After spending all day yesterday in front of the computer hammering through some copywriting work I felt like I needed to get out of the house today.  One of my favourite places to hang out when I’m over here in the UK is at the huge Borders we have nearby.  It has the best selection of history and architecture books I’ve ever found (it also has a Starbucks attached, which meant I got to try the new Cinnamon Dolce Latte, but that’s beside the point).

I’ve been racing through books lately, perhaps because I know I only have a few months left of free reading time before I have to get back into research mode.  Here’s what I have been reading, and what I will be reading very shortly:

Pocket Guide to How to Read a Church by Richard Taylor (£8.44 from Amazon.co.uk).  I like knowing what each symbol, image and style means when I visit a historical church or abbey.  In the UK and Italy there are hundreds of ecclesiastical buildings you can wander through, so this will help me to understand each individual feature better as I amble through the Welsh countryside and all over the Amalfi Coast in Italy.

Beatrix Potter: The Extraordinary Life of a Victorian Genius by Linda Lear (£6.29 from Amazon.co.uk).  Beatrix Potter was one of my favourite authors when I was younger (who could fail to like Jemima Puddleduck?), but now that I appreciate her more adult accomplishments, such as the great conservation work she did in the Lakes District, I want to get a better idea of how she came to be such a strong and important figure in a period when women really weren’t allowed to branch out on their own.

Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon (fourth in the Crosstitch / Outlander series; £5.99 from Amazon.co.uk).  I have to admit, when I read the first book in Diana Gabaldon’s series about time-traveller Claire Beauchamp, I didn’t think I’d bother with the rest of the series.  It’s an absolutely enthralling story, but the first book seemed to draw to a satisfying close and I didn’t want to ruin the idea I had in my head of Claire and her Scottish Highlander husband Jamie.  I gave in, as you can probably guess, and I’m now up to book four.  Although certainly not as good as the first, the rest in the series are proving to be a bit of a guilty pleasure at least.

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks (£11.98 from Amazon.co.uk).  I love Geraldine Brooks, she’s a fantastic writer and she always researches her story lines thoroughly.  ‘Year of Wonders’ was brilliant, so I knew I was going to like her new release.  ‘People of the Book’ is about a specialist book curator who is asked to investigate the origins and history of an incredibly valuable Jewish text, the Sarajevo Haggadah.  It combines many of my loves - fascinating history, the discussion of religion, and an undeniable passion for books as an art form.  I highly recommend it.

Me, Myself and Prague by Rachel Weiss ($24.95 AUD from Dymocks).  Rob and I went to Prague over Christmas and we fell in love with the place.  He was fascinated by the beer halls, the cuisine and their hundreds of different brews, whilst I was obsessed with the red roofed architecture, the shops and the Christmas markets.  When I saw that Rachel Weiss, a fellow Aussie, had written a book about the year she spent in Prague, I snapped it up.  She mentions a lot of things about the Czech Republic that I had noticed too (that native Czechs tended to be quite abrupt; that tourists stuck to the main areas and didn’t explore; and that the Communist era had impacted the development of the country), and a great deal more that I didn’t know.  A well written travel read.

This is Not a Drill: Just Another Glorious Day in the Oilfield by Paul Carter (£5.99 from Amazon.co.uk).  If you haven’t already read Paul Carter’s first book, ‘Don’t Tell Mum I Work on the Rigs (She Thinks I’m a Piano Player in a Whore House)’, do yourself a favour and grab a copy.  It’s not only incredibly funny, but is a real eye-opener about life on the rigs.  Carter seems to frequently find himself in weird situations - armed hold-ups, chasing runaway monkeys with dynamite and participating in midget throwing competitions, amongst other things - so I’m hoping his follow up book will be just as fun.