Poland has a rich literary tradition and has been the subject of some essential historical and fiction writing. These are worth reading before or during your trip.
Fiction and Literature
The Tin Drum by Günter Grass — Set in Danzig (now Gdansk) across the Nazi and wartime period, this Nobel Prize-winning novel captures the fractured history of the Polish-German borderlands better than almost anything else.
Solaris by Stanisław Lem — Poland's greatest science fiction writer. Solaris is the most accessible entry point, but Lem's other work rewards exploration.
Flights by Olga Tokarczuk — The 2018 Nobel laureate writes unconventional, essayistic fiction. Flights and The Books of Jacob are both translated into English and give a sense of Tokarczuk's particular Central European perspective.
A Blessing on the Moon by Joseph Skibell — A novel about the Holocaust in Poland, told from the perspective of a murdered villager. Unsettling and memorable.
History
Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin by Timothy Snyder — Essential context for understanding what happened in Poland (and its neighbours) between 1933 and 1945. Not light reading, but nothing written on this period comes close to it.
The Pianist by Władysław Szpilman — The memoir that became Roman Polanski's film. A Warsaw Jewish pianist's survival through the war and the ghetto. Straightforward and devastating.
Poland by James Michener — A long historical novel spanning centuries of Polish history. Better as an introduction to the country's sweep than as literature, but useful.
Travel and Reportage
Borderlands by Anna Reid — A journey through the territories that were once part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Excellent for understanding the east of the country and its tangled history with Ukraine and Belarus.