The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton

I have come to this bestseller rather later than most people. I picked it
up for a few pence at a school fete a few weeks ago and decided it might be
a good read for the plane on the way to Greece this summer. I read finished
it a couple of days into the holiday. What I hadn't realised from earlier
reviews was that this is a book about the arts as well as about travel.
Botton looks at how a variety of artists and writers have treated travel
and the sense of place in their works. He covers amongst others Baudelaire,
Edward Hopper, Flaubert, Wordsworth, the Book of Job, Vinccent van Gogh,
and John Ruskin. It is a meditation on the lure of travel, what we hope for
from it, and the nature of paying attention which links the artistic
endeavour and travel. I found it a very thought- provoking and satisfying
read.