Who goes to Washington D.C.? Nerds!
It has to be one of the nerdiest places on the planet though this fact is rarely acknowledged. Nerdy parents bring their kids to spend days at the Smithsonian. History dorks stroll the National Mall and visit historic sites. Activist Geeks reverently visit the monuments to their free-thinking heroes. Book freaks like me, fit right in!
From classics like Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass to just about all of Tom Clancy’s thrillers, authors have paid homage to the United States capital in poetry and prose for over a century. Some cry warnings while others sing praises. The devil himself came to Washington in William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist. Thomas Harris’ The Silence of the Lambs brought another kind of devil to D.C. in the form of Hannibal Lecter.
Do you like mystery? Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol takes place in Washington D.C. during the course of a single day! (And here I thought it was impossible to see Washington in one day.) Are you more of a historical fiction reader? D.C. is a favorite setting of Herman Wouk’s Henry family saga. The history, politics, and political humor genres are made for Washington.
But once you follow the story and are actually visiting D.C. where do bibliophiles go? Here are my top 3 D.C. destinations for book-freaks and lit-geeks.
Now here is a no-brainer! While it is no longer true that the Library of Congress holds a copy of every book ever published in the USA, it is still the largest library in the world. (OK – The British Library has the same number of books, but the Library of Congress has more staff to help you access them.) And while you may not be up to browsing during vacation, the Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress houses literature exhibits and is easily the most beautiful building in Washington! You can see the personal library of Thomas Jefferson’s collected books. You can read a page from a Gutenberg Bible (how’s your German?) Or decipher a page from an older bible that was copied by hand in the 13th century.
2. The Folger Shakespeare Library:
Another visual treat is the Folger Shakespeare Library. It’s reading room is a lovely tudor style room filled with antiques and cases of centuries-old tomes on display. One of the worlds leading research libraries for Shakespeare, it also houses a wide variety of Elizabethan history and literature for context. If you didn’t come to D.C. for research, the Folger Shakespeare library also hosts performances of Shakespeare, lectures, exhibits, and special programs.
Kramerbooks & Afterwords Cafe is a short metro ride away on DuPont Circle and is worth the trip for readers and writers. You know what it’s like, sitting in our favorite coffee shop engrossed in an amazing book or lost in the best writing we’ve done in weeks when… “Closing time!” <arrrggg!> This is unlikely to happen at Afterwords. Their regular hours are 7:30 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. But something magical happens on the weekends. On Friday nights and Saturday nights they are open all night long! Do you need to feed your hungry muse, still going at 3:00 am? No problem! You can even get a late supper. Oh yes… and did I mention it’s attached to the bookstore, Kramerbooks?
Seriously, no travel destination I’ve experienced yet caters to the diverse and eclectic interests of freaks, geeks, nerds, and dorks like Washington D.C. Whatever your interests, whatever inspires you, chances are D.C. will feed it richly.
Read ~ Write ~ Wander
(Pictures are all of the beautiful Library of Congress.)