I always read before I travel. I am much more of a non-fiction reader than fiction, so I look for a good historical read or memoir before I go. However, I read "A Tabernacle for the Sun" in anticipation of a trip to Florence and it so increased my anticipation! Alas, omicron had other plans, so I still haven't made it to Florence.
I don't have plans to go to Ireland, but I'm reading a non-fiction book called "We Don't Know Ourselves: a personal history of modern Ireland" by Fintan O'Toole which is fascinating but has certainly shattered any images I had of Ireland simply being a misty green island full of charming local color. In fact, it's giving me the impression that Ireland was practically a third world country until the nineties, thanks in very large part to the Catholic church. The hypocricy and misogyny of the Church, the willingness to look the other way as priests abused children, the horrible, prison-like institutional facilities for orphaned and or troubled children and unwed mothers, the corrupt government and The Troubles all contributed to mass emigration, leaving Ireland with a moribund economy, substandard educational facilities, limited job prospects for young people and generational poverty for decades. Anyway, those are the kinds of books that I find really bring a new country alive for me (though I usually hope that they make even more excited to visit instead of depressing me, like this book is doing).
