Ovid in Exile

by James A. Clapp

That the avid traveler is often an avid reader (and/or moviegoer) is frequently noted. It is an observation that surely applies to me. After my passport, tickets and travelers cheques have been have been diligently attached to my person, my thoughts turn to what I will be reading on my trip. The books can be history, biography, or fiction, but there is one requirement: they must be by or about some place or someone where I am traveling. There is nothing as incongruous, or ludicrous as someone reading a John Grisham novel at a cafe in Positano.

I had thought hard about w...