Edward Hopper has made numerous iconic paintings of American life in the 30s and 40s. Among them several images depicting women reading. The images have an aura of peace and calm about them, like this painting called “Hotel Room” from 1931. A woman is sitting solemly in crammed hotel room, her suitcases stacked in the corner, reading in the cold light presumable from a lamp in the room, hat on the drawer, shoes kicked off. Outside it looks like dark night.
Reading and travelling are two activities that go together for many of us – either if you pick literature that relates to the place you’re going, or literature about something else, someplace else, thereby travelling in two levels, both the imaginary and the real.