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Going Places
Fine Books’ editor Rebecca Rego Barry on biblio-tourism By Rebecca Rego Barry
If you’re like me, you travel for books. Whether you’re taking a day trip or crossing an ocean, you’ll end up visiting bookshops, beautiful old libraries, or literary house museums. Let’s call it biblio-tourism. (Why not? There’s eco-tourism and food tourism.) One of my favorite literary pilgrimages is Concord, Massachusetts, where Walden Pond, the Concord Bookshop, and several authors’ homes can easily consume a long weekend. In England, I simply had to go to the theater in Stratford-upon-Avon; in Ireland, I paid homage to The Book of Kells; and in Portugal, I bought my first Saramago in a tiny bookshop.
The feature in this issue of Fine Books opened my eyes to San Francisco, a bookish destination if ever there was one. With its plentiful bookshops, the Grabhorn Institute, and the SF Center for the Book, I’m quite determined to book my next trip to this veritable book town. In the meantime, Richard Goodman takes us on a tour of the New York Academy of Medicine’s Library, a place that may not be at the top of your sightseeing list in New York City, but it should be. Of course, if you prefer the armchair variety of travel, try early nineteenth-century Paris with bestselling author Steve Berry. Berry, who writes and collects thrillers, is profiled in our digest section this month.
In his Gently Mad column, Nicholas Basbanes ponders films adapted from books, as well as films with books (or other documents) at the heart of the narrative. He also asks readers about their favorite movies about books; I’m sure you’ll have one to add to his list.
There’s also some very exciting news to share this month. Fine Books & Collections will be returning to print! The quarterly printed edition will publish both new material and selections from the best of our online content, four times a year, beginning in April. We’ll continue publishing our popular monthly e-letter, as usual. To read more about it, and to subscribe to the print edition, click here.
Until then, happy travels!
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