Travels with Herodotus

Many years ago I saw The English Patient on the cinema. Alot of things caught my interest in the movie, among them a book mentioned: Histories by Herodotus. A few years later I found the book at a local bookstore and bought it, but since then I has been standing safe in my bookshelves. Untill this summer.

A few weeks ago, when I was browsing an airport bookstore I came over Travels with Herodotus by Ryszard Kapuscinski. The book whistled my song and soon after I sat at the gate reading.

Kapuscinski's book is not an easy read, but still I have enjoyed his travels through several decades, through several continents, always with Herodotus in his rucksack. Travels with Herodotus has been in my bag through my travels so far this summer. I am packing again for another travel, and this time I consider taking with me Histories.

How to Travel with a Salmon

On of the things I love most about preparing a vacation is to plan which books to take. Right now we are spending a week up in nortern Norway, and before going I knew there would be more than enough time for reading. And since we are travelling by car, there were also more than enough room for bringing books.

I could go treasure hunting in my shelves, searching for unread books.

The first one I found, and which was also the first one I finished during this vacation, was Umberto Eco's How to Travel with a Salmon and other essays. I love Eco and have read most of his books, but this is my first try with his essays. And it will not be the last. His writing is so satirical and funny, pointing to things which I easily recognized and could laugh at, with him and at myself.

Starting with the essay which has given the book its name, How to travel with a Salmon, I was almost happy when we realised that we had misread a ferry time table and had to wait three extra hours for the ferry. The sun was shining, I was surrounded by pittoresque Norwegian nature and I had Umberto Eco as my best company.