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Books for

Enrich your travels with reading! Here's a hand-picked list prepared for your journey in conjunction with the book experts at Longitude.

Essential Reading

Item EXEUR692. Buy these 6 items as a set for $101 including shipping, 15% off the retail price.
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Eyewitness Guide Amsterdam

Eyewitness Guide Amsterdam

by Eyewitness Guides

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 312 PAGES

A wonderful guide to Amsterdam, filled with detailed drawings, photographs and thumbnail sketches. Slim and attractive, it also includes detailed maps and cutaway drawings of landmarks. Includes The Hague, Rotterdam and Delft. (NTH01, $25.00)

Eyewitness Guide Brussels, Bruges, Ghent & Antwerp

Eyewitness Guide Brussels, Bruges, Ghent & Antwerp

by Rebecca Miles

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 210 PAGES

This superbly illustrated guide features color photos and maps of city neighborhoods, with information on history, culture and sightseeing. (BLG16, $20.00)

A Worldly Art

A Worldly Art

by Mariet Westermann

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 2005
  • PAPER
  • 208 PAGES

This appreciative analysis of Dutch art in its Golden Age (1585-1718) features 100 exemplary illustrations by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Pieter de Hooch, Frans Hals and other masters. (NTH46, $25.00)

Paris in Mind

Paris in Mind

by Jennifer Lee

  • ANTHOLOGY
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 288 PAGES

With selections spanning 300 years, this wonderful anthology reflects America's long connection to Paris and the French. The 30 American writers tapped include Benjamin Franklin, Ernest Hemingway and David Sedaris. (FRN412, $15.00)

Paris Map

Paris Map

by Borch Maps

  • 2011
  • MAP

A sturdy laminated map of the city center at a scale of 1:12,000 and all of Paris at a scale of 1:15,000. (FRN400, $8.95)

Benelux Map

Benelux Map

by Michelin Travel Publications

  • 2010
  • MAP

Covering the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg at a scale of 1:400,000. (NTH03, $14.95)

 
Amsterdam Map

Amsterdam Map


by Borch Maps

  • 2011
  • MAP

A laminated, folded map of the city center, at a scale of 1:11,000. (NTH36, $8.95)

Brussels Map


by Freytag & Berndt

  • MAP

A detailed city map of Brussels at a scale of 1:10,000. (BLG28, $11.95)

Fodor's Amsterdam's 25 Best

Fodor's Amsterdam's 25 Best


by Fodor's

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 128 PAGES

This slim guide to essential highlights includes an excellent map of the city center and can easily be slipped in your pocket. (NTH16, $11.99)

Fodor's Paris' 25 Best

Fodor's Paris' 25 Best


by Fodor's

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 128 PAGES

This shirt-pocket map and guide includes essential information on the city's history, highlights and sightseeing, ideal for a short visit to the City of Light. (FRN41, $11.99)

A Traveller's History of Paris

A Traveller's History of Paris


by Robert Coles

  • HISTORY
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 320 PAGES

A fast-moving, short survey of French history with a focus on Paris from its foundation, through the heady days of revolution and up to modern times. (FRN426, $14.95)

The Autumn of the Middle Ages

The Autumn of the Middle Ages


by Johan Huizinga

  • HISTORY
  • 1997
  • PAPER
  • 467 PAGES

A pioneering work of social and cultural history, this well-translated classic is a richly detailed portrait of life, thought and art in 14th- and 15th-century France and the Netherlands. (EUR17, $30.00)

The Tulip

The Tulip


by Anna Pavord

  • HISTORY
  • 2001
  • PAPER
  • 296 PAGES
  • OUT OF PRINT

In Holland, the tulip is not just another flower; it's a national obsession. Pavord traces the history of the magnificent flower through the last few centuries, with stories about how much it was treasured and her own reflections on its beauty. (NTH21, $14.95)

The Undutchables

The Undutchables


by Colin White

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 308 PAGES

A laugh-out-loud, irreverent guide to Dutch character and habits, including how to drink coffee and why you shouldn't even think about haggling over prices. (NTH12, $16.00)

Tulipomania

Tulipomania


by Mike Dash

  • HISTORY
  • 2001
  • PAPER
  • 288 PAGES

The Story of the World's Most Coveted Flower and the Extraordinary Passion It Aroused, this vivid history traces the story of the tulip from its origins on the Turkish steppes to an absurdly coveted object in Europe and its key role in the financial follies of 17th-century Holland. (NTH30, $13.95)

