A Good Start

This is the beginning of my "Europe Trip" book pile that I keep banging on about. I've just realised that I've left in Dostoyevsky and it's not looking likely that we'll get to Russia, but oh well. He's small and I may just take him along anyway.

It's not a very big pile at the moment (though my other half would have me believe that it's already too big by half), and I've been slowly letting the collection evolve as I:
a. Find books secondhand, or
b. Break down and buy something that looks really good.

I started out with a set of general rules, which I've almost managed to stick to.

1. They have to be relatively small (less than 300 pages)
   
2. If possible they should be both about, and by an author from, the country in question.
   
3. They should hold the possibility of enjoyment. I am on holiday after all.
   

There are a few notable exceptions, The Needle in the Blood being one, but I'm making a point of going to Bayeux and I couldn't resist a dovegrey reader recommendation. The Cloudspotter's Guide is another exception, but I do intend to spend at least some time going slow enough to assess the weather.

I've just realised that this description of collection makes it all seem much easier that it has been, as I pore over 1001 Books to Read Before You Die and Book Lust, spending hours in Stamfords and Daunt licking the end of my pencil and scribbling titles in notebooks. I have a colour-coded spreadsheet no less, and the final list has been the source of some hand-wringing I can tell you.