Looking forward to the series, both for locations I have visited and those I haven't.

And City of Djinns is one of the best books I've ever read about a specific location - it peels back the layers of Delhi and gets at the key to a city like that for a New Worlder - the age and strata of a city that's been settled for untold generations. Also, Delhi can be so overwhelming that a guide like Dalrymple is invaluable. Not everyone gets a live one so a written one helps a lot.

I'm an Aussie and Aussies travel. Maybe not always expensively; maybe sometimes they back-pack the planet. But Aussies travel.

But to earn the travel money, Aussies work.

That means not enough time to research the places you go to. That means not enough time to acquire the history of the place, and thus create greater ambiance. Ambiance is quadrupled by knowing that in 1588 such-and-such a thing happened here. Or that you can ask for Panjit and that he'll look after you. Or that D.H. Lawrence came here and wrote a novel.

MANY THANKS for creating the Literary Guide to the World section of Salon. Try some of Tim Winton's novels to get a feeling of Oz.

Julia Fielding

Brisbane

All I can say, is this is a dream come true! I am constantly searching books for trips that have been written about the area and have a rather extensive collection from third world countries by now.In fact, I am embarking on a trip to eastern and southern India and have come up with some delicious morsels. Is there any way that I can provide suggestions as well?

as a bibliophile and wannabe world traveler--i've actually been to togo(twice) met the author of nervous conditions in nyc and to havana (4 times) i just love the idea and reality of a literary guide to the world. just when i was ashamed of myself for reading about lohan and that insipid hilton trash in the fix. thanks you so much

writing from newark nj

rahimah

Salon, thank you so much for this - For years I have been wishing that books would have a "locale" attribute in the searchable databases, so that when I am traveling I can look for books (fiction and non) that take place in my destination. I don't mean Travel-section books; I mean good literature that is revealing and helps me feel more at home wherever I happen to be. Thank you so much - I am very excited about this series of articles! P.S. Please don't neglect the better-known destinations!

Love the idea!!! Whenever I go on a trip, I try to find books about the destination (great example: Paris to the Moon by Adam Gopnik), but it's really hard to find them. I mean, how do you search for that?

Thanks, salon. Very helpful.

P.S. Can we request destinations? How about Thailand???

I hope the series will cover more of novels / literature that aren't originally written in English - otherwise the list is going to end up with lots of expats novels.

I am *so* looking forward to (and already enjoying!) this series; I hope it becomes a permanent feature here. As a quadriplegic, I can't travel as extensively as I dearly wish I could. Even some of the most interesting parts of my home state of Florida are inaccessible by chair; domestic travel is doable as long as I don't venture beyond the newer (post '94) parts of large cities, but even then can be frustrating. And I haven't even attempted international travel... why put all that money and planning into a trip only to be able to stay in the most modern of hotels and stick to the most Westernized, *new*, and tourist-friendly spots (and even then find oneself without well-planned toilet accommodations, as did a good friend of mine, also using a chair, did while exploring Tokyo recently)? Luckily, being disabled since birth, I grew up learning by imagination and storytelling instead of exploring and touching. My father began bedtime reading while I was still in the womb, not knowing how vital it would be to my cognitive and emotional growth as I grew older. Books take me where my body cannot, whether that's Africa or the Glades. And so you can see why this project is so exciting for me -- it will literally be a trip around the world in a way I otherwise could never take.

Thanks, Salon, for such a fabulous feature! I'll definitely be spreading the word among my friends, those with disabilities and without.

(By the way: I'd love to have Carl Hiaasen contribute a literary guide to Florida!)

Ever heard of translation?

People at Salon: Thank you! You keep getting better and better. I have often wished you'd do something like this, and now that you have, I couldn't be more thrilled with the results, as well as feeling great anticipation for all your future articles and recommendations to come. I hope you'll keep expanding this section. Many of us hungry bibliophiles and arm chair travelers will be gobble each word. Keep up the good work!

As a bookseller, I love this idea. People often ask for novels about whatever place they're going to visit and sometimes it's hard to come up with titles. I will print this out and keep it in my store.

Thank you for this great summer project!

I just ran across, and subsequently devoured, a book on Taiwan called "Vignettes of Taiwan" by Joshua Samuel Brown. It is published by Things Asian Press.

Taiwan is not a mainstream tourist destination, but it attracts a lot of dharma bums looking for a way to reinvent themselves or prolong travel in Asia. The stories vividly rekindled the memories of the time I spent in Taiwan. The stories are superb and are accompanied by beautiful photographs.

I think it is a must read for anyone looking at visiting Taiwan- it helps the visitor to interpret the citizens of Taiwan (native and mainland) as well as the young foreigners who also populate the place. Please take a look at it if you plan to do a section on Taiwan.

Keith Hughes

keith.hughes@bluehen@udel.edu