Bungee jumping, cliff diving and sky diving may be all the rage, but how about plunging into the wild world of words instead? Book tours are a great way of reliving your favourite works of fiction
When talking of his latest Hari Majestic novel, Tropical Detective, Swedish author Zac O’Yeah commented that a Majestic tour in Bengaluru would be a wonderful way to explore the world of his characters Hari, Triplex, Gaadi and Deadly Appa. Places often play an important role in a thriller or a fantasy — by being hyper real in the former and surreal in the latter. Los Angeles in James Ellroy’s LA Quartet or London in the Sherlock Holmes stories, Alice’s Wonderland or Hogwarts from the Harry Potter series, are characters in their own right. Visiting spaces that inspired authors or those mentioned in iconic books is a fun way to relive a favourite book.
Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy gave a fresh impetus to Scandinavian noir. The crime thrillers featured one of the most dramatic-looking anti-heroines in Lisbeth Salander. With journalist Mikael Blomkvist, the bisexual tattooed hacker uncovers all manners of torture, trafficking and ritualistic serial killings. The City Museum in Stockholm organises guided tours in English every Saturday at 11.30 am, which takes approximately two hours. From July to September, there is also a tour on Thursdays at 6 pm. “I think it is a good way to introduce readers to Larsson’s works, but it is an even better introduction to Stockholm and Södermalm (which is, nowadays, a trendy part of Stockholm),” says Sara Claesson, museum manager, City Museum in Stockholm.
From bitterly-cold Sweden to warm and colourful Rome. We are willing to forgive Dan Brown his cement-like writing only for the chance to revisit Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s beauties. TripAdvisor, which lists many literary tours, including a Dublin Literary Pub Crawl, offers an Angels & Demons tour. The four-hour tour with a guide familiar with both the book and history includes visits to the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo, St Peter’s Square, the Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria and the Ecstasy of St Teresa. “Literary tours vary by topic and tour operator, but many popular literary experiences on TripAdvisor take travellers around authors’ favourite neighbourhoods, former residences, or favourite restaurants and bars. These are a great way to see the everyday lives of some of the world’s most well-known writers,” says Nikhil Ganju, Country Manager, TripAdvisor India.
Crime and the city
- Among Indian cities, Mumbai with its mix of film and finance makes for a brilliant backdrop for noir. Both Vikram Chandra’s Sacred Games and Gregory David Roberts’ Shantaram are love songs to Mumbai, as is Kalpana Swaminathan’s Lalli stories.
- Bengaluru with its new money, migrant population and constant state of flux also proves to be a good setting for a thriller as shown by Anita Nair’s Inspector Gowda police procedurals, Zac O’Yeah’s Hari Majestic novels and Madhumita Bhattacharya’s Murder at the Temple.
Ian Rankin’s sprawling police procedurals featuring Detective Inspector John Rebus presents a different beast from the workman-like writing of Larsson and Brown. Mainly set in Edinburgh, Rankin says he wrote the books to take the reader “into the city’s secret heart where few tourists go”. Now, you could explore that secret heart over a two-hour walking tour with Colin Brown. “The best parts of the tour are the stops at the relevant locations and the readings from the books,” says Brown. “We visit several Rebus scenes. In order to maintain an element of surprise, I do not say in advance where these are.” The tour starts at The Royal Oak, passing by Rebus’ work place, Saint Leonard’s Police Station, through Newington district and Drummond Street.
Oxford, the City of Dreaming Spires, seems conducive to fantasy, as is obvious from writers such as JRR Tolkien (The Lord of the Rings), CS Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia) and Philip Pullman. Pullman fans are excited with the publication of his La Belle Sauvage, the first in a new trilogy, which features Lyra, the feisty heroine of His Dark Materials trilogy. “We are currently offering a new tour called Philip Pullman’s Oxford Official Tour, to celebrate the publication of the book,” says Annie Macdonald, Tour Team Leader, Experience Oxfordshire. “Pullman has endorsed this new tour, which we have produced in conjunction with Penguin UK Books. The tour runs once a month, is two hours long and led by a qualified literary Green Badge Guide with special interest in the author’s work.”
The tour includes various key sites in Oxford that are mentioned in Pullman’s work — such as Jordan’s College (Exeter College in real life), Bodley’s Library (the world famous University Bodleian Library) and the Pitt Rivers Museum, where Will and Lyra find skulls with holes. Another key Oxford location is the Covered Market. “In addition, the guide will also mention other sites further out of town, such as the Botanic Gardens, Jericho and Godstow Abbey, which Lyra fans can visit after their tour, if they wish.”
Tolkien created a whole new world and language with The Lord of the Rings, and for fans, Experience Oxfordshire has a “JRR Tolkien Tour, which is very popular at the moment what with the excellent exhibition of his work at the Bodleian Library,” Macdonald says. The Tolkien: Maker of Middle-Earth exhibition at Bodleian Library presents an extensive collection of materials related to JRR Tolkien. On till October 28, 2018, the collection includes over 200 items from Bodleian’s extensive Tolkien Archive. At the exhibition you get to see draft manuscripts of The Hobbit, showing the evolution of the story, watercolours, dust jacket designs, line drawings and maps.
“The response to the exhibition has been extraordinary,” says a Bodleian Library spokesperson. "Visitors can book free tickets in advance and we are also making free tickets available every day to ensure more people have the chance to explore this exhibition.”
