Reader discussion: Death in Venice

Public reader discussion about Death in Venice by Thomas Mann.

Books set in Italy?

By AcarusBrisk

Hey! I’m hoping to make a trip to Italy once all this calms down (fingers crossed for sometime after winter 2021). When I travel, I like to read something that really gets the vibe of where I’m going. Like I read The Miniaturist before checking out Amsterdam’s canal houses, and The Painted Girls right before I went to see the Degas stuff and the Palais Garnier in Paris. For Italy, I’d love recs for fiction or non-fiction that involve Venice, Rome, Pompeii, and/or Florence. So far I’ve got The City of Falling Angels, Under the Tuscan Sun, and Death in Venice on my list. What else should I add? Thanks!

Thomas Mann -- Death In Venice

By AcarusBrisk

After all that rough, risky work in the lab late morning, I was drained in that “you can’t mess up” kind of way. Even after lunch I couldn’t just stop whatever kept going in my head, and I never really managed to get that sleep I swear I need every day as things wear me down.

Thomas Mann

By oceanlost

I haven’t really read much Thomas Mann at all—just Death in Venice. What should I tackle first from here: Buddenbrooks or The Magic Mountain, or is there something else that’s a better starting point? I’m hoping to get a decent feel for the usual themes and interests, but also something that actually feels satisfying to read.

Finished "Death in Venice," wow

By early_cat

Thomas Mann feels like he actually knows how to tell a story. I really like that uneasy, dreamlike vibe, where you almost can’t tell if it’s illness or falling in love. But it also makes me like the movie adaptation a bit less, since the novella is just way too subtle and kind of strange.

A book to read before going to Venice

By turns_atlas9139

Hey! I’m heading to Venice for the first time this summer and I’d love to read a few books about it beforehand. I’m up for pretty much anything—novels, essays, history stuff, whatever. For instance, I’ve always been curious about how capitalism supposedly started in Italy during the Middle Ages, but I’ve never actually gotten around to reading anything on it. Thanks! (And just so people know: I already had covid19 a couple months ago, so I should be fine about not catching/spreading it there.)