SELECTED BOOKS
To read is to travel in one’s mind. Taking part of other worlds and experiences through literature is to expand one’s understanding of what it means to be alive, by looking at the world through the eyes of others. Reading while travelling is a form of enhanced journey; while being physically away from home, one is also exploring unknown territories in the mind’s landscape.
JAMES BALDWIN / GIOVANNI'S ROOM
In 1950s Paris, a young American, engaged to be married, meets Italian bartender Giovanni, who works in a bar. The two soon begin a passionate love affair, which ends in tragedy.
A story of love, death and sexuality in the postwar era.
GIORGIO BASSANI / THE GOLD-RIMMED SPECTACLES
One of Bassani’s best novellas, outlining the gradual social decline of the doctor in the insular town of Ferrara.
Initially very popular, his position in society is undermined by his personal life, as the young man he pays to be his lover humiliates him publicly.
GRAHAM GREENE / THE END OF THE AFFAIR
One of the literary masters of the 20th century, Graham Greene’s story of love, death and God in The End of the Affair is not only beautifully written but also thought-provoking, not least in how he in this novel describes happiness as a state of mind that eventually threatens a person’s sense of individuality because of how close it is to godly bliss.
MAX PORTER / GRIEF IS THE THING WITH FEATHERS
Sooner or later, grief will make a visit in a person’s life. At times, it will be expected, at other times, it will be unannounced. In Max Porter’s critically acclaimed novel, grief has taken the shape of a crow, visiting a widower and his two children in a story that is both poetic and immensely moving.
GEORGES PEREC / THINGS. A STORY OF THE SIXTIES
The things in Perec’s novel are meticulously described, at times even more so than the romantic couple that the story revolves around.
They long for things they cannot afford, and are driven by a constant desire for more, in this story about social class, money and possessions.
GIANFRANCO CALLIGARICH / LAST SUMMER IN THE CITY
An Italian classic on love and loss set in glamorous 1960s Rome.
Written in an elegant and light prose, this short novel outlines the melancholic events in the life of a talented young writer, taking place over the course of a few months.
MARCEL PROUST / IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME
The story follows the narrator’s recollections of childhood and experiences into adulthood in the late 19th early 20th century in Parisian high society, while reflecting on the loss of time and lack of meaning in the world. One of the greatest modern literary classics.
EVELYN WAUGH / A HANDFUL OF DUST
Tony Last loves his quiet family life in the English countryside. Little does he know, that his wife is restless and bored.
When opportunity presents itself, she takes it, and begins a new life in London with her young lover. The story begins as a comedy but ends a tragedy, except for those who never cared in the first place.
SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR / MISUNDERSTANDING IN MOSCOW
Once passionately in love, retired French couple Nicole and André have become too accustomed to each other.
They take a summer holiday to Russia, but the trip is affected by existential questions of how to grow old together and of the many other challenges aging can bring.
TRUMAN CAPOTE / A CHRISTMAS STORY (1966)
Often melancholic and bittersweet, there is tenderness and a clear sense of love in the way many of the characters and places are portrayed, as Truman Capote reminisced about his childhood and the people he grew up with, forever lost to the forces of time.
FRANÇOISE SAGAN / THAT MAD ACHE
Set in high-society Paris in mid-1960s, The Mad Ache recounts the emotional battle unleashed in the heart of Lucile, a young woman who finds herself caught between her carefree love for 50-year-old businessman Charles, and her sudden passion for Antoine, a struggling editor.
FRANÇOISE SAGAN / DO YOU LIKE BRAHMS?
A story of love, passion and sex, of bourgeoise conventions and social transgressions, this novel outlines the story of a woman in 1950s Paris who takes a younger lover, much to the dismay of her partner and peers, while also fighting her own prejudices.
LEOPOLDINA PALLOTTA DELLA TORRE / THE SUSPENDED PASSION
The book contains a series of interviews with Marguerite Duras, thematically organized and in the distinct tone of the French writer. The conversations range from funny to controversial and thought-provoking, but never boring.
ANDRÉ ACIMAN / CALL ME BY YOUR NAME
A story of love and lust between two young men during a summer in the Italian countryside in the 1980s, and of how these events continue to reverberate within and between them in the decades to come.
PIERRE BERGÉ / LETTERS TO YVES
For fifty years, Pierre Bergé shared his life with Yves Saint Laurent. These love letters, written to YSL after his death, relive the couple’s first carefree years.
It is an homage to their life, and an intimate farewell to one of the most influential people in 20th century fashion.
ERENST HEMINGWAY / THE SHORT HAPPY LIFE OF FRANCIS MACOMBER & THE SNOWS OF KILIMANJARO (1938)
Hemingway’s “iceberg method” has made him extremely famous; most of what happens is not explicitly stated but is written in-between the lines, for the reader to figure out for themselves. These two novellas are among his Hemingway’s finest.
ERNEST HEMINGWAY / A MOVEABLE FEAST
Ernest Hemingway is known for two things: his instantly recognizable way of writing and his eventful life.
In this book, the two are combined, as he reminisces on the years of his youth, spent in Italy and France together with some of the greatest talents of his time.
BRUCE CHATWIN / WHAT AM I DOING HERE?
A collection of essays and travel stories from the life of Bruce Chatwin.
It was his last book and draws on his many experiences, from trekking in Nepal and sailing down the Volga to interviewing Madeleine Vionnet and making a film with Werner Herzog.
FRANÇOISE SAGAN / ENGAGEMENTS OF THE HEART
A melodramatic ménage-a-trois unfolds with the German occupation of France during World War II as grim backdrop.
Alice must choose between childhood best friends Charles and Jérôme, while also working with the French resistance to help persecuted Jews out of the country.
ERICH MARIA REMARQUE / THE NIGHT IN LISBON
A deeply moving love story, detailing the hardships suffered by a couple escaping the Nazis, desperately hoping to find a way out of Europe.
The story is told during one single night, in Lisbon, the last harbour for ships going to New York.
GIORGIO BASSANI / THE GARDEN OF THE FINZI-CONTINIS
The novel chronicles the relationship between the narrator and the children of the prestigious Finzi-Contini family during the 1930s in Italy. It describes the friendships within the group, as societal tensions begin to affect their lives, due to the dramatic change in political climate.
ERNEST HEMINGWAY / THE GARDEN OF EDEN
During a few lazy weeks on the French Riviera, newlywed couple David and Catherine Bourne find themselves in an increasingly complicated three-way relationship with a young woman. Boundaries are overstepped and the idyllic days spent by the sea gradually become darker and more sinister. Posthumously published, it is widely considered one of Ernest Hemingway’s most original novels.