Carla

This is a wonderful thread. I had no idea there were so many of us out there...yes, St. Cirq, I, too read seven or eight books at once, usually three novels and the rest non-fiction. <BR>(Your vacum hose analogy is hilarious!) <BR> <BR>I, too, buy an extra bag to take books home from my travels. Last year, having promised my husband, I investigated having Hatchards and Foyles send my purchases home to me, but couldn't decide which ones to let out of my fingers for a week, and ended up carting them all home in carry-on. <BR> <BR>Ann, I loved your mention of the Waterstones in Winchester! I once went into that very shop at lunchtime, browsed for a few minutes, and looked up, alarmed, to find it had gone dark outside. No, not an eclipse of the sun -- I'd been there four hours. <BR>

StCirq

Oh yes! The Omigod it's dark! syndrome. Been there. In Cambridge and Oxford, I got so lost in time in the bookstores my family had to come and make special pleas for me to leave so we could make dinner with friends. Fortunately, the friends in both places were bibliophiles, too. <BR>Cookbooks are one of my favorites - even though I've never followed a recipe in my life,I love them and collect them in many languages. I think I must be the only American I know to own a copy of Les Meilleures Recettes Occitanes, direct from the Bournat in Le Eyzies. Not that you'd really want to cook any of this stuff, but there's a few good basic ideas for Dordogne cookery and a bunch of stuff requiring you to debone a pigeon.....

Sheila

This thread is the story of my life. I will have to print it out and show copies to me husband. <BR> <BR>When Waterstone's opened its first shop in Scotland in Edinburgh just over 20 years ago, I went with 2 friends. I'd just finished University. I spent over £25- a frightening sum in those days. Waterstones has been my $100 store ever since <BR> <BR>The "sucking in" thing happens to me too. If I'm with my husband and he sees a shop ahead, he move to walk between me and the door, to sort of head me off at the pass. <BR> <BR>A couple of years ago we sat down and set a monthly budget. the non-negotiable was the book money. I spend well over $100/month on books, and (frighteningly) I keep most of them. <BR> <BR>We just had a huge row in this house. We have 2 studies- 1 each. Mine had a wall of bookshelves and-they were full! There ensued 6 months of "well, what do want me to do with them then?" to which the standard response was "throw them out!". <BR> <BR>Guess what? I got another wall of shelves. They're just finished and I've loaded them up, creating a full 4 shelf section for travel. Travelogues on one, guuide books and maps on two, and language books and tapes on another. I've also had to extend the Scottish section so I deal with this Forum- tho for some 2 1/2 years I've kept my guide books beside the PC. <BR> <BR>I too noticed the link between the regulars and this thread. I have sometimes thought that this Fodors stuff was a bit overwhelming, but it now becomes clear that it is just another pastime and resource. Isn't it? <BR> <BR>BC-thanks for what? What did I do now?

nancy

Linda, <BR>don't get Readers D., but the Old Farmers Almanac lives in il bagno, and so do a few favortite italy guides <BR> <BR>but, these are hard to find in the pile of books and mags that my children leave in there! <BR>We have breed the next generation of voracious readers! <BR> <BR>I use amazon.com to get an idea of what books are even out there. <BR>And no, it isn't cheating, anymore than browsing the web , looking at hotels, and different places to visit next. <BR>I view it as an electronic Sears "Wishbook" <BR> <BR>I prefer independent bookstores, but that maybe because the nearest mega bookstore is an hr drive from here. <BR> <BR>Here's to good reading! <BR>

John bermont

Jody, <BR>What a pleasure and a relief to see the thread you started. Dictionaries, maps, geographies, and histories are most of my souvenirs, and raw material. <BR>I don't like to lug them around so when I get about ten pounds worth I go to a post office and mail them home. Most of the PTTs in Europe have a special bargain rate for books and printed matter packaged up to 5 kg (11 lbs) per box, and they sell the boxes in the post office. It takes three weeks to three months depending on which country you are mailing from. <BR>You may be amazed at the quantity, quality, and variety of English books available in the Netherlands - philosophy to children's. Great "boekhandelen" in Amsterdam are Scheltema, Athenaeum, and a used book store whose name escapes me even though it is my favorite. The former WH Smith on Kalverstraat is now Waterstone, and I found a petite English bookstore on a back street in A'dam one day. There are scores more that will drive you nuts, plus book fairs held somewhere in Holland just about every weekend and outdoor "flea market" type sales held regularly in most cites at least once a month, often once a week. Not too impressive but maybe worth a visit depending on your taste are the American Discount Bookstore and the Slegte. <BR>John Bermont <BR>www.enjoy-europe.com <BR>

Dee

Great thread! I don't walk and read a book, but do cook and read. When we were first married, my husband was amazed to see me stirring pots and reading at the same time! Several books at once-yes. One for the purse, (just in case I'm stuck in traffic) one in the kitchen (of course!) one in the front room and absolutely one in the bathroom. Thanks to everyone for the laughs!

