Venice Is a Fish: A Cultural GuideTiziano Scarpa Serpent's Tail, £7.99
Rarely has a city enjoyed the literary attentions that Venice has attracted. This slim book will, however, outpunch many of the literary heavyweights when it comes to getting to the core of this most fantastic of cities. It has no hotel listings, no restaurant tips and very few must-see places. Instead it is a glittering tribute to the city where Scarpa grew up, an intimately detailed portrait of a place that exists on the stripped logs of an underwater forest. There is a terrific chapter on how Venetians must wear very dark sunglasses to protect themselves from the daily onslaught of beauty; a great section on the games children play on the crowded streets; and the cats that amorously roam the alleyways also play their feline parts. Scarpa can’t resist playing literary hide and seek with his references, but he gives all the answers in an appendix of sorts. An elegant, effortless, lyrical work that points you in all directions without ever getting lost.
Vienna
Rough Guide, £12.99
From one glittering jewel of a city with imperial notions to another. Vienna’s charm, though, is polished and opulent, whereas Venice is more about faded grandeur.
The historical detail in this guide can’t be faulted; indeed, Vienna’s history gets a more thorough tour here than that of a whole country does in many guides. There’s a good section on the Sezessionist art movements, and the coffee and cake recommendations will have your stomach rumbling. But every city guide should surely come with a more detailed map than this, and a street index.