Recommended Books & Films

A list of authors with ties to Boston could fill a book of its own and only scratch the surface. To get in the mood for Boston before visiting, let the impulse that inspired you to make the trip guide you around the bookstore or library. Here are some suggestions:

For children, Make Way for Ducklings, by Robert McCloskey, is a classic that tells the story of Mrs. Mallard and her babies on the loose in the Back Bay. Once your kids love this book (and they will), you can thrill them with a trip to the Public Garden, where bronze statues of the family occupy a place of honor.

Slightly older kids might know the Public Garden as the setting of part of The Trumpet of the Swan, by E. B. White. After reading it, a turn around the lagoon on a Swan Boat is mandatory.

An excellent historical title is Johnny Tremain, by Esther Forbes, a fictional boy's-eye-view account of the Revolutionary War era. The book vividly describes scenes from the American Revolution, many of which take place along the Freedom Trail.

For adults, two splendid Pulitzer Prize winners chronicle the city's history. Paul Revere and the World He Lived In is Forbes's look at Boston before, during, and after the Revolution. Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families, by J. Anthony Lukas, is the definitive account of the busing crisis of the 1970s.

Architecture buffs will enjoy Cityscapes of Boston, by Robert Campbell and Peter Vanderwarker, and Lost Boston, by Jane Holtz Kay. If trivia's your thing, check out the treasury of "did you know" items in Boston A to Z, by historian Thomas H. O'Connor.

The Proper Bostonians, by Cleveland Amory, and The Friends of Eddie Coyle, by George V. Higgins, offer looks at wildly different strata of Boston society.

"Paul Revere's Ride," Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's classic but historically inaccurate poem about the events of April 18 and 19, 1775, is collected in many anthologies. It's a must if you plan to walk the Freedom Trail or visit Lexington and Concord.

If you're venturing to Gloucester (or even if you're not), Sebastian Junger's The Perfect Storm makes an excellent introduction. It tells the story of a fishing boat caught in historically bad weather -- and will change the way you look at fish on a menu for a long time after you finish reading -- or watching. The movie version, though heavy on the special effects, was a better-than-average effort.

Television has done more than any movie to make Boston familiar to international audiences, but film is gaining fast. The Boston area is hardly a Hollywood back lot, but don't be surprised to stumble upon a crew or hear about a location shoot. The Departed (2006), better known as the film that finally won Martin Scorsese the Academy Award, was filmed all over the Boston area -- and captured Best Picture. The black comedy Stiffs, with Danny Aiello, was in postproduction at press time. Many scenes feature highly recognizable Boston landmarks, especially in the North End.

If you have time to see only one movie before your trip, make it Good Will Hunting. It makes Boston and Cambridge look sensational, perceptively explores the town-gown divide, and (Robin Williams's hideous brogue notwithstanding) pulls off the nearly impossible feat of rendering local accents accurately. Coauthors and costars Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are boyhood friends from Cambridge, and Damon is a couple of semesters short of his Harvard degree.

Good Will Hunting, The Perfect Storm, and Mystic River are among the best movies with Boston-area backdrops, but an awful lot of bad ones are out there. Pictures worth renting for more than just the locations include A Civil Action, The Spanish Prisoner, Next Stop Wonderland (all Boston), State and Main (Manchester-by-the-Sea), and The Love Letter (Rockport). If you have a high tolerance for sports and sentiment, rent Fever Pitch, parts of which were filmed at Fenway Park. The ending had to be reshot after the Sox won the World Series for the first time in 86 years.

Some older movies are worth setting the DVR for. They include Blown Away (especially the scenes when the action first shifts to Boston), The Verdict (Boston), Glory (a stylish re-creation of 19th-century Beacon Hill), The Witches of Eastwick (Cohasset), and the sentimental favorite, Love Story (Cambridge).