’d also think twice about reading Ulysses in Dublin. What if, yet again, I failed to finish? Dublin’s a lovely city but I don’t think I want to spend the rest of my life there.
Then there are those you definitely wouldn’t want to experience. The Gulag Archipelago? Hmm, no thanks. I’d be up for The Martian Chronicles, though – if Matt Damon can get back, so can I. Being a bit claustrophobic, I wouldn’t read Emma Donoghue’s Room in a tiny basement with a sexual pervert upstairs. Nor do I like submarines. When a giant squid tried to sell me a waterproof copy of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, I shooed it away in no uncertain manner.
I’m sure the brief list here is far from exhausting the possibilities, whether positive or negative. All further contributions are welcome…
Like you I got some experiences through books, but many of them for me are too much violence, sadness… When I was in Vietnam I visited near Ho Chi Min, the caves and many horrors because of war… Really it was interesting how people could bear such appalling way to resist. To me it was an experience, though very sad…..
Yes, Vietnam leaves a lasting impression. And although The Quiet American was set in a different time, it still helped to understand the country and vice versa.
Started “The Goldfinch” in NYC…. absolutely set the experience for me from 43rd & Lex!
I’ll bet! Still have to read it myself, though.
It’s a great concept. I just read wherever. If I waited to visit a destination I may never get any reading done in less there’s a book on In Your House! Lol! Did you read Room Curtis? It’s on my TBR list. ~Elle
Yes, I don’t think the concept could be applied too rigorously! No, I haven’t read Room – not sure it’s on my TBR list either, to be honest, though it is said to be good.
Ah, to be footloose with a good book.
If you do read The Girl on the Train, I would be extremely interested in hearing your honest, unvarnished opinion.
Well, I did read it and um… let’s say that 40 pages from the end I started to think it was gripping. Up to then, I wondered what the hype was about.
Haha! Your appraisal is far kinder than mine. I compelled myself to finish reading it, and was disappointed. Not only did I know who the killer was the first time he drove by, but the red-hairing was laughably obvious. I am totally over the alcoholic female protagonist. Hard to believe it’s going to be a movie. I still wonder what the hype was about.
Yes, I (nearly) always finish books I’ve started, but sometimes I turn the pages a bit quickly and this was one of those. So I conclude you preferred One Green Bottle? Therefore it should sell more than Girl on the Train. Yippee!
Yes, I did. Yes it should. 🙂
Wonderful, thank you! 🙂 Now all that remains is to spend $1m on advertising…
Have you considered a Kickstarter campaign? 😉
I don’t think I’ve ever read a book in it’s ‘home’ setting…. I’ve been racking my brains but nothing comes to mind :-/
Mind you the majority of my reading is fantasy so maybe it’s a good thing I don’t see elves and dragons and orc running around town!
Ah, indeed! I wouldn’t fancy meeting those monsters north of the wall in Game of Thrones…
“Dublin’s a lovely city but I don’t think I want to spend the rest of my life there.” – Still laughing at your comment on Ulysses 😀
Thank you, glad you liked the post 🙂
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