What do you usually bring home as a souvenir when you go on vacation? Maybe a keychain, teeshirt, or refrigerator magnet? All popular choices ... but what about a book? To me, it's so interesting to see how the international version of your favorite book can be exactly the same, yet completely different from the version you have at home—and even a slight change in title or cover art will have me getting out my wallet.
So when I went to Paris on my honeymoon, my husband and I made sure to stop at the famous Shakespeare & Company bookstore. There, I picked up two books: the English version of Morrissey's Autobiography, and a French version of Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince) by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. I chose to buy these books in Paris for very specific reasons: 1. Despite being easily available in the United States, it felt more appropriate to buy Morrissey's autobiography on my first-ever trip to Europe (he was the lead singer of the popular English rock band The Smiths), and, 2. I took French in high school, so I wanted to own a French copy of the classic Le Petit Prince.
And, as if those books couldn't get any more special to me, the cashier at the bookstore stamped the inside covers with a bookplate featuring the store's logo. Now whenever I open them I'm transported back to that little store, filled from wall to ceiling with gorgeous French books.
Bringing books home from trips is a great way to share other cultures with young children. Reading aloud from these books can help open a world of possible (quite literally!) to kids and introduce them to books they didn't even know they wanted to read.
Some of our OOM bloggers have also picked up books while traveling; here are their experiences:
Megan: My brother studied abroad in Copenhagen and when my family went over to visit I bought a gorgeous coffee table book — it’s filled with pictures of the city and words I can’t understand. I cherish it!
Julia: When I was in Norway I bought an airport paperback of The Other Boleyn Girl, because I was desperate and had run out of books before my trans-Atlantic flight. I was hesitant because with the conversion rate it was about $25 USD, and I didn’t know much about the book (other than that it had been made into a movie). Turns out, it was so gloriously trashy in all the best ways, and such a page-turner that I read during the entire flight.
It also inspired a serious interest in Tudor history (real history, which you’ll not find in The Other Boleyn Girl) and I went on to read a bunch of nonfiction about Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and the Tudors.
Brittany: When I was visiting Buenos Aires, Argentina during college, I checked out El Ateneo—a stunning book store, which used to be a theater called Teatro Gran Splendid. There, I found the Spanish version of Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin, which I had just finished reading at the time. I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to brush up on my Spanish!