topper

ttt

Annette

I would never have discovered my favorite author, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, if I hadn't picked up one of her books in a bookstore in Ireland 20 years ago as I was waiting for the ferry to England. I went to Foyles in London afterwards and bought four other titles before I went home. I don't believe she was as popular in the States and wouldn't have seen her books here. <BR>

margi

What a hoot, for most of my life I've been thinking I was different, but I'm not, I now know I've got a lot of soul mates. Books are one of my passions. (My other passion is painting). My one wish throughout my life has been that someone would lock me in a bookstore or a library overnight so I could be left alone to browse at my leisure. I too often have several books on the go. If I don't visit the local library at leaste once a fortnight I get withdrawal symptoms! I used to have a bad habit of reading at the stoplights while I was driving my car (I didn't want to waste any precious time). I even occasionally peaked down at the book as the traffic was slowing. I did that once too often - as I glanced up from the book I saw the lights were green and put my foot down and slammed into the car in front which had been forced to stop because of a hold-up further ahead. That little mishap cost me several thousands of dollars in damages - imagine the books I could have bought. I'm planning a trip to London and Europe next August and bookstores are high on the list of must visits.

elvira

Oh, the public library - for that, Benjamin Franklin should be made a saint. I practically grew up in our public library (even worked there after school for two years). Our library has a used book area where we can buy books for $.50-$1 (I've capped out at $25 per expedition, otherwise I can't get them all home). The Loons share books; on trips, we bring 3 or 4 paperbacks each, then swap. My sister saw a mother and daughter in an airport; when Mom was done with the first half, she tore the paperback in half and gave the first half to her daughter. <BR> <BR>On your trips, do you leave books behind? In the airplane seat pockets? Nightstands? On the kitchen table in the rented farmhouse? <BR> <BR>I, too, usually have 3 to 5 books going at the same time, a couple of mysteries, a girl book, an historical novel... <BR> <BR>Who else buys guidebooks and maps from the bargain table, especially to places you'll probably never go?

Art

BookChick, I'm glad I'm not the only one who reads in the WC. I even have a combination Tp holder and book/magizine rack for my pleasure. Of course, I call it my Library. <BR>Cheers, <BR>Art <BR>

Judy

Hello All, does anyone remember the "Twilight Zone" episode, with the book obscessed man? He was in a bank vault during a nuclear blast, and was saved and left blessedly alone. Thought he was in heaven, to be a able to read his books whenever, and then he BREAKS his reading glasses!!!!! That was always my nightmare too. I could relate to that. <BR> This thread tweeked my memory of that Twilight Zone(I adored the TZ, by the way). Judy

sandi

I consider bookstore browsing part of a successful trip..to anywhere. I even make it part of every business trip, since I'm usually trying to kill time alone. I was excited to be able to buy some of Kafka's works from a bookstore in his home in Prague. The used bookstores with shelves piled high are the best!

Escritora

OK, all. You'll either thank me profusely or want to kill me, but here are my favorite places to get bargain, remaindered, and out of print books. Both have catalogs as well as websites, and both sites are fully searchable. <BR> <BR>www.edwardrhamilton.com <BR>www.salebooks.com <BR> <BR>Now we'll see how book budgets stack up against travel budgets! <BR> <BR>PS to Elvira: that phrase, "places you'll probably never go"...you mean there *are* places we'll probably never go? I am *horrified*!

Book Chick

Judy, <BR>I do remember the episode. The book maven was portrayed by the late, great Burgess Meredith. <BR>BC

crissy

Ah. <BR>Books. sigh. the smell of the paper, the rustle of the pages, the endpapers of old books.. <BR> <BR>An aunt always gave be a BIG bundle of books for Christmas; used treasures wrapped up in brown paper bags and twine..classics and mysteries... <BR> <BR>I used to work in our local public library. I always had at least 40 books checked out at any given time..granted some of these were for my kids but I returned/replenished with regularity. <BR>I would buy donated books from the Friends of the Library; got some great bargains..leather bound classics for my kids' collections, and a huge old family bible..( I still haunt thrift shops and antique stores for nifty books).. <BR>Infected my kids; we used to read at the dinner table, drove their dad crazy but we had some of the BEST conversations about what we'd read.. <BR> Lived in Spain for a year when I was in college.. can get teary-eyed thinking about the stuff I couldn't bring back.I dumped most of my clothes so I could bring - more books!! <BR> Books bring smiles..I'm so enjoying reading everyone else's memories and thoughts!!! <BR> <BR>

elvira

Escritora, I bought a book on Indonesian for Travelers. I doubt I'll ever get there, unless this immortality thing I'm working on pans out. <BR> <BR>crissy, another library book addict! Geez, I come home with 20 books at a time...have done so since I was a kid. Bad habit I learned from my parents. <BR> <BR>To add to the topic: Guilty Pleasures. Is there a book (or books) you just love, re-read again and again, that aren't quite - er - on the 100 books everyone should read? I confess, mine is Shibumi by Trevanian.

Escritora

Elvira, you've achieved immortality here--you're a goddess, and therefore not mortal! Besides, the way things are going in Jakarta these days, we may all survive it. But An Indonesia/Borneo trip definitely is on my list. <BR> <BR>To your question: My most-read book is To Kill A Mockingbird.

Art

Sorry Escritora, your URL's didn't work. Could not find "Flatland" in either one. <BR>Cheeers, <BR>Art <BR>

Book Chick

My "re-reads" are by the master, Gabriel Garcia Marquez: 100 Years of Solitude and another book that I read during a very emotional period in my life, Love in the Time of Cholera. <BR> <BR>BC