The Three Book City Edit
What to chuck in your bag for a quick trip to Europe + what came with me to Florence
The season of summer holidays has officially commenced (thank you heatwave), which makes popping across the channel for various long weekends even more enticing. If you’re doing this you’re most likely travelling light, so here is how I think about my reading specific to the city I’m going to. As a hand-luggage only girl for 10+ years now I am particularly adept at getting enough books into my sub-10kg case.
I’m just back from a trip to Florence, where each morning started with a cappuccino and a book in Santo Spirito, with the market setting up around me. This is the best of city reading: moments by yourself, with a great book, and a spot of people watching.
So here is my system for the perfect city reading edit.
The floppy book rule
I firmly believe a city break book needs to be floppy and small. You want to be able to dip in and out of it, chuck it in your tote, have it fit in a pocket.
The reason I love floppy books is because it just makes them so easy to read, and they tend to be really light which is perfect for travelling. You want something that's highly transportable around the city in a way that you won't even notice that you're carrying a book. I think the Virago Modern Classics are perfect for this. They're slightly smaller, good level of floppiness, and normally about 200 to 250 pages long.
Short, sharp & immersive
City reading is short, and sharp - which suits a particular style of book. You want something you can dip in and out of, something that references and immerses you in the culture, or perhaps makes you think differently. I think essays are always a great idea, as are translated works.
The parallel reading method that keeps you off your phone
I’m a big proponent of parallel reading and tend to have 3-4 books on the go at the same time. It doesn’t matter how fast you read them, the idea is that you have enough variety going on that you always have something you fancy reading, regardless of your mood. This is my most foolproof method to ensure that I reach for a book rather than a phone.
This used to be three books: a fiction, a non-fiction and a memoir. Recently I’ve added in another fiction book - one that’s a newer release that I’m excited to read, and one that’s older that I’ve been meaning to read for a while.
So here’s how I would think about packing depending on where you’re going…
What came with me to Florence
The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout — my new fiction slot. I’d been saving this up and I loved it so so much. Strout is one of those writers I will always buy. Early heads up that this is our June book of the month.
A Room with a View by E. M. Forster — the set-in-location pick. One of the great pleasures of reading in the city a book is set in is looking up from the page and seeing something that could be straight from it.
84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff — my memoir slot, a book of letters about the love of books and the people who share them. Short, funny, warm, I could not put this down.
The city lists
Florence — You should also pick up Still Life by Sarah Winman (and check out I’Brindellone which inspired a key part of the story with their images of the 1966 Arno flood), The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim, and My Italian Bulldozer by Alexander McCall Smith.
Paris — The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl for location, Almost Life by Kiran Millwood Hargrave and Scaffolding by Lauren Elkin for fiction. Between Meals by A. J. Liebling for food (and our previous Book + a Bite). If you’re heading more South of France then you absolutely need Background for Love by Helen Wolff.
New York — New York Sketches by E. B. White for location, Heartburn by Nora Ephron for memoir/fiction, and City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert for pure immersion in the city of old.
Berlin — Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico, The Granddaughter by Bernhard Schlink (our Feb book of the month).
London — 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff, Excellent Women by Barbara Pym, and A Far Cry from Kensington by Muriel Spark.
A good city book is one chosen with the place in mind. And it has to be the right weight, size, and mood.
That’s the same approach we take with our subscriptions - pre-loved books chosen specifically for you, arriving at your own frequency.
Happy Sunday.
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