Cathedrals and Castles, The Cathedral Builders of the Middle Ages

Cathedrals and Castles, The Cathedral Builders of the Middle Ages


by Alain Erlande-Brandenburg

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 175 PAGES

This pocket-size encyclopedia of the art, architecture and culture of the Middle Ages features hundreds of drawings, color illustrations and a brief chronology. (MED07, $15.95)

Rembrandt, Master of the Portrait

Rembrandt, Master of the Portrait


by Pascal Bonafoux

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 1992
  • PAPER
  • 175 PAGES

With over 200 illustrations, this pocket-size encyclopedia traces the life and career of Rembrandt. It offers insight into his influence on the art of the portrait -- an illuminating companion for any visit to Amsterdam and its museums. (NTH11, $12.95)

A Moveable Feast

A Moveable Feast


by Ernest Hemingway

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 1996
  • PAPER
  • 211 PAGES

A treasure for anyone interested in Parisian cafe society and its luminaries circa 1925. Hemingway includes sharp portraits of Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ford Maddox Ford and others who idled on their way to greatness. (FRN26, $15.00)

A Tall Man in a Low Land

A Tall Man in a Low Land


by Harry Pearson

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2000
  • PAPER
  • 246 PAGES

Pearson, a British travel writer, journalist and comic is an entertaining guide to Belgium and its traditions, culture, beer and chocolate. (BLG19, $16.95)

Paris to the Moon

Paris to the Moon


by Adam Gopnik

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2001
  • PAPER
  • 338 PAGES

Gopnik writes with candor and humor about Paris and Parisian ways in these charming reflections on adapting to life abroad. (FRN208, $16.00)

The Diary of a Young Girl, The Definitive Edition

The Diary of a Young Girl, The Definitive Edition


by Anne Frank

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 1995
  • PAPER
  • 340 PAGES

The classic story of an adolescent Jewish girl's life and thoughts while in hiding with her family in Nazi-occupied Holland. A new edition with added material. (NTH05, $13.00)

Amsterdam, A Traveler's Literary Companion

Amsterdam, A Traveler's Literary Companion


by Manfred Wolf

  • ANTHOLOGY
  • 2001
  • PAPER
  • 238 PAGES

Organized by district, these 17 contemporary short stories by modern Dutch writers, including Cees Nooteboom and Geert Mak, are set among the canals, cafes and neighborhoods of Amsterdam. (NTH33, $13.95)

Girl With a Pearl Earring

Girl With a Pearl Earring


by Tracy Chevalier

  • LITERATURE
  • 2001
  • PAPER
  • 233 PAGES

Chevalier's richly drawn novel imagines the story behind Vermeer's mysterious portrait of a turbaned girl with a pearl earring. (NTH25, $15.00)

Headlong, A Novel

Headlong, A Novel


by Michael Frayn

  • LITERATURE
  • 2000
  • PAPER
  • 344 PAGES

A Bruegel canvas claims a central role in Frayn's hilarious tale of an art heist gone awry. Frayn weaves detailed research about the Old Master with a philosopher's foiled plot to appropriate the valuable masterpiece from a boor he feels is unworthy of it. (NTH68, $16.00)

Niccolo Rising

Niccolo Rising


by Dorothy Dunnett

  • LITERATURE
  • 1999
  • PAPER
  • 470 PAGES

From the reigning queen of historical fiction comes this fast-paced, thoroughly-researched novel of ambition and worldly goods in 15th-century Bruges. This is the first volume in her House of Niccolo series. (BLG13, $15.95)

Paris Stories

Paris Stories


by Mavis Gallant | Michael Ondaatje

  • LITERATURE
  • 2002
  • PAPER
  • 350 PAGES

All written in Paris (where Gallant has long lived), these magnificent stories take place from the Left Bank to the French Riviera, postwar Germany and Franco-era Spain. If you haven't read her work (many of the stories originally appeared in the New Yorker), you are in for a treat. Gallant is one of the great 20th century short story writers. (FRN373, $15.95)

The Lady and The Unicorn

The Lady and The Unicorn


by Tracy Chevalier

  • LITERATURE
  • 2005
  • PAPER
  • 250 PAGES

In this rich historical novel, Chevalier (Girl With A Pearl Earring) imagines the wealthy patrons, social milieu, intrigue and incident behind the 15th-century tapestries now hanging in the Cluny in Paris. (BLG24, $16.00)

More Recommendations

Here are some other groups of books that might be of interest

Longitude provides recommended reading for travelers in partnership with the leading tour operators and travel programs for hundreds of destinations worldwide. We've got the classic, new and hard-to-find books and maps to help you get the most out of your adventures.