(no subject)

Spent a very pleasant (though hot) day with double_helix and alexctelander, in which I acquired yet more books at Alex's bookstore, which is extremely nice and sells a refrigerator magnet finger puppet of Schroedinger's cat, who looks distinctly unhappy about being dead and alive at the same time. Judy Cuevas' Bliss was sitting innocently on the shelves in the used book section, completely unaware that I have spent the last five years looking for it before finally succumbing and getting it on ZShops. Then we went to a Japanese restaurant, in which I somehow managed to order everything that the kitchen had somehow never heard of, despite the existence of the foods on the menu. Then we went to their house, in which I acquired yet more books via borrowing, and while I feel vaguely gulty about walking off with a fairly large stack of books, most of me is quite satisfied about getting my hands on them (Mairelon the Magician! More Y: The Last Man! Ghost World! etc.)

So I am back at my place now, with a full stomach and loads of unread books and a very large grin on my face.

gakked from double_helix:

( Five things you may not know... )

(no subject)

So I'll be meeting my parents in London before flying off to Italy... I'm landing in Heathrow, but they're staying at the airport hotel at Gatwick. Would anyone know if the National Express service from Heathrow to Gatwick be the best way to get to Gatwick? Also, will I be able to use euros in England, or should I get pounds as well from the bank? And does anyone know if it would be possible to use an American calling card to call my parents or the hotel when I'm there, in case something goes horribly wrong, as is wont to do when I am left to my own devices?

Yikes. It's rather silly because I've been flying back and forth to Taiwan for ages, but flying to Europe is foreign territory, and I am nervous.

Wrede, Patricia C., and Caroline Stevermer - The Grand Tour

I had a lot of fun reading this. Not quite as much fun as I had reading Sorcery and Cecelia, but I think much of that can be attributed to the lack of the epistolary format. Kate and Cecy are now married (to Thomas and James, respectively, not to each other), and all four of them are embarking on a Grand Tour of the Continent. Of course, this being Kate and Cecy, things happen.

I have to say, I loved the title: The Grand Tour, or The Purloined Coronation Regalia, being a revelation of matters of High Confidentiality and Greatest Importance, including extracts from the intimate diary of a Noblewoman and the sworn testimony of a Lady of Quality, which should give unfamiliar readers a pretty good taste of what the tone of the book is like. Kate and Cecy and Thomas and James galivant around while getting into all sorts of trouble, meet shady characters, along with the Duke of Wellington, and Kate and Cecy finally have a chance to go shopping in Paris.

The tone is a little different from Sorcery and Cecelia, not quite so comical largely because of the extracts from Kate's diary. Kate is much more insecure and unsure of herself in her diary than she is writing to Cecy, which makes sense. And it was very interesting reading the two writing about the same events from different angles. One of the things I missed, though, was the camaraderie between Kate and Cecy... because the book is taken up of Cecy's testimony and Kate's diary, there is much less interaction between the two, and I miss the friendliness and the sensed history behind all the letters they wrote to each other for Sorcery and Cecelia. So the strangest thing for me was that while the two were physically together throughout the book, unlike S&C, they felt more emotionally distant.

Links:
- coffeeandink's review
- rilina's review