Summer is an ideal time to vacation and catch up on my joy reading.  Why not combine the two by traveling somewhere new with the characters of a great summer read?  As Emily Dickinson so astutely observed, a book can take you worlds away.  Since June, I have taken a vicarious trip to Florence, Italy with Robert Langdon in Dan Brown’s Inferno and another journey to London in the pages of A Conspiracy of Friends by Alexander McCall Smith.

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Right from the opening pages of Inferno, Robert Langdon is on the run, desperately trying to solve a life or death puzzle. Quickly turning page after page, I experienced the wonders of Florence as I followed in the Harvard professor’s footsteps in his race against time.  His chase takes him to Venice and Istanbul as well, but I was particularly captivated by the scenes set among the the iconic museums, churches and gardens of Florence.  Thanks to Professor Langdon’s hurried travelogue, I now have a sense of the bucolic beauty of the Boboli Gardens, the grandeur of the Pitti Palace and the sanctity of the Baptistry of San Giovanni.

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After my breakneck, hurtling journey through Florence, I was happy to meander more slowly through the neighborhoods of London with the residents of Corduroy Mansions.  In A Conspiracy of Friends, the third volume of the wise and witty series, William, Caroline, Barbara and even Freddie de la Hay are confronted with the sometimes puzzling nature of friendship.  William receives a surprising revelation from the wife of his oldest friend.  Caroline and Barbara struggle to distinguish the fine line between friendship and true love,  Freddie, through no fault of his own, is parted from his devoted master.  The intrepid terrier accepts his comfortable new home with philosophical resignation, while William laments his loss, almost giving up hope of ever reuniting with his beloved pet.  At the end of their individual days fraught with worries, these Londoners gladly return to their respective Pimlico flats, happy to be home.

At this moment, I am between books.  Where shall I travel next?  Lisa See’s novel Shanghai Girls beckons to me from my bookshelf.  Perhaps a trip to China is in order. . .