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Travel Around the World with Books Inspired by Literary Cafés
11th May 2020
How to Travel Around the World with Books Inspired by Literary Cafés
Travel bans and stay-at-home ordinances around the world have put holidays on pause, but wanderlust is stronger than ever. Virtual vacations and armchair travel have exploded in popularity, but the limitations of digital travel leave something for the imagination to desire. Instead of recommending another virtual tour of a museum, we’ve curated infamous novels to read (and re-read) inspired by famous literary cafes around the world.
Start your journey with the fertile farmlands and deep lochs of Scotland. Writers from all over the world visit The Elephant House in Edinburgh to inspire their fiction. It’s no wonder that this quaint literary cafe was where J.K. Rowling wrote her first of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.
Take a quick train south to visit The Eagle and Child in Oxford, England. This pub located in the city centre was the birthplace of novelists who coined themselves “The Inklings”. Pick up The Lord of The Rings series and Out of the Silent Planet, the science fiction novel written by C.S. Lewis to pay ode to The Inklings and their craft.
Next on the journey is Paris, France. Visit two iconic literary cafes La Rotonde and La Closerie des Lilas and imagine sitting in front of French windowsills watching Parisian passersby while sipping a flat white. Hemingway read the manuscript of The Great Gatsby at La Closerie des Lilas and manages to reference La Rotonde in his novel, The Sun Also Rises.
Last on the literary cafe-inspired holiday is a stop across the pond, New York City, United States. Jack Kerouac was a regular at Cafe Reggio, and likely sipped the first cappuccino in America. Pick up your copy of On the Road and imagine your road trip across the USA with your closest friends.
Have an insatiable need to read? There are LOTS more books inspired by iconic writers’ favourite cafes.
The Elephant House: Edinburgh, Scotland
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone—J.K. Rowling
The Eagle and Child: Oxford, England
The Lord of the Rings—J R R Tolkien
Out of the Silent Planet—C S Lewis
La Closerie des Lilas—Paris, France
The Great Gatsby—F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Sun Also Rises—Ernest Hemingway
On the Road –Jack Kerouac
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