Pompeii

A good read:  Pompeii, by Robert Harris

One of our tour guides recommended Robert Harris’s book Pompeii––a fun and easy way to learn some real facts about the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius that buried the city of Pompeii.   This novel, based on archeological findings, takes place over the four days of volcanic activity; it’s hard to put down.  (Amazon link)

If you are in to such research, then you might be up to reading The Fires of Vesuvius, Pompeii Lost and Found by Mary Beard.  A much more academic way of learning about the archeologists’ findings.  (I enjoyed Harris’s Pompeii more.)   (NY Times book review)

Wagon wheel ruts and step-across stones on a street in Pompeii.

And while we are talking about volcanos, then I should mention Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883 by Simon Winchester.  This volcanic event is an important slice of our world’s history that I never knew until I read this book.  (So much to learn, so little time.)  The history is presented in a way that I enjoyed reading.  (Amazon link)