Any Bookstore Browsrs here??
Aug 31st, 2001, 02:12 PM
#21
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Count two more in the "yea" column. That's not only me but also my Danish pal. We might as well have taken lodgings in one particular Waterstone's where, along with the travel bookshop in Notting Hill, she bought just enough books to require an additional carryon going home. But then, we are both writers!
Aug 31st, 2001, 02:20 PM
#22
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I agree with Ilene - Shakesphere & Co. <BR>was disappointing-and we didn't even see a cat. People I'm with dread it when I spot a bookstore [and I try to be considerate by not staying "too long"]. My favorite these days is Rand McNally because they carry so many good travel books and they are always in perfect order, unlike Barnes & Noble and Borders. {I like all the London books to be together, for instance].
Aug 31st, 2001, 02:40 PM
#23
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OOHHH, a good 20% of my holiday in Ireland is spent in bookstores, particulary the ones in Dublin on Dawson Street. <BR> <BR>On a visit to London a few years ago, I spent three delightful afternoons on Charing Cross Road (remember 84(?) Charing Cross Road with Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins - an all-time favourite!). I had seen the first episode of the "Fat Ladies" cooking series that week and found the book. I brought it back to a good (english) friend who is a wonderful cook - he perfect present. Soon after, the series was broadcast on Canadian TV (I miss them SO much!). I have dined many times on their wonderful, irreverent and gastronomically incorrect dishes. <BR> <BR>I always pack an extra "holdall" for my book purchases (and the odd pair dozen pairs of shoes I pick up on my travels. <BR> <BR>It may be cheaper to pick the books up @ Amazon.co.uk, but nothing equals the experience of browsing in a great book shop. <BR> <BR>Regards ... Ger
Aug 31st, 2001, 02:43 PM
#24
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Elvira, I love it! The $100 Store. You have no idea how close it is. And I'm a real sucker for the bargain tables! Tomorrow I'm off to my monthly bookstore trek. I'll buy too much, and spend too long a time, but it's my favorite day of the month, unless I'm traveling, that is. <BR> <BR>JOdy, thanks for this thread. It's nice to know I'm not the only one. And read my e-mail to you! We hit it again.
Aug 31st, 2001, 03:16 PM
#25
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I'm afflicted with the same addiction. Put me within a mile of a bookstore and you might as well arrange to have a vacuum hose placed between it and my checking account. I go in looking for one specific book and two hours later come out broke with a shopping cart full. Doesn't matter what country I'm in. Same thing with maps - I can't have enough of them. I've been known to have to take a day off during a vacation to figure out how to ship books home to the USA. And once I buy it, I can't part with a book, either, unless I really really didn't like it. You can hardly see the furniture in our house for all the books on shelves, books on tables, books on the floor - usually books in the car, too - you never know when you might get a chance to read.
Aug 31st, 2001, 03:27 PM
#27
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Love bookstores, esp. the independents. <BR>Although walking into a Boarder, etc , occasionally is an overwhelming experience. <BR>So many books, so little time. <BR> <BR>I did manage to pop into a few bookstores in Rome. <BR>How can one pass them up! <BR> <BR>The first time my husband and I went out after our oldest child was born my mother babysat for us, under the condition we go out and do something <BR>"romantic" <BR>(son was 6 months old) <BR>We went to a nearby town, grabbed a quick bagel for lunch, and then hit the bookstore in town, <BR>spending the next few hours happily wandering around. <BR>Priorities, afterall 
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Aug 31st, 2001, 04:06 PM
#28
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Book Chick: Just curious...are you usually reading several books at once? My family thinks I'm nuts because I have four or five books strewn around in various places that I am in the process of reading. Been doing this since I was a kid. I guess I'm odd, but it seems perfectly normal to me to pick up a book and get right back into it where I left off - five plots and five sets of characers? No problem.
Aug 31st, 2001, 04:07 PM
#29
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Do you folks realize how many of the dyed-in-the-woold regulars have posted on this thread? I wonder if there is some kind of connection, something that ties together book-o-philes with a love of traveling and reading about travel? Interesting hypothesis! Any PhD candidates looking for a good thesis topic? (Only 20 more hours till my monthly visit.) <BR> <BR>And, StCirq, I almost fell off the chair laughing at your vacuum hose analogy. Wonderful!
