10 books about cities and countries that are more entertaining than boring travel guides

1. "Land of the Nomads", Jessica Bruder

The Oscar-winning film adaptation of the novel by Jessica Bruder is dedicated primarily to people - the new nomads, seasonal workers in the warehouses of trading giants like Amazon, temporary caretakers of national parks.

However, almost as important in the book are the vast American expanses, thousands of miles of roads: abandoned factories and noisy hypermarkets, shopping centers and farms, motels and churches. Through the successive buildings, people travel in search of hope and a new life. America from Bruder's book is not a tourist postcard at all, but an important addition to the image of the country and its inhabitants.

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2. Malaysia from the inside. How do people really live in the land of eternal summer, durians and heavenly beaches?”, Daria Kiriyenko

There are many unusual things in the daily life of Malaysians: take, for example, the absence of a change of seasons. The inhabitants of the country themselves joke: “The dry season is when there is little rainfall, and the rainy season is when there are only showers.” How about an elective monarchy? Or the paradox of attitude towards religion. When meeting you, the first thing you will be asked is what denomination you belong to. But not at all in order to embark on a philosophical debate: on the contrary, conversations on this topic can be called taboo. The answer will tell you if you have dietary restrictions and what religious holidays you celebrate.

Daria Kiriyenko, the author of the book, has lived in Malaysia for over 20 years. She writes about the secrets of the country and the quirks of local life with great tenderness and infectious enthusiasm. Check out the entire seriesthrough the eyes of others”: it has already published books about the UK, France, Italy, Turkey, the USA, Japan and South Korea.

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3. "Istanbul. Crossroads of eras, religions and cultures, Maria Kicha

Istanbul is a city where historical buildings continue to function without turning into an open-air museum. Winding through the streets, climbing hills, passing the Bosphorus on a water bus, a person here and there stumbles upon the past, connected by invisible threads with the present.

Orientalist Maria Kicha talks about the versatility and diversity of the city - the heir to great ancestors: Roman Empire, Byzantium, Arab Caliphate. From the book you will learn what the East adopted from the West, and the West from the East; how the city survived and revived under a hail of Persian and Arab arrows, under the swords of the Crusaders and the artillery salvos of the Entente; what role did the sultans, basils, pashas, ​​merchants, robbers, bankers, scavengers and writers play in the history of Istanbul.

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4. "My Uzbekistan", Daria Sirotina

Over the past couple of years, the tourist flow to the country of ancient traditions and bright colors has grown. Daria Sirotina's guide will help you not only focus on history and culture, but also see and love such a different Uzbekistan. In the book there was a place for traditional recipes, and crafts with a thousand-year history, and even wineries. Using the information received, you can organize your own enogastronomic tour.

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5. “Only Venice. Images of Italy XXI, Arkady Ippolitov

This book is not a guide, but a journey with total immersion in the atmosphere of Venice. Beneath the tangle of architectural terms and cultural references, the city is revealed in all its whimsical splendor.

The book of Arkady Ippolitov is worth reading with a dictionary of symbols and plots in classical art: wandering through the pages, you can simultaneously update knowledge about cinema, painting, sculpture and literature. Let the unhurried rhythm of the text rock you like a gondola slowly sliding along the smooth surface of the canal. And if the author's style resonates with you, pay attention to other works by Ippolitov: “Just Rome" And "Especially Lombardy».

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6. "Scotland. Land of Clans, Graham McTavish, Sam Heughan

The authors of the book, actors Graham McTavish and Sam Heughan, travel through the Scottish Highlands, getting into adventure every now and then. Driven by their love for their native land, they strive to find out what it really means to be Scottish.

Travelers visit the most interesting, famous and important places to learn more about their culture. In this they are helped by very colorful locals. It will not do without whiskey, humor on the verge of a foul and debunking the most tenacious stereotypes about the country and the people who inhabit it.

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7. How Iceland changed the world. Big story of a small island, Egil Bjarnason

Did you know that the first to set foot on the land later called America were not the colonizers, but the heroic Icelandic Gudrid Torbjarnardottir? Once she heard a legend about a rich land covered with forest, which is located across the sea - even to the west, beyond the edge of all kart. Gudrid sailed to North America 500 years before Columbus and gave birth there to the first European American. In the end, the woman returned to Europe and died in her native Icelandic land, but the memory of the traveler lives on.

Author Egil Bjarnason draws subtle connections between his homeland and the Western world. So, without the Icelanders, no one would have been able to record Norse mythology and the medieval history of the Scandinavian kings. The whole world from England to Egypt would not have been affected by the famine that created the precarious political situation that led to the French Revolution. The most important game of chess in the Cold War would have nowhere to play, and the world would have to wait many years to see how the head of state became woman.

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8. "Edge of the earth. Provincetown Walk, Michael Cunningham

The only documentary book by the author of the novels "Watch" And "House at the end of the world” is a declaration of love to a foggy corner of Massachusetts. Noisy and crowded in summer, almost extinct and emerging from the sands in winter, Provincetown occupies an important place in the writer's life.

It was there that he received a place in the first literary residence and a small grant. He returned there after noisy New York, tired of the bustle of people. There he bought a house overlooking the waters of the Atlantic. Go to meditation walk around the town and get ready to read legends and conjectures, generously seasoned with the experiences of the author - a lyrical hero.

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9. "Japan. History and Culture: From Samurai to Manga by Nancy Stalker

Japan is associated simultaneously with majestic mountains and flowering trees, with the most advanced achievements of civilization, with fine paintings and ceramics, and with people living in archaic habits.

Japanese historian Nancy Stalker introduces readers to the diverse culture of the country, laying out the events of a thousand years ago on a historical canvas. You will learn about the visual arts and literature, understand the place of aesthetics and traditions in contemporary Japanese national identity. Draw parallels between the country's historical past and today's issues, from gender norms to protest culture.

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10. Traitor in North Korea. Guide to the most sinister country on the planet, Morten Trovik

Filmmaker Morten Trowick traveled through North Korea not just as a tourist, although that was his legend to the government. His goal was a "cultural invasion" - extremely successful, as it turned out later. During the first trip, the director created a series of photographs called Discocracy. On them, he posed as a typical Western playboy with a disco ball under his arm against the backdrop of North Koreans going about their daily business. By the way, disco balls, like any other items that promote alien Western values, in the country prohibited.

This book is a journey report. Trovik talks about politics and history with curiosity and humor, but without too much drama. countries, about holidays and cuisine, entertainment and work - about everything that makes up the life of a closed states. Including, for example, Kim Jong-un's favorite pop group Moranbong, a quirky mix of the Spice Girls and a military band.

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