This book is about the setting of great literary works, not only in geography, but in history as well. I have been to almost all the places in the book, and the descriptions are very accurate.
Not among the larger books, this one is packed with well written descriptions and outstanding illustrations, making it a "must have" for booklovers.

A nice little book which provides a summary of 25 major fictional books and describes the location, era and the author's link to the setting. There's 2-3 pages of text an 2-3 pages of illustrations for each book. Initially the artwork didn't grab me but gradually I could see that it worked.
This book provides a nice intro into the "famous" novels and is what it is - a bit of a traveller's guide into various locations throughout the world.

"Truly great writers recreate not only locations but also eras and histories."


If you have a literary bent and are contemplating travel this is a fascinating book. Even if your not venturing to far flung place, this gem of a book will allow loads of armchair traveling.
Twenty-five locations were chosen from St Petersburg in Russia to Saigon in Vietnam and places both north and south of the equator and around the globe encompassing longitudes from England to Chile.
I grappled with artist's impressions for the first couple of chapters. I am used to, and was expecting photographs, ideally artistically shot. You know a bridge or archway looming through the bull rushes taken from a prone position etc. etc.
But here we have artistic impressions by Amy Grimes, superbly rendered, colorful, and often showing a 'naive' primitivism influence, with occasional magic realism touches. These art works, capturing the essence of places as we're guided through select novel pathways, are beautiful additions.
So this was unexpected! I was envisaging maps and photos to support Baxter's inclusions and find this literary discussion of the place, time and background of a selected novel, supported by Grimes' delicately nuanced works, rewarding. I found myself enjoying this different approach. And I remembered the small book and pencils I used to carry with me to do sketches with. Nowhere near as creative as Grimes' digital collage works and overlays, but I identified with the process. (BTW reading more about Grimes's artistic methods via other access points was interesting.)
In fact I was disappointed there weren't more illustrations. They were the deciding factor for me between a four star or a five star rating.
Fortunately I have read most of the books selected, and more fortunately I have visited many of their locations. So Baxter's book reminded me of not only the associated books, but my own responses to the novels and to their locations. The particular places recalled to me the times and conditions in which the novels were set, be it at the time of the Hemingway and the Spanish Wars, Steinbeck and Cannery Row in Monterey or Austen's Bath.
I would not be taking this book with me on a trip (unless in eBook form) but I would read it before and after I travelled to any of the places mentioned--just for the pleasure it gives. This is a book to be enjoyed in hardcopy, to be held, to have paper pages turning and to be enjoyed at that physical level.
'Picnic at Hanging Rock' by Joan Lindsay set near Mt Macedon, Victoria, Australia was a favorite, as was the 'God of Small Things' by Arundhati Roy set in Kerala in Southern India. And yes, I had many more favs but I didn't want to list all twenty-five.
A most pleasing publication!

A White Lion Publishing ARC via NetGalley

The idea behind this book is fantastic, and I thought it was executed pretty well. The illustrations were stunning, and I loved learning more about the history behind some classics works and the cities they are set in. It is evident that the author has a passion for both travel and for books. I plan on buying myself a finished copy because it is such a beautiful book and will make for a great conversation starter. I was so happy and surprised to see that my favourite book, Cannery Row, made an appearance. Anyone who loves and appreciates the settings of the books that they read will appreciate this one. It would also make for a great gift!

Full review on my blog to come!

I wasn't able to download and convert the file into one my kindle would accept because it is in a format not recognized by kindle.

This book is well written and the artwork is beautiful. Thank you Netgalley for letting me read and review this book. I liked how it described a lot of different places in books. I would recommend it to anyone and everyone.

unable to open file using several different applications. please resubmit in kindle format as I would like to review the book

Qualcuno disse che i libri sono il modo più rapido ed economico per viaggiare, e lo dimostra bene questa agenzia di viaggio letteraria: da Parigi a New Yorn, dalle pianure de La Mancha all'assolata Firenze, passando per Cartagena, Kabul, il Cile, Hanging Rock.

Venticinque romanzi, venticinque  luoghi, venticinque viaggi speciali che cambiano la maniera in cui si immagina il racconto e insieme il modo in cui si guarda la città (o il Paese) che si visita.

Testi brevi, brillanti, divertenti; classici affiancati a romanzi moderni, di qualità e successo; illustrazioni colorate e suggestive: gli ingredienti per una guida di viaggio perfetta.

