Bookbrowsing...while on vacation
Mar. 1st, 2009 07:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jmc_bksI'm home again after spending the last 10 days wandering around Madrid and its environs. I won't inflict the vast majority of my photos on people, as they aren't particularly good and I doubt you're interested in the blurry and/or overexposed views of the horizon from the top of the muralla of Ávila or looking out over the Tagus River in Toledo.
However, you might be interested in looking at this -- a photo of one section of the romance novels available in Spanish in the Casa del Libro, on Madrid's Gran Via. There was another section, equally large, over in the general fiction section. There were even some Ellora's Cave books available.
I checked out the offerings at FNAC, a multimedia entertainment store on Calle Preciados in the Puerta del Sol, which had a slightly smaller romance section. And also at the bookstore of El Corte Inglés, which had a larger section than FNAC but smaller than CdL. Sherry Lewis's The Jewel of Medina (La joya de Medina) was a featured offering in all three stores, with displays near entrances and escalators. Also noticable were all of the vampire books -- Anne Rice, Stephanie Meyer, Charlaine Harris, etc. Especially Charlaine Harris.
When I planned my trip, I didn't realize that I would miss the drop date for the next In Death book. Nope, not a single one of these stores had a copy (in Spanish or English), nor did any of the bookshops I checked in the three airports I hit on the way home. But I did see a sizable collection of La Nora books, and a few of the other In Death books on shelves.
Other books/authors that seemed to have significant display space: Gaelen Foley, Christine Feehan, Kat Martin, Connie Mason, Sherrilyn Kenyon. Diana Gabaldon would probably cringe to know that the few of her books that I saw in each store were all shelved as romance rather than general fiction. I saw a single copy each of three of JR Ward's books, one copy each of three older Suzanne Brockmann books. Hmm, what else? Tracy Grant's Daughter of the Game, which has a completely different title in Spanish (including "el anillo"), was included on a noticable display near the door at ECI. There was a translation of one of Julie Garwood's contemporaries (I think) with Leighton's "Flaming June"** on the cover...which almost tempted me enough to buy a copy...but no. I bought a copy of Nora Roberts' Nacida en fuego (Born in Fire), one of my favorites by her, and left it at that. ETA: I also saw Spanish language editions of Chelsea Cain's HeartSick (Corazon enfermo) at ECI, and was tempted. But no.
Books I'm interested in now: Ghosts of Spain by Giles Tremlett, a nonfiction account of the pact of forgetfulness in which Spaniards have engaged in order to get past Franco. (Reviewed here and discussed a bit here.) Or at least, that's how the back blurb read. And Yo, Juan de Austria, a fictionalized account of the life of Juan of Austria, illegitimate son of Carlos V, Holy Roman Emperor, brother of Felipe II, hero of Lepanto. (Dammit, I can't find a copy online anywhere, so I should've bought it while in Madrid. ETA: found it here. Still should've bought it while there, because after shipping it would cost 55 euros, way too much for one book, at least right now. But it'll go on my wishlist.) This probably wouldn't have caught my eye, but for the bit I learned about him in the Real Armería of the Palacio Real -- some of his weapons were included in a display about the Battle of Lepanto, and I was intrigued.
And just because I thought they were cuter than all get out, I'll share with you these pretty, pretty mazapánes.
**FYI, if you're interested in British Victorian painting, there's an exhibition called La bella durmiente (Sleeping Beauty) at the Prado, which includes "Flaming June" and other paintings from the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.
However, you might be interested in looking at this -- a photo of one section of the romance novels available in Spanish in the Casa del Libro, on Madrid's Gran Via. There was another section, equally large, over in the general fiction section. There were even some Ellora's Cave books available.
I checked out the offerings at FNAC, a multimedia entertainment store on Calle Preciados in the Puerta del Sol, which had a slightly smaller romance section. And also at the bookstore of El Corte Inglés, which had a larger section than FNAC but smaller than CdL. Sherry Lewis's The Jewel of Medina (La joya de Medina) was a featured offering in all three stores, with displays near entrances and escalators. Also noticable were all of the vampire books -- Anne Rice, Stephanie Meyer, Charlaine Harris, etc. Especially Charlaine Harris.
When I planned my trip, I didn't realize that I would miss the drop date for the next In Death book. Nope, not a single one of these stores had a copy (in Spanish or English), nor did any of the bookshops I checked in the three airports I hit on the way home. But I did see a sizable collection of La Nora books, and a few of the other In Death books on shelves.
Other books/authors that seemed to have significant display space: Gaelen Foley, Christine Feehan, Kat Martin, Connie Mason, Sherrilyn Kenyon. Diana Gabaldon would probably cringe to know that the few of her books that I saw in each store were all shelved as romance rather than general fiction. I saw a single copy each of three of JR Ward's books, one copy each of three older Suzanne Brockmann books. Hmm, what else? Tracy Grant's Daughter of the Game, which has a completely different title in Spanish (including "el anillo"), was included on a noticable display near the door at ECI. There was a translation of one of Julie Garwood's contemporaries (I think) with Leighton's "Flaming June"** on the cover...which almost tempted me enough to buy a copy...but no. I bought a copy of Nora Roberts' Nacida en fuego (Born in Fire), one of my favorites by her, and left it at that. ETA: I also saw Spanish language editions of Chelsea Cain's HeartSick (Corazon enfermo) at ECI, and was tempted. But no.
Books I'm interested in now: Ghosts of Spain by Giles Tremlett, a nonfiction account of the pact of forgetfulness in which Spaniards have engaged in order to get past Franco. (Reviewed here and discussed a bit here.) Or at least, that's how the back blurb read. And Yo, Juan de Austria, a fictionalized account of the life of Juan of Austria, illegitimate son of Carlos V, Holy Roman Emperor, brother of Felipe II, hero of Lepanto. (
And just because I thought they were cuter than all get out, I'll share with you these pretty, pretty mazapánes.
**FYI, if you're interested in British Victorian painting, there's an exhibition called La bella durmiente (Sleeping Beauty) at the Prado, which includes "Flaming June" and other paintings from the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.
