Bathtub travels

Ever drop a book in the tub? Do you remember which book?

I managed to fish out The City of Falling Angels fast enough to be able to read it to the end, but now it looks as if I'd dropped it into a Venetian canal. It's a great vicarious travel book. If I can't go back to Venice soon, I must look for it in films and novels.

Right before I moved to Minneapolis, years ago, I read War for the Oaks by Emma Bull, and realized later how much the Twin Cities were the heart of the novel. Long ago, I carried George Elliot's Romola around Florence. Most recently, I went to London so I reread Orlando before I left, Peter Ackroyd's Hawksmoor while I was there, and China Mieville's King Rat on the plane home.

Here's a brilliant site for travel-loving readers, or novel-loving voyagers: Londoner Jeff Cotton's Fictional Cities: Venice, Florence, London. I shall look later to see if there is a similar site for San Francisco--there must be.