Like many who call Madrid home, Elena Medel was born elsewhere, but forged her identity in the Spanish capital. Here, she recommends books about this city that “refuses to be reduced to an ideal.”
Tag: literaryguides
Read Your Way Through Kerala
A strip of lush land at the tip of India where spices grow wild, Kerala has long drawn the gaze of outsiders. Here’s Abraham Verghese’s guide to its literature, which nods at these influences but is very much its own.
Read Your Way Through Tokyo
Hiromi Kawakami, one of Japan’s most popular contemporary novelists, travels with books that help her immerse herself in her destination. Here, she suggests reading for those coming to her hometown, Tokyo.
Read Your Way Through Edinburgh
Edinburgh calls to readers, its pearl-grey skies urging them to curl up with a book. Maggie O’Farrell, the author of “Hamnet,” suggests reading that best reflects her city.
Read Your Way Through Kingston, Jamaica
“No one sound speaks for all” Jamaicans, the novelist Marlon James says. Here are the books he recommends for readers who want to see the island’s many facets.
Read Your Way Through Tangier
Tangier’s many facets have long inspired writers. Here, the Moroccan-born novelist Laila Lalami introduces readers to the books and writers that, to her, best capture the city.
Read Your Way Through Dublin
Virtuosity and creativity with language are “everyone’s birthright” in the Irish capital, says Tana French, an award-winning mystery writer who has made it her home.
Read Your Way Through Istanbul
Istanbul is unfathomable: old and new, real and surreal, melancholic and absurd. Elif Shafak, one of its foremost novelists, reveals its secrets.
Read Your Way Through London
Bernardine Evaristo, whose “Girl, Woman, Other” won the Booker Prize, invites readers into London, a city whose rich literary landscape is “for everyone, not just the privileged few.”
Read Your Way Through Rome
Igiaba Scego, an author born in Rome to Somali parents, recommends books that draw readers through the rich layers that make up her hometown.