So Many Books, So Little Time...

Photo taken while I waited for my ride at one of the bookstores I visited.

I was in the United States for 9 days. During that time I made 5 trips to a bookstore. I kept telling myself "Careful. They're heavy. Do not buy too many."

But it was too hard. And so many books beckoned to me in a very enticing manner. I brought back 19 trade paperbacks, 2 hardcovers and 1 mass paperback and 3 Sudoku puzzle books that I simply could not resist.

Fortunately, I discovered that my frequent flier status means that I am given a baggage allowance of 70 lbs per bag (for two bags) instead of the standard 50 lbs.

Although I did need help from GLH to get the bags from the airport to home. He came back two days earlier, but met me at the train station in the airport at 7:30 am on Monday morning. And he had wisely parked our car at the train station in our town. 'Cause dragging those suitcases on and off the train myself and then up the hill on next to no sleep would have been a nightmare!

Here is a list of the books I brought back with me. This should keep me happy for a month or so...

FICTION TITLES

Lover Revealed: A Novel of the Black Dagger Brotherhood by J.R. Ward

Manhunting by Jennifer Crusie

Sold by Patricia McCormick

Yacoubian Building by Alan Al Aswany (translated by Humphrey Davies)

NONFICTION TITLES

Berlitz Italian Phrase Book and Dictionary

Between Two Worlds (Escape from Tyranny: Growing Up in the Shadow of Saddam) by Zainag Salbi

Everything Bad Is Good For You: How Today's Pop Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter by Steven Johnson

The Nazi Officer's Wife: How One Jewish Woman Survived the Holocaust by Edith Hahn Beer (with Susan Dworkin)

Not So Funny When It Happened: The Best of Travel Humor and Misadventure edited by Tim Cahill

There's No Toilet Paper...On the Road Less Traveled edited by Doug Landsky

we wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families: Stories from Rwanda by Philip Gourevitch

TRAVEL GUIDES: Places We Plan to Visit in 2007

Eyewitness Travel Guides: Austria

Time Out: Dublin (Scheduled: May)

Lonely Planet: Egypt

Frommer's: France's Best-Loved Driving Tours (Alsace-Lorraine Scheduled: April)

Frommer's: Germany's Best-Loved Driving Tours (Rhein River Valley Scheduled: June?)

Frommer's: Greece

Time Out: London

Top Ten: Munich

Frommer's: Northern Italy's Best-Loved Driving Tours

Michelin Guide: Rome (Scheduled: March)

Rome Made Easy: The Best Sights and Walks of Rome

Global Librarian's Lending Library Policy

Available to people I know in "Real-Time" in Switzerland, and perhaps further afield in Europe if you ask prettily. If you would like to read a title after I have finished it, just send me an e-mail with your request. I will pencil requests in order received inside the cover.

Most books are available for passing from person to person until all who desire have read it. Then they should be donated by the last listed reader to an appropriate library or organization for English-speakers.

Exceptions include Travel Guides, which will not be loaned until after we have finished our trip(s) to the book's location.