I absolutely enjoyed this book, it contains 25 great literary destinations around the world featured in some of the best novels.
Being a travels' lover, an avid book reader with a passion for illustrations, I believe this book is the perfect combination:a bit of a travel guide,beautiful illustrations intertwined with the lives of the authors and perfect tips to (re)discover books.My favorite cities in the book were Bath,Cairo, London and Naples.
'The Literary Places' is a beautiful concept, a great way to immerse yourself in the lives of authors such Elena Ferrante,Victor Hugo, Henry James and more.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What a fun idea for a book! I love books and I love travel so a book full of literary places is the perfect combo. Beautifully written with very pretty illustrations accompanying each entry. I enjoyed visiting so many literary places and have added a few books to my TBR list.

Thank you to Quarto Publishing Group - White Lion Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Suffering from both booklust and wanderlust, this book seemed to be the perfect antidote for both afflictions. Unfortunately, it wasn’t.

For each of the twenty-five literary places, the author describes the general importance and dynamics of the place and time, the importance of the place and time to the specific novel, and tips for actual contemporary visitors to the place. Sounds great, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, the author’s work is very shallow and uneven. I hate to say it, but the segments would have benefitted from the application of more of a formula to keep them even in the depth across the different subsections. Some of the segments are so shallow that I get the feel that the author has never even visited the place that she is writing about. The sights, sounds, scents, and feel of the place seldom come through in the writing. I feel that the author would have been better advised to focus on the general importance and dynamics of the time and place, and the influence of that on the novel. She could have researched the heck out of those two aspects and put out a book with phenomenal geek appeal.

The illustrations were brilliantly colored, but, in general, I felt like they were blocky and generic. Reading on an e-reader, I could seldom tell whether an illustration in between the segments belonged to the previous segment or the upcoming segment because they were so generic and characterless.

Such a pleasant surprise!
Although I have to say that I was pretty disappointed when I didn't find Pride and Prejudice, my favorite, on the table of contents, the contents included were actually really nice. All the gorgeous illustrations and writing made this book a true handbook for all literary lovers. Reading about all the places made me want to find all the novels included and read them all over again, this time with more imagination.
----------
Overall : 4/5
Cover: 5/5
Illustrations: 5/5
Writing: 4/5
Appealing: 5/5

The illustrations were definitely the star of the book for me. I wasn't quite sure what Baxter's intentions were for Literary Places because I wasn't really inspired to travel to any of the places mentioned. I liked reading about the authors' histories and how their book settings were influenced by their own lives, but the places themselves actually had no impact on me. Some of the descriptions were written as if expecting the reader to have been there, so the reader would be reliving it by reading the descriptions. Reading about walking along a particular street to see particular landmarks does nothing for me because I have no concept of what I'm supposed to be imagining or experiencing.

I also found the writing style to be a bit confusing since every location starts off with a flowery written paragraph, which is promptly followed by a bunch of facts. I'm not sure if the first paragraph is supposed to inspire me to travel there, but it doesn't really fit with the rest of the description, so I didn't think it was necessary to set the scene. Unfortunately, I also have not read a majority of the books featured, so I wasn't as connected with the descriptions as I would've been if I was familiar with the characters and stories. At least I have a short list of books that I might read in the future.

4 1/2 stars

My issue with reading Literary Places by Sarah Baxter with captivating illustrations by Amy Grimes via my electronic reader is that I feel like I’ve missed out a bit on something magical that an e-reader can only minimally convey. First off, Amy Grimes’ illustrations fascinate me. At first glance, they look minimalistic, but there’s something about them, some magical quality that makes me want to continue looking at them.

These illustrations offer a viewpoint of Sarah Baxter’s frequently poetic descriptions of novel settings.

“The Crescent’s honeyed stone glows in the afternoon sunlight, a radiant architectural swoosh between the neat green lawn and cloudless blue sky. A long procession of Ionic columns and sash windows sweeps away in perfect symmetry, while the footsteps of the slowly strolling curious–faces up-turned, mouths agape–slap on worn-smooth slabs.”

Bath, the setting for Northanger Abbey and Persuasion

The “places” referred to in the title range from the Paris of Les Miserables to Chile from The House of Spirits with stops in Kabul (The Kite Runner) and the Mississippi River (Adventures of Huckleberry Finn).

