I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of anything than of a book! When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.

—Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (1813)

I mentioned at the end of the first course that I typically give out book recommendations to each student on the last day of the class. The hope is to keep up that tradition in this MOOC, as a small thank you for the time and thought you have put into not only the readings, videos, and assignments but also the discussion threads. It’s been really wonderful to read those threads and see people be so generous and clever and curious. I am already looking forward to your contributions in the next course.

Before we get there, however, I want to post the book recommendations for this course. The theme of the list is something that the COVID-19 pandemic has made all the more poignant: travel.

Each book is set in a different city around the world. Perhaps you lived in or visited one of these cities. Perhaps you hope to someday. Or maybe there are a couple that you’ve never even heard of.

Whatever your relationship to these places, keep in mind a bit of advice included by Jhumpa Lahiri in her novel The Namesake , particularly at times like these when physical movement is restricted:

"My grandfather says that's what books are for," Ashoke said, using the opportunity to open the volume in his hands. "To travel without moving an inch."

New York

Rules of Civility by Amor Towles (2011)

Mumbai

Maximum City by Suketu Mehta (2004)

Naples

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante (2011)

London

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf (1925)

Chicago

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (2002)

Johannesburg

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah (2016)

Fuling

River Town by Peter Hessler (2001)

Z

The Lost City of Z by David Grann (2009)