Aug 31st, 2001, 04:37 PM
#30
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St. Cirq: What a relief--another map fetishist! Do you collect historical atlases, as well? I've got one current atlas, a historical atlas of Russia, and two hugely oversized books, Cities Of The World, with artists' renderings of cities/street layouts as they were hundreds of years ago. I've also got a geographical dictionary, but dictionaries are sort of a sub-pathology of mine--I have nearly 20. <BR> <BR>And I, too, am a multiple book reader. One for the subway and one for before bed at the very least!
Aug 31st, 2001, 04:49 PM
#33
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Just stopped in a bookshop on the way home tonight...I just sort of seemed to veer into the door... <BR>I love Waterstone's and have spent quite a few pounds there. The kids' books are one of my special addictions. <BR>I agree that Shakespeare and Co. is a bit "too-too", but I did get a great autobiography of Charlie Chaplin's from 1923 there; really fascinating perspectives. <BR>And yes, I do read anywhere from 3 to 5 books at once--and I often read one while walking to my second job at the flower shop! <BR>(I've never fallen over a curb while reading yet, unlike what happens when I don't.)
Aug 31st, 2001, 04:55 PM
#34
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At home I do that quite a bit. Not so much in Europe, although I'd like to do more of it. I love bookstores with ald and out of print books. Several years ago I found a complete set of 10 volumns of the writings of Tomas Pain and also a 13 volumn set of the lectures and thoughts of Robert G Ingersal. My oldest book that I have in my library is a 184 edition a book that includes "The Conduct of The Understanding" by John Lock and "ESSAYS" by Francis Bacon. I also found a 1896 edition of the 2 volumn set of "A History of the warfare of science with theology in christendom" by Andrew Dickson White, the Founder of Cornel University (with financial backing of Ezra Cornel.) Some used bookstores are a real find. Some also do nation wide searches for you for specific books or sets. <BR>Regards, <BR>Art <BR>
Aug 31st, 2001, 05:10 PM
#35
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Escritora: My dining room is covered with framed prints of antique maps from an antique map calendar. My birthday present last year from my parents was a map of France crafted in London in 1875 by Henry Teesdale. I have a bookshelf devoted to maps, with this nifty thing that fits into the shelf to divide the maps into about, oh, 20 different countries and regions. <BR>Atlases? I even have my original from 5th Grade, plus about a dozen others. I've got the New Yorl Times, the Michelin Motoring Atlas of Europe, the Atlas Routier, the Plan de Paris by Leconte, the Michelin Paris Atlas par Arrondissment, you name it. I've got every geographical dictionary known to mankind, plus at least 50 other dictionaries (hey, I need them for my work, it's not just a fetish) - medical dictionaries, reverse dictionaries, dictionaries of myth and fable, dictionaries of phrase and fable....dictionaries of dictionaries. And I've got the original Larousse bound in leather (and seriously needing to get to a bookbinder). In short, I'm not short of resources.And I use them all.
Aug 31st, 2001, 05:22 PM
#37
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StCirq, <BR>Definitely! And I consider myself a "lightweight". My best friend used to be a bit agoraphobic (she actually did seek professional help & is over it now), so she'd read like, 8 books a week concurrently. But I usually have one at work that I'll read during a break, one in the bathroom at home, one in the living room, one in the family room, and sometimes as many as 3 at the bedside. I don't mix up characters, either. Think we just have a different kind of attention span? <BR>BC
Aug 31st, 2001, 05:33 PM
#38
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I, too, typically have at least 3 books going at one time, usually more. Right now there is one in the den, two at my bedside, one in the living room, and that Reader's Digest in the il bagno! Not to mention the two I just received today from Amazon (one on Rome and one on London) that I'm going to glance at tonight before I decide whether to send them back--they weren't at all what I thought they'd be. <BR> <BR>Another question: Can browsing thru the Amazon.com website be considered the same as going to a bookstore? I know, not as exciting or as fulfilling, but it does keep my withdrawal pains in check until my next visit to a real store!
Aug 31st, 2001, 05:47 PM
#39
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I do think that reading goes along with a love of travel, particularly European travel. If you do much reading, especially straight history or historical novels, which I love, a lot of them are set in Europe (although I also love Kenneth Roberts, who does great American historical novels). I think knowing some history and reading about places makes you more interested in going there. Also, I agree with Elvira, although we don't have any Borders nearby, the same applies to Barnes & Nobles (and even that is 40 miles away!), it's difficult to go in there without spending lots of money! I think between books and fabric, I may need to take an extra suitcase to Paris! (I am really considering putting a 22" inside my 26" on the way over, I already tested it and it fits!) <BR>
