Novel Destinations, a new book from National Geographic, call itself a guide to the "haunts, homes and watering holes where beloved authors, from Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters to John Steinbeck and Mark Twain, sought solace and found inspiration." You can read this interview with authors Shannon McKenna Schmidt and Joni Rendon for more insight on the book.

For a local version, try the Maryland Humanities Council's literary Mount Vernon walking tour, whose highlights include the sites where Upton Sinclair was born and F. Scott Fitzgerald lived. We'll take the tour soon and write about it. But if you can't wait, go here.

The Baltimore Literary Heritage Project, of the University of Baltimore School of Communications Design, also has lots of information about local sites that are linked to famous writers.