I am a food and travel writer as well as a cruise ship enrichment speaker: my passion is exploring the cuisine, history, and culture of new places and writing about them here in my free bi-weekly (twice monthly) Destination Curation newsletter where I look at the intersection of history, culture, and cuisine in major destinations.
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📚 Books for Travelers | January 11, 2026 📚
Published about 9 hours ago • 6 min read
January 11, 2026
Greetings!
As you read this, I am making my way home after three months on the road, starting back in Monte Carlo in mid-October! We concluded our very enjoyable Atlantic crossing on the Queen Mary 2, where I was delighted to be reunited with two fellow travelers from our epic voyage to Japan on Seabourn Quest. The cruise community is small, but very mighty.
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The Britannia Restaurant | Queen Mary 2
I’ve truly enjoyed all the places I’ve visited and certainly all the very curious travelers on Seabourn, Oceania, and Cunard, but I am relishing the idea of being at home and in my kitchen! I have as battered notebook stuffed with the details of dishes I’ve sampled on shore that I would like to recreate in Riga, and I will post the results in future newsletters!
Five years ago, I was a very raw and unseasoned cruise ship enrichment lecturer, but I was very keen to do well. Each lecture took several months of preparation, and I agonized over every slide. I’ve since honed the skills of telling a cogent story in 45 minutes and 50-60 slides with relative ease. But back in the beginning, I poured my heart and soul into a talk on the life of Queen Isabella of Spain. I knew I wanted to do a lecture that captured all the complexity of this first queen regnant of the Early Modern Period.
Isabella was an old friend, thanks to Norah Loft’s superb novel about Isabella, The Crown of Aloes, which I read a multitude of times in my adolescence. The novel captured the challenges Queen Isabella faced as she made her rocky way to the throne of Castile.
I knew The Crown of Aloes would not cut it as a suitable source for my lecture, and so I turned to Kirsten Downey’s exceptional study of Queen Isabella: Isabella: The Warrior Queen, which filled in a lot of the blanks that Lofts had left in my knowledge. Today, Isabella: The Warrior Queen is the book I recommend to people who want to delve deeper recedented power in a ruthlessly patriarchal age. The result is a fresh interpretation of a story that, until now, has been told almost exclusively by men...
The Bright Ages: A New History of Medieval Europe by Matthew Gabriele and David M. Perry
I spent a two-week cruise from Miami to Los Angeles immersed in The Bright Ages: A New History of Medieval Europe by Matthew Gabriele and David M. Perry. It was hideously hot and humid, and I simply decided that venturing off the ship was not part of my program. Instead, I caught up on some marvelous books that have been on my TBR list for too long.
The Bright Ages was a delight, offering an essential corrective to centuries of misunderstanding about the medieval world. The authors dismantle the persistent myth of the "Dark Ages" and reveal instead a period of remarkable cultural exchange, intellectual ferment, and vibrant diversity that shaped the regions luxury cruise travelers encounter today.
Matthew Gabriele, Professor of Medieval Studies at Virginia Tech, and David M. Perry, journalist and historian, bring complementary expertise to The Bright Ages: A New History of Medieval Europe. Gabriele's academic rigor combines with Perry's accessible prose to create a book that is very well researched, but incredibly easy to read and enjoy. The authors' motivation is clear from the outset: they seek to rescue the medieval period from the distortions of Renaissance propagandists, Enlightenment philosophers, and modern ideologues who have weaponized a false narrative of medieval darkness to serve various political agendas. For travelers headed to the medieval quarters in Barcelona, excited to visit Byzantine mosaics in Sicily, or explore Crusader castles along the Eastern Mediterranean, The Bright Ages provides the historical context that transforms these sites from picturesque backdrops into windows onto a complex, cosmopolitan world.
Amsterdam: A History of the World’s Most Liberal City by Russell Shorto
Russell Shorto's Amsterdam: A History of the World's Most Liberal City offers sophisticated travelers an essential key to understanding one of Europe's most fascinating cities. Long before you dock in Amsterdam's harbor or stroll along its legendary canals, Shorto invites you on a journey through four centuries of history that shaped not just a city, but the very concept of liberalism itself. This is the book that I rely upon to transform casual sightseeing into deeper cultural comprehension. Amsterdam: A History of the World's Most Liberal City is indispensable reading for anyone planning to visit the Netherlands.
Russell Shorto is an American author and journalist who moved to Amsterdam in 2008, bringing with him a historian's rigor and an outsider's fresh perspective. His previous works include The Island at the Center of the World, about Dutch Manhattan, and Descartes' Bones, demonstrating his particular talent for making complex historical narratives accessible to general readers.
Be sure to check in with the Destination Resources Reading Lists, which I update regularly with new books, podcasts, TV and film, and other resources designed to make your travel meaningful. I did a big update recently, changing the format to make it easier to navigate. Visit via this link!
Podcast Recommendations
2026 is off to a great podcast start, and I’m having trouble keeping up, but here are a few highlights from my recent listens:
Joan of Arc: Warrior Maid from The Rest is History is a fantastic listen, adding new context on one of France’s more colorful eras and pivotal figures. I loved it, and can’t wait to hear the subsequent episodes on this topic!
Fridtjof Nansen: Norway's Great Explorer: This 2019 BBC Forum episode cropped up when I was doing my research for a new talk on Nansen and his fellow Norwegian polar explorer, Roald Amundsen. It’s a cogent and enlightening 40-minute listen that highlights Nansen’s extraordinary achievements, not only as a visionary explorer but also diplomat and humanitarian.
The Origins of Wine from The Ancients: 2026 is going to be my “Year of Wine,” as I prepare to visit several key wine-producing regions, such as Bordeaux, Rouen, Naples, Porto, Lisbon, Kent, Croatia, Andalucia, and, of course, my beloved Funchal, Madeira. I’m planning several new talks dedicated to viticulture, and this podcast from the always-fantastic group at The Ancients, was a superb place to start down the road to a better understanding of this fascinating (and sprawling) topic.
I hope you've enjoyed this edition of the Destination Curation | Books for Travelers Newsletter. Remember that, as a subscriber, you have full access to all of the Destination Curation. Reading Lists, which you can access here.
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I love hearing from you -- let me know how I can help make your travel meaningful. I am rolling out new 8-Hour Guides to popular cruise destinations and love getting suggestions for new ones from this amazing community of readers.
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The Indulgent "Thermal Zone" on board Queen Mary 2
That's all for this edition, and I'm finally going to unpack my very large suitcase, do some laundry, curl up by the fireplace and remember that there really is no place like home...for the time being.
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I am a food and travel writer as well as a cruise ship enrichment speaker: my passion is exploring the cuisine, history, and culture of new places and writing about them here in my free bi-weekly (twice monthly) Destination Curation newsletter where I look at the intersection of history, culture, and cuisine in major destinations.
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