Literary Escapes

The last few days have seen historic snow, ice, and cold in much of the country.  The wintry weather has been wearying to the mind, body and spirit. Let’s face it  - we all need a change from that bleak scene outside our windows. For a change – of mental scenery, at least – I offer for your enjoyment three fascinating literary hotels. At these three great escapes you can not only get away and luxuriate in a jetted hot tub, a windswept beach, or hot jazz scene, but also commune with a favorite author.

The Sylvia Beach Hotel

Want lots of quiet time for reading and walking on the shore? The Sylvia Beach Hotel is the place. Perched on the rugged Oregon coast, the Sylvia Beach – named for the founder of famed Shakespeare and Company bookstore in Paris – caters to the book lover. Rooms in three categories – the spacious Classics suites, the Best Sellers, and the cozy Novels – are whimsically decorated to honor authors from JK Rowling to Dr. Seuss. Mystery lovers can choose the Agatha Christie Suite, which contains decorative nods to clues from many of her novels. The Virginia Woolf room offers views of the lighthouse. The JRR Tolkien room is papered with maps of Middle Earth and has a large pair of Tom Bombadil’s boots parked outside the door. Quiet nooks and cozy couches abound in the well-stocked library, and hungry readers can refuel in the Table of Contents Restaurant.

Hotel Monteleone

New Orlean’s Hotel Monteleone in the French Quarter has hosted and housed famous authors for more than 100 years. Truman Capote used to brag that he was born there, but the website says that although his mother lived there while pregnant, the hotel did provide transportation to the hospital where little Truman safely made his debut. At the Monteleone, you have the choice of the Truman Capote Suite, the William Faulkner Suite, the Tennessee Williams Suite, the Eudora Welty Suite, and the spectacular Ernest Hemingway Penthouse. The hotel’s famous spinning Carousel Bar and Lounge features in several of these authors’ stories and dozens of literary luminaries have made it their favorite New Orleans watering hole. Pull up a barstool and get your Tennessee on!

Inn BoonsBoro

Romantics and lovers of romance novels can escape to Maryland’s Inn BoonsBoro The Inn is the work of the Queen of Steamy Romance herself, Nora Roberts. Roberts resurrected the historic hotel on Boonsboro’s Main Street, transforming it into a boutique hotel with rooms dedicated to famous literary lovers. Sorry, there is no Romeo and Juliet Suite. Roberts chose only lovers whose stories had happy endings. Guests can choose from rooms dedicated to Dashiell Hammett’s Nick and Nora (art deco elegance) or Westley and Buttercup from The Princess Bride (fairy tale romance).

The rooms evoke the feel of the novels with décor, furniture and amenities like evocatively perfumed bath products and silky duvets. Even the Inn’s room descriptions (penned by Nora herself?) whisk you away: The Elizabeth and Darcy from Pride and Prejudice (“enjoy the elegance and peace of an English country house”), Jane and Rochester from Jane Eyre (“heather scented bath amenities sweep you back to summer on the moor”), Marguerite and Percy from The Scarlet Pimpernel (“mounds of pillows will transport you to the halcyon days of aristocratic splendor”), Titania and Oberon from A Midsummer Night’s Dream (“romantic bower for two”), and Roberts’ own ultramodern Eve and Rourke Room based on her In Death books (“scents are mysterious with romantic lavender patchouli designed to help you relax after a day fighting crime”).

Do you have any favorite getaways, literary or otherwise?