The Historian, Elizabeth Kostova. Kindle.

Historical wanderlust.

I took my time savoring this book over the course of two months, picking up where I left off each subway ride and rare quiet moment. As Kostova’s story unfolded in meticulously academic detail, I traveled alongside the father/mother/daughter narrators in their adventures across Western and Eastern Europe. I researched many of the landmarks as I read, wishing I could travel there myself in that time of fewer tourists and signs of industry encroaching on history. I also felt nostalgic for an era I’d never experienced: when research meant traveling to the source rather than typing a word into Google’s search bar.

That this is a tale of vampires is secondary to its compelling argument to be well-traveled, intellectually curious, and open to other cultures. The journey was so satisfying that I almost begrudge the resolution: of discovering and facing what one has spent a lifetime searching for. I’d rather continue the journey of curiosity.

Favorite Quotation: “Our driver did not seem to register any of this beauty—perhaps when you live your entire life among such scenes, they do not register as beauty but as the world itself—”