Things We Read: Mexico, India, Italy Edition

Research has become an important part of our gap year. Because travel is our primary focus, we’re able to watch, listen & read A LOT -- before, during & after our travels. It has enriched our experiences and reflections immensely.

Here are some of the things we’ve enjoyed (or bookmarked) alongside our travels to Mexico, India & Italy. We got off to a slow start, so things don’t really pick up until after Mexico. Not to worry, the reading list for our upcoming African Grand Tour is next level. Lol. More on that in future posts!

True story… Steve reads a lot faster than I do, so I appreciate that he gives me synopses afterwards. I do the same for him with the documentaries, movies & podcasts that I tend to favor. We are a partnership. 🙂  

Mexico

Nonfiction

• Bad Mexicans: Race, Empire, and Revolution in the Borderlands by Kelly Lytle Hernandez

• Horizontal Vertigo: A City Called Mexico by Juan Villoro

Podcasts

• Revolutions by Mike Duncan: The Mexican Revoution

India

Nonfiction

• The Argumentative Indian: Writings of Indian History by Amartya Sen

• The End of Karma: Hope and Fury Among India’s Young by Somini Sengupta

• India: A History by John Keay

• Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo

• The Smile of Murugan by Michael Wood

• Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Fiction

• The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

• Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie

• Victory City by Salman Rushdie

• The Light at the End of the World by Siddhartha Deb

Television

• The Story of India (BBC)

• A Suitable Boy (Netflix)

(Southern) Italy

Nonfiction

• The Invention of Sicily by Jamie Mackay

• Adriatic by Robert Kaplan

• In Other Words by Jhumpa Lahiri

Fiction

• Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels 

• The Serpent Coiled in Naples by Marius Kociejowski

• The Ruby in Her Navel by Barry Unsworth

• Ferocity by Nicola Lagioia

• The Council of Egypt by Leonardo Sciascia

• Inspector Montalbano series by Andrea Camilleri

Television

• My Brilliant Friend (HBO)

• Searching for Italy with Stanley Tucci (Netflix)

So, what did we miss?? We welcome further recommendations! 

Meanwhile… Huge “Thank You” to everyone who gave us great recommendations along the way, especially Amy in Venice for suggesting a fab book for seemingly every port in southern Italy! 

As always… If you want to see more photos or read brief missives on different areas we visited and things we experienced, please check out my instagram posts from January to May.