Hello! I'm back! Did you miss me? We were on vacation in London, England, and it turned out I couldn't do what I expected to be able to do using husband's laptop, so I decided it would be best not to bother with an awkward computer situation and just enjoy the time away. I will do my best to catch up on reviews, ASAP, but it might take me a few days to get back to normal. We just returned yesterday.
I read 3 books while we were in London:
The English: A Field Guide by Matt Rudd - NF title about the English and their habits, which I purchased when I realized I didn't have any reading material for the train ride to Dover (where we saw the White Cliffs -- woot!).
A Certain Summer by Patricia Beard - A review book from Simon & Schuster set a few years after WWII on an island off the coast of New York.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald - Another book that I purchased when I got stuck without reading material, this time in Uxbridge after visiting the Battle of Britain Bunker.
And a few books arrived at the house:
Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie O'Farrell - from Knopf for review
Astor Place Vintage by Stephanie Lehmann - from Simon & Schuster for review
Lotería by Mario Alberto Zambrano - from Harper for review
The Paris Architect by Charles Belfoure - from Sourcebooks for review
The Girls of Atomic City by Denise Kiernan - from Touchstone for review
I bought plenty of books in England, as well, and since only one of the books I read was a review book and I'm currently reading yet another purchase I've thrown myself behind on the ARCs and will have to call a halt to accepting ARCs, again. It never ceases to amaze me how the greed monster comes out when interesting books are on offer. Time to get a grip on that little devil and just read, read, read what I've got. The bookstores in London seem awfully healthy, by the way, although I did see plenty of people reading e-books rather than physical books on this vacation.
We flew on Memorial Day, which turned out to be unique in a couple of regards. For one thing, we ended up flying back to Atlanta with Amy Grant and her band. They'd played at a concert in Sussex. Wish I'd aged as well as she has! And, when we arrived in Atlanta, we ended up in the midst of a TSA drill. They get irritable if you wiggle after they've told you to "freeze", haha. I froze. I am very well-behaved. I think a couple people at the back of the line didn't hear the order to freeze, poor things.
I've added a link to the NIV Devotional Bible sneak peek to my review post and hope to get that kitty book reviewed quickly. But, quickly might be a little slower than it sounds. I'm dragging, here. Hope everyone had a fabulous week!
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I've loved following your Facebook updates about the trip. Of course, I am absolutely dripping with good-natured jealousy that you got to spend quality time over the pond. It looks and sounds heavenly!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Andiloo! We did have a blast. "Good-natured jealousy" made me smile. We're very fortunate that we have a friend who likes to loan out his flat. There's no way we could have afforded a 10-day trip, otherwise.
DeleteLike Andi, I saw your pics on FB! Sounds like you had a wonderful time! Can't wait to hear what books you bought.
ReplyDeleteOops, I know I wrote you a message but I must have forgotten to hit "publish", Iliana! Second attempt . . . .
DeleteI just wrote down the three Persephone titles in my comment to Brittanie, below, but I'll definitely take a pic of everything I purchased. The stacks don't look as huge with the 3 Persephones gone. Oh, and I've read 2 that I bought, so I guess I need to haul those back out when I take a photo. I did have fun in the bookstores. You will see. ;)
Welcome Home! I can't wait to see a list of what you bought in England. What did you get at Persephone? I just finished reading A Spear of Summer Grass by Deanna Raybourn and it was really good. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Brittanie! I'll take a pic and load it, soon but the Persephone books are:
DeleteGreenbanks by Dorothy Whipple
Miss Ranskill Comes Home by Barbara Euphan Todd and
Greenery Street by Denis Mackail
I haven't heard of A Spear of Summer Grass. Might be one I've overlooked! I was *totally* prepared for our trip to Persephone, this time. I've bought quite a few of their books during the last two trips to London so I took my Persephone Biannually catalog, marked all the titles I've bought and checked off the ones I've read. Then I read the descriptions and narrowed down to the ones I was most interested in and looked up ratings and reviews of them. And, then I narrowed down some more, highlighting my favorites, and wrote their average rating on Goodreads beside the title.
They were well stocked, this time (we've been there when they've been very low on titles) so everything I was interested in was available and I just had to decide which of those titles I'd highlighted appealed to me the most. I got Greenery Street because P. G. Wodehouse apparently loved it and Miss Ranskill Comes Home because it's sort of WWII related (it might be post-WWII, but about rationing and how life in England changed through the eyes of a woman who was stranded on an island since before the war). Greenbanks . . . everyone adores Dorothy Whipple, so I decided I might as well grab a Whipple. :)