alanajoli | LOL Books? A Tourism Project

I had a brilliant thought last night (or, at least, an idea that amused me very much) about my travels in Greece and Turkey. In part, the credit goes to

tezmilleroz, who takes pictures of her cat with urban fantasy novels. I've been thinking about what books I will be taking with me to read on the plane and in the down time on the tour (not that there's a lot of that, but I'm not taking the course for credit, and am just assisting in the teaching rather than lesson-planning, so there's more for me than for the students). So while I was pondering this, it occurred to me:

Urban Fantasy Tourism.

How fun would it be to take pictures of the books I take with me at prominent locations? The theater at Ephesus. Anywhere in Troy. The Acropolis. Delphi. The possibilities are, at the very least, amusing.

I have a number of mass markets that I haven't had a chance to read yet, and I'm thinking of holding off on until I leave. I have: Magic Burns by

ilona_andrews, Dead to Me by

antonstrout, and the first two "Squad" books by

jenlyn_b on my shelf and will be getting Don't Hex with Texas (

shanna_s) and One Foot in the Grave (

frost_light) as soon as my pre-orders arrive (have you ordered yours yet? I've conveniently linked them to B&N!)--well before I have to leave. I'll also be getting the new Percy Jackson, but in hard cover, so it is disqualified from the trip (although I have to admit that taking Percy to Greece definitely appeals to my sense of humor; given the title of the new one The Battle of the Labyrinth, if we were going to Crete, I'd totally take it, hard cover and all).

So, gang, here's where you come in. What paperbacks should make the journey with me? Of the above list, which ones would you take? What books would you add? I'm thinking I need maybe two or three more (around eight total--one for each location), preferably mass markets (Shanna's is a trade, but I'm not going to want to wait 'til I get back to read it). Also, what creative ideas would you suggest for posing these world-traveling novels? Is there a location that screams out that it should belong to Dead to Me?

All photos will, of course, appear in this blog. I don't have any prizes to give out at this point, but if I decide to take a book you recommend (or, you know, wrote), you'll get mentioned in the blog space.

So... what do you think?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Any of the books I sent you making the trip?

There are four of them that I'd definitely take if others don't call dibs on the spot. (The likelihood of my writing reviews while I'm gone is pretty low... *g*) But I suspect the Mark DelFranco will be coming along. ;) I'm hoping to start making my way through the pile before I go! (And I'm happy to review any of the ones I take along that Tez hasn't already reviewed. *g*)

There was a Forgotten Realms book and I think an ARC or "uncorrected proof" in there that I'd love to see reviews of...but it is pretty much up to you.

Okay, I'll move those to the top. I have a friend who's interested in reading the Morganville books after I'm done with them, so I'll probably read Morganville #3 quickly as well.

See if you can photograph books with signs that could describe the book. Manny's facial expressions convey what he thinks of his books, for better or worse (he's a harsh critic) ;-)

Have a lovely day! :-)

Yeah, I was thinking either signs or sites (though some of that might be more obscure)... but we'll see how it goes. ;)

You're probably familiar with the term "root", which means "have sex with" in the Australian vernacular. Thus I find the Canadian clothing brand Roots hilarious. What you need to do is pose an erotica novel with a Roots sign - perfect :-)

Have a lovely day! :-)

P.S. That is, if wherever you're going has Roots. Not in Australia, unfortunately. No Tim Horton's here, either. Crikey, we're deprived in Oz...

I know it's not on the list, but Starship Troopers is one of the best books ever, and would be appropriate for a pic in Athens. (And if ye have nae read it, shame on ye. Go get a copy.)

Shame on me indeed. ;) I think the copy we have is bound with two other Heinlein novels, but I'll have to check with Tom. As I recall, all of the Heinlein we actually own is a bit heavy for packing, but I'll check to see if there's a mass market copy worth picking up. ;)

The paperback is, without doubt, worth picking up. (Then you can give it to some other sadly negligent person.)

Apparently our old copy actually died, so I picked up MM today. :)

As far as non–fiction goes, try Blink (Gladwell), Metaphors We Live By (Lakoff & Johnson), Orality and Literacy (Ong), & How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read (Bayard). All very fun for oblique supplements to myth|Barfield. Effortless reads, too.

That's the first recommendation for Blink that's made me actually want to read it! :) I may take the Ong, but suspect it may be a bit overwhelming in keeping up with the actual course texts--we'll see. (I'm also going to take Do Kamo, as it was discussed frequently last year and I haven't finished reading it yet.)

I can't say that I recognize any of the books listed above, so I can't comment on whether I'd take them or not.

I can strongly recommend Cormac McCarthy's THE ROAD. Wooooo, amazing book. SOON I WILL BE INVINCIBLE by Austin Grossman is a fun read, and almost as cool as the Road.

-Albone

They're both hard covers! ;) I *loved* Soon I Will Be Invincible (although it took me about 100 pages to actually get into it--luckily I'd had a very strong recommendation that I'd like it, so I stuck with it and really, really enjoyed it). Have you read Hero yet? It's a YA novel, but has that same take on superhero fiction in prose, as well as a coming of age/understanding sexual identity/secret-identity as more than just for powers themes running through it. It was also really good.

Is The Road less depressing than I've been hearing about his recent work? I loved All the Pretty Horses but haven't read much else by him, despite my enjoyment of that novel. I have another one by him lurking around here somewhere (because I had intended to read more of his work after college and just... didn't).

omg.. good work, dude

LOL Books? A Tourism Project

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thanks much