(Illustration) DUBLIN
The Dublin of Ulysses as illustrated by Amy Grimes

You can view more illustrations on the Amazon page for Literary Places.

Literary Places is not the kind of book that you would want to read in one sitting. I would read one or two entries, savor them, imagine the places as they once were as they are now, before moving on.

The passages also lend themselves extremely well to giving a taste of novels that haven’t been read yet, which I found, in my case, to be far too many than I would have liked. However, if you’ve read the novel, the present-day descriptions of the settings may just result in your wanting to enjoy them yourself in person.

I received an ARC from Netgalley and the Quarto Group in exchange for an honest review.

A book lovers travel guide - a wonderfully illustrated journey around some of the key literary destinations of all time.

This book isn't a typical travel guide i.e. doesn't give you the basics of how to get to these destinations but they will inspire your own future planning! If you have a love of travel and a love of books this is definitely the book for you. - being guided to Paris, New York and Berlin amongst others.

I think I was expecting something more substantial but it didn't change my enjoyment of it at all. If you are wanting to enjoy the adventure of far flung places but cannot do it for whatever reason this book will provide a wonderful arm-chair adventure and whisk you away.

Not only did this book give me inspiration for new places to travel but also for books I have yet to read.

I'd definitely recommend.

This book is almost like a literary guided meditation. It allows you to visualise the places where the listed books were either set or created. The illustrations are lovely and the entries are relatively bite-sized, but concise.

What I liked the most about this book is that there were a number of books listed that I haven't yet had the chance to read and it offered me a little more information about them, so I was able to decide if I should add them to my TBR pile or not. Although the descriptions were short, they were good and they highlighted the important points in each book.

I really enjoyed this, and think anyone who loves books will as well. There is a nice mix of classic and newer books included, so there's something for everything.

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher, provided through Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

This is a really good guide and insight to literary places. The writing is smooth and draws you into each adventure. There was a great ease with this book – chapters clearly headed by country and then book, then each page illustrated by stunning images from the landscapes featured.

There’s lots of literary knowledge but there’s also a nice bit of background and history woven in to make this a more encompassing experience. A perfect book to keep and dip in and out of whenever it takes your fancy. Which it will. A lot. Right now, I’m off to Florence. See you later!

I interviewed the author on TheBookTrail and it was a joy to chat to her!

This nice small book is written by travel writer Sarah baxter.

This covers 25 great books and real or hypothetical places in which they take place or are written.
.
All books are masterpieces by great authors and many are nobel prize winners.
.
There are wonderful illustrations by Amy Grimes which are soulful and soothing to eyes.
.
There are lots of interesting stories when you flip through pages of the book and majority of main authors from different continents are covered except from china and Japan.
.
Author's life, cultural and political backdrop at the time of writing of books and impact these books had on society are explained in interesting prose.
.
Old structures mentioned in the novels and their present remains or possible matching places are mentioned.
.
Good book to know great authors and great places and you will definitely find few great books for you to read next.
.
. Illustrations are just awesome.
Thanks netgalley and publisher for review copy.

What a beautiful book.... Reads like a travel journal to me. It inspires readers not only to go travelling and researching lands of the world but make their own traveling journals as well.

If you're looking for a book that will describe, in flowery detail, what various areas which books of the past have been set in are like, then this is likely a very good book for you. If you're looking, instead, for a book that will guide you through the masterfully captured worlds of novels by authors from Victor Hugo to Emily Brontë, the sort of book that will allow readers to immerse themselves within the world of the books they know and love as they visit the very settings where the events of the novel took place, this isn't that sort of book. I think I had a lot of expectations for <i>Literary Places</i> by Sarah Baxter and a bunch of them just never really appeared within her book. While it is well researched and definitely a pleasant read, it doesn't leave me feeling as though I could imagine myself in those places nor would it help me navigate them as though I were walking the same streets that the characters walked through their stories.

Readers will find a lot of information about the various places mentioned throughout this book and you can definitely get a sense of what the areas are like, but <i>Literary Places</i> does not work as a travel guide to help you visit those places. I'm not sure if that was the author's intention or if she just wanted to educate the public about these places, but I truly do believe I would have gotten a lot more out of it had the book been more about helping readers experience the locations of these novels. I'd like to be able to imagine myself there.

A worthwhile read that develops one's understanding of various places throughout the world where many novels were set, I definitely appreciate having read the book, but I probably wouldn't pick it up much again.

<i>I was provided a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</i>