Lately, the options for what to consume in the culture are simply overwhelming, and the algorithm is making it impossible to figure out what’s actually good. That’s where Cult Following comes in: CULTURED’s monthly advice column where Delia Cai offers a cultural diet expertly designed to respond to each letter-writers’ needs, whether they’re seeking recommendations for what to watch, eat, read, listen to, or any combination thereof. Cult Following exists to help narrow down your choices but also to help all of us confront our inner anxieties about navigating the wild, beautiful world of art and culture. This time around, Delia prescribes a perfect syllabus for a traveler preparing for her summer abroad.
Dear Delia,
I’ll be in Europe all summer, splitting my time between London, Berlin, and Paris. Can you recommend some books that will get me in the mood for these destinations? And maybe some music recs too?
Signed,
Traveler, not tourist
Dear Traveler,
Call me a nerd, but there’s nothing I love more than a little pre-trip “homework” to get me in the mood for some new environs.
For London, I highly recommend Craig Taylor’s 2011 bestseller Londoners, which I read while studying abroad in the city for a summer during college. It’s a bit of a crude comparison, but the book is a lot like the Humans of New York project, sans photographs, in that Taylor spent five years interviewing and collecting material from about 200 Londoners from all walks of life, compiling a kind of oral history-cum-group-portrait of the city.
The book starts with the perspective of a commercial airline pilot who describes what it’s like to fly into Heathrow, expanding to encompass about 80 local different perspectives, including a paramedic, a pensioner, a teacher, and a dominatrix. All of them are bursting with personality and the kind of “authenticity” that no free walking tour could ever provide.
Londoners will add some color to your experience of the real city as a traveler, and I’d recommend you pair your reading with some contemporary lad rock by way of Sam Fender, who won the Brit Award for British Rock/Alternative Act this year and in 2022. His latest album, People Watching, just came out in February, but I’m also partial to his 2019 debut, Hypersonic Missiles. The best way I can describe Fender’s music is: If you like the Killers, you’ll love him.
To prepare for the Berlin leg of your trip, you should get a hold of Vincenzo Latronico’s novel, Perfection. Its English translation by Sophie Hughes just came out this month, and Latronico’s wry depiction of the creative expat life is already making the book a hit; Perfection is on this year’s longlist for the International Booker Prize.
I’ll be honest: Unlike Londoners, this book isn’t exactly uplifting. It’s scathing and satirical, calling into question the whole point of living an Instagrammified life surrounded by Scandinavian furniture, houseplants, and endless gallery openings. But it offers such a vivid portrait of a certain type of Berliner—one you’ll inevitably see wandering Neukölln and Kreuzberg. Plus, it’s nice and short. Cue up the Cologne-based rock band AnnenMayKantereit, whom you might recognize from their viral TikTok cover of “Tom’s Diner” (they also have great English covers of Kylie Minogue and Amy Winehouse).
Finally, for your Paris stay, you have to read Adam Gopnik’s 2000 bestselling book of essays, From Paris to the Moon. As a writer for The New Yorker, Gopnik is always best when he’s digging into cultural curiosities, from pastries to graphic design, and this book is a soulful chronicle of the stint he and his wife spent in Paris with their infant son in the '90s. There’s a lot of the expected “fish-out-of-water” culture shock (especially related to navigating French bureaucracy), but Gopnik also dives deep on decidedly local dramatics, such as a beloved brasserie’s controversial new ownership.
“What truly makes Paris beautiful is the intermingling of the monumental and the personal, the abstract and the footsore particular, it and you,” Gopnik writes, which is exactly the kind of prose to prepare you for your very own Parisian adventure. Fire up jazzy singer/song-writer Zaz—once heralded as the “new Edith Piaf”—who’s doing a highly anticipated comeback tour this fall. You can’t miss her hit 2010 song “Je veux” or, of course, her rendition of “La vie en rose.”
In conclusion, a good book for travel “homework” is any book that’s interested in the actual lived “modern” experience of the city; I find histories a little too homework-y, and novels to be a little too romantic. These books (amongst many others) will help break through the tourist vision a bit. And for readers whose summer travel plans happen to lead them elsewhere, I recommend looking up local authors and finding English translations of their work (Natsuo Kirino, for example, is a must-read if you’re heading to Tokyo). Happy travels—literary and otherwise!
Do you have a question about how to enrich your cultural diet? Email cultfollowing@culturedmag.com.
