Second, or third, Perez-Reverte. Certainly encourage your mother to check out the Alhambra and the Gereralife (the gardens there). Tales of the Alhambra by Washington Irving is fun. I bought my copy there. I haven't been to Spain for many a long year, but I do remember reading Iberia (well, parts of it anyhow) before going and loved the description of the mesons (sp?) off the Plaza Mayor. These are cellar and cave bars with music and Sangria and nibbles. I checked them out and had a wonderful time. If your mother isn't into drinking and singing she still might find find some guidance in the novel. But honestly, I always answer this question for myself by going to Rick Steves reading list for his tours. To get one ready for a trip, he includes fiction, non-fiction, movies and music. Here is a link that might be useful: Recommended books and videos - Spain and Portugal

Finished Steve Jobs, and I highly recommend it. It was one of the best liked books my book club has read, right up there with Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. Now that may be in part because everything in the book is so familiar to residents of Steve Jobs's home turf. One member even remembers him from high school! We found ourselves wondering if people from other parts of the country would find it as fascinating as we did. Fascinating or not, I'm confident that any reader would find it to be well written. Now I have moved on to American Eden by Wade Graham. I like this too but suspect you would have to have some interest in gardening or landscaping to want to read it. Perhaps not; an interest in cultural history might be enough. The author examines how trends in what people do with their gardens reflects what they think about themselves and the society they live in. Again, it is well written. It reminds me how much a clumsy style or dreary pedantry can throw a barrier between a reader and even a topic that intrigues him. Fortunately neither of these books has that problem. Finally, as a quick light read, I re-read Elisabeth Ogilvie's Dancer in Yellow. I like most of Ogilvie's books, though not so much the Bennet Island series. Perhaps that is because I could never keep the family relationships straight. This one I enjoyed. Rosefolly

Hi Bill - I've started a separate thread for us to chat about autumnal books... I think it could be really fun to chat about these and come up with a bunch of seasonal titles. Thanks for the idea! I've just read "Absolutely Typical: The Best of Social Stereotypes from the Telegraph Magazine" by Victoria Mather and Sue MaCartney-Snape. Nothing too meaningful, but it does what it says on the tin in that it skewers various caricatures of English life... Pretty en pointe if you're familiar with life in England (at least it was for me), and made me squirm as it was dead on sometimes. Thanks to Vee for the reccie! I have the second one to read for a treat later on... The epic reading of the epically long Victorian sensationalist novel, "The Moonstone" by Collins, carries on. I'm just over halfway and I love it when I do read it but it definitely needs some time allocated to get the most out of it. (It's epistolary which is one of my fav book types. Squeee.)

Notes on "The Go-Between" by L. P. Hartley (1953). "The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there." Well written, this novel focuses on the memory of an elderly man who is reflecting on the summer of his twelfth year which he spent at the home of a wealthy family of one of his school friends. (Another bildungsroman, it seems.) It's contrasted strongly with his own home life (which is poorer) and Leo, the protagonist, is acutely aware of the "right" things to do and say. It's also a balance between the social codes of his boarding school (which he and his friend attend) and what is appropriate for this summer visit. It's a rather fraught novel, I think, which has the overall impression of impending doom. (This is clearly mentioned on the back blurb though, so not giving the game away.) Hartley has done an excellent job of seeing through the eyes of a twelve year old at the beginning of the twentieth century in England. His recollections of how he viewed the world were spot on (to me), and his lush descriptions of endless summer days during school holidays is perfectly accurate: lengthy days, lassitude, and not much to do except mess around. Perhaps I had an odd childhood in the 1970's, but this was very close to how I remember my childhood growing up (although it might be burnished with the glow of memory.) These endless days of summer are also a great conduit for illustrating the impending doom (uncertain though that may be). The increasing temperatures (checked daily by the protagonist on the outbuilding's thermometer) links with the perceived increasing pressure of whatever news is to come, and thunderstorms hang in the air like heavy clouds. It's really well done. Leo is very interested in things of an astral nature: the signs of the Zodiac, his nickname of Mercury (the messenger in Roman mythology who wore winged sandals) and he half-believes that he has the power to control external forces such as the weather and sometimes other people's behavior and choices through magical curses (or spells, but mostly curses). The title comes mostly from the fact that Leo is tasked with taking messages between the young lady of the house and a local farmer, a totally unsuitable match that can only be conducted in secret. At first, Leo feels privileged to have been asked, but as the summer progresses and things get more complicated, it becomes a burden and a political minefield. The reader also learns the event that caused all the upheaval and led to a troubled adult life for Leo, but I shall say nothing here. (Don't want to give the story away. Suffice to say, it's good.) The Go-Between could also be interpreted to mean Leo's having to move between social classes, uncertain of how he should behave with whom (not only with him having to adapt to the higher social class, but also having to balance his friendship with the local farmer, a working class guy. And class was everything at this time.) ...