For many people, the word “holidays” often conjures up an image involving a beautiful landscape and a book. Books also allow us to travel in our imagination, instead of physically. Whether you are just arriving from a vacation or heading towards one soon, or simply just dreaming of one, here are a few literary suggestions from the Pontas Agency to accompany you around the world:
LAPLAND: No visit to the Arctic Circle should be done without a copy of Le dernier lapon (The Last Sami) by Olivier Truc (Éditions Métailié), which has sold over 100,000 copies in France in one year, is going to be adapted to film (or television, not yet sure!), and has now also become an international success. Travel with Nina and Klemet to the land of the samis, where you can spend 40 days without a shadow.
NEW ZEALAND: If you are lucky enough to visit Christchurch and the Southern Island, you should readSettler´s Creek and/or Rocking Horse Road by Carl Nixon (Random House NZ), who is considered one of New Zealand’s top authors. His novels, with a distinct noir style, bring to life New Zealand’s people and their relationship to their territory like few books do.
CUBA: Go back in time to Colonial Cuba of the 19th century with the epic novel El sueño de las Antillas (Dreaming of the West Indies) by Carmen Santos (Grijalbo/Penguin Random House). An intelligent and engaging combination of historical novel and romantic novel, a perfect holiday type of read enjoy and relax.
INDONESIA: Prominent Indonesian journalist Leila S. Chudori is the author of the multi-praised novel titled Pulang (Home), a love story spanning two generations during two dark and violent periods of Indonesia's history: the 1965 communist purge that marked the rise of the longest-serving Indonesian president Soeharto, and his fall in 1998.
GHANA: Saturday’s Shadows by Ayesha Harruna Attah, which will soon be published by World Editions (English) and De Geus (Dutch), describes a the downfall of a country, and a marriage, in Accra in the mid 90’s. It’s original perspective, told from the four different members of the family, makes it a fresh and engaging read to take anywhere.
BARCELONA: La felicitat (Happiness) by Lluís-Anton Baulenas (Edicions 62), translated into a dozen languages, is a contemporary classic and a true homage to an every changing city. Revisit Barcelona in 1909, when it was called “the Paris of the Mediterranean”. A trully universal novel.