Recently I took a little hop across the pond. On this tour between me and my traveling companion we purchased over 40 books. Don't even ask how we hauled them all home, it was quite silly, but seriously how can you go to England and not buy books?
Jane Austin Books were bought at the Jane Austin Center in Bath (it would have been a sin not to), a biography of Shakespeare was bought at the Globe Theater Gift shop in London. Radcliff books were bought at Blackwell's in Oxford, some adorable children's books were bought at 'the little apple' in York. and some other random books were bought. it was VERY tempting to buy British cover versions of some of my favorite British series, I.E. Harry Potter, Artemis Fowl, etc, the covers are very different and it would have been cool to have some, but I'd have had to buy all 7 books of HP, that would almost double my books!! Out of the 20 that were purchased by me I read 6 over the 2 week traveling period. Mostly I tried to read 'in the place' books, but only fate dictates what to read ...
First book I read was The Magician: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel - Michael Scott.
This is actually the second in the Nicholas Flamel series. (First was the Alchemist, I thought I'd BoBed it but apparently not) I'm really enjoying these books, I have learned a lot about myths, legends and some history. You've probably heard of Nicholas Flamel form the Harry Potter books. I thought he was made up like everyone else, but turns out he is a real dude. He actually did find a book that folks thought he got his Alchemy from and made him wealthy. After he died they dug up his grave (to get the book) and he wasn't there, which prompted the immortal legend. Look him up in Wiki, its actually quite fascinating. His actual house is still standing in Paris, I wanted to go there so bad, but we ran out of time. it is now a fancy restaurant. Another interesting thing about these books, is the Author uses John Dee as the villain in the series. He says when he first thought up the series he had John Dee as the hero. but then did research on NF and decided to use him, and make Dee the villain. Dee... another REAL Person with a very interesting past.....Book 2 (the Magician) was based in Paris, so, wicked cool to read it as we were there. There was a whole scene at the Arch, at the Eiffel Tower, and at the Catacombs... I've also read about the catacombs in 39 clues, and seen a bit of it on the Amazing Race, so of course we HAD to go there. These books are way fun and I am looking forward to book 3!
Second Book:Pride, Prejudice and ZOMBIES - Jane Austen & Seth Graeme-Smith
LOVED IT! How can you not be magnetically drawn to a book that takes the ultimate English polite society story, and add Zombies? The moment I heard about this book I knew I had to read it and add it to my Austen shelf. I searched 6 different book stores here in Utah and it was completely sold out of every single one, even the warehouse at B&N was sold out. Apparently I was not the only one to have to have this book. I found a copy at the Chicago airport and thinking it might be the last one on the planet scooped it up. (I have to note here that there were at least 1 billion copies throughout the UK, so it was just Utah that was sold out) It did not disappoint. Now I have to insert here, if you are one of those Jane Austen purists, I might advise not reading it. But if you want my opinion it was very complimentary to Jane's classic work and if I were Jane herself I would be flattered that such a work could be written, and find great humor in the approach. Speaking of humor, this book was FUNNY. laugh out loud funny. Elizabeth is a gun toting, sword swinging, ninja slaying Heroine. But still maintains the leadership of the sisters, the strong personality, and all other quirks she has. Darcy is still Darcy, from a long line of famous Zombie slayers, he is still cranky and arrogant. Lydia puts off her zombie slaying practices to chase the soldiers. And Mrs. Bennett is just as annoying as ever. There's blood and gore, and fancy dresses and polite society. And Netherfield Ball like you've never read it before. I'll say it again. I loved it.While we are on the Austen subject I have to give props to Shannon Hale, who's book (along with PP & zombies) were on display at the Jane Austen Center in Bath.Also if you have not yet seen the BBC miniseries "Lost in Austin" I HIGHLY recommend it. For the first time, you just don't know what will happen next.....
Third, Fourth and Fifth BookMagicians Guild, Novice and High Lord - The Black Magicians Trilogy - Trudi Canavan
I found the first book at a book shop in Greenwich, it sounded fun so I read it, and enjoyed it so much that I had to go hunt down the next two (as I've never seen them sold in the US and wanted to read them NOW) It was an interesting concept regarding magicians and having to have extensive training, or your powers will overpower and destroy you. Its one of those where the good guy is the bad guy is the good guy. And about a very poor girl living in the slums where there is a huge mistrust of the magicians, as they only help the rich. she awakens her powers w/o knowing it and has to be trained by those she mistrusts the most. There were some adult themes and some concepts that I couldn't agree with and make it so I really cant recommend this series w/o the warning of adult content.
Sixth BookThe London Eye Mystery - Siobhan Dowd
I actually read this just before I left but it was very relevant to our trip as we went on the London Eye. When I first started reading this book I hadn't read anything about it so I was very put off at her writing style it was very choppy and made the main character look very awkward, until I realized that the story was told from the main characters point of view, and he was autistic. Finally figuring that out, the story took on a whole new viewpoint for me. She wrote it brilliantly. I have never personally known someone autistic so I'm not an expert but I feel like she captured his personality very well. It was a fun little story where his cousin goes missing and he is able to solve the mystery with is 'reasoning' logic. His sister is the exact opposite of him, and provides a fun contrast. I'm very interested to read other works by Siobhan Dowd, she passed away in 2007, so there are only a few out there.
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