Books : Venice

Rating: - An exquisite love letter to Venice
I decided to read "Venice" in preparation for a week-long stay in the Italian city.

Broken into three sections -- The People, The City, The Lagoon -- "Venice" is not a chronological history of the city but a meandering look at its past, present and future. Nor is it a guidebook, although it does contain a mine of information about what to see and where to go.

I think "The Times" probably described it best when they said it was "a classic love letter to Italy's most iconic city", because it is, indeed, a beautiful missive dripping with exquisite descriptions. I found it an enormously engaging and evocative read by an accomplished writer who really knows how to string a simile or two together.For example: "Venice is a cheek-by-jowl, back-of-the-hand, under-the-counter, higgledy-piggledy, anecdotal city, and she is rich in piquant wrinkled things, like an assortment of bric-a-brac in the house of a wayward connoisseur, or parasites on an oyster-shell (page 201)".

And: "There are palaces to see everywhere, and precious churches, and bridges, and pictures by the thousand, and all the criss-cross pattern of antiquity that is picturesque Venice, mocked by the materialists, sentimentalised by the Romantics, but still by any standards an astonishing phenomenon, as fruity as plum pudding, as tart as the brand that flames about its holly (page 219)".

In fact the writing throughout this superb book is sublime (much like Venice itself) and I would quote entire chapters here, except it's probably better if you just took my word for it and got hold of a copy of "Venice" for yourself. It's a beautifully written and researched book, jam-packed with anecdotes and all kinds of historical fact. Whether you have been to Venice or not, I'm sure once you have read Jan Morris's delightful memoir you will be clammering to book your flights!

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Rating: - the real Venice - a personal view, but very evocative
This is a wonderful book which catches the flavour of Venice and is beautifully written. Jan Morris is one of the most individual and memorable of all travel writers, and this city is one she knows well and loves greatly ; that is evident on every page. The visual descriptions are precise and quirky, the little stories from Venetian myth and legend add character to the book and her knowledge of the history and culture of the place, worn lightly and always enlightening, never intrusive, make this a fine book. Above all she is a marvellous writer.

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Rating: - Brilliant, passionate prose intertwining past and present
The most evocative and well balanced description of a place and people. Morris writes beautiful prose with passion, knitting together the present and past in a seamless fashion which is nothing short of genius. The only criticism is that lists of things found in Venice can be a little tedious e.g. the description of the different Venetian Lions

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Rating: - Am I a Philistine?
I purchased this book after carefully reading the reviews, the majority of which were ecstatic! On receiving it, I found it to be (dare I say?) rather "high brow" and not really a guidebook at all but a literary tribute to a glorious past of Venice. Please don't think that I am a McDonald's hunting moron, but as a first time visitor to Venice, I don't think I can use it to find my way around the city too clearly

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Rating: - If you havenýt been to Venice...
... and maybe aren't even going, but wonder why all the fuss about Venice, here's your answer. Reading this book is like inhaling the soul of the place without ever going there - armchair travelling of the highest order.
Nowhere that Morris visits feels like 'just another place' if you carry her writing in your mind - as you will - when you arrive there. This is effortless writing in both senses: for her (seemingly) and for you. Perfect word-painting just flows from her pen: images... stories... legends... history... atmosphere and small curiosities. It's like listening to the perfect dinner-guest who could not patronise you if she tried, unaffectedly recalling in direct, easy language, her own experience of this unparallelled, unique old city.
For someone who has already visited and loves Venice, here is the Ah! factor, in spades. If you have yet to go there, take Morris with you in your head AND the book in your luggage for re-reading.