The New York Times: Footsteps: From Ferrante's Naples to Hammett's San Francisco, Literary Pilgrimages Around the World by New York Times

What a stupendous collection of columns from the New York Times Travel section! It's a literary tour around the world. The first thing I did was to peruse the table of contents to see which of the books I had read. Some of my favorites are there, so it was an added delight to enrich my impressions with more details of location, author, and story. Some of the columns I'd read in the Times, other were new to me. Additional bonus? I was able to add a couple of books to my "want to read" list.

Many thanks to Blogging for Books, the publisher, and the travel writers and editors of the New York Times for providing me with such marvelous armchair traveling.

From the Publisher:
Before Nick Carraway was drawn into Daisy and Gatsby s sparkling, champagne-fueled world in The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald vacationed in the French Riviera, where a small green lighthouse winked at ships on the horizon. Before the nameless lovers began their illicit affair in The Lover, Marguerite Duras embarked upon her own scandalous relationship amidst the urban streets of Saigon. And before readers were terrified by a tentacled dragon-man called Cthulhu, H.P. Lovecraft was enthralled by the Industrial Trust tower-- the 26-story skyscraper that makes up the skyline of Providence, Rhode Island. 
Based on the popular New York Times travel column, Footsteps is an anthology of literary pilgrimages, exploring the geographic muses behind some of history's greatest writers. From the "dangerous, dirty and seductive" streets of Naples, the setting for Elena Ferrante's famous Neapolitan novels, to the "stone arches, creaky oaken doors, and riverside paths" of Oxford, the backdrop for Alice's adventures in Wonderland, Footsteps takes a fresh approach to literary tourism, appealing to readers and travel enthusiasts alike."