Books

Nearly every time we travel, I bring along at least one book, sometimes two. As any traveler will attest, a good book really comes in handy while waiting in airports, flying across country, or riding in trains.

But seeing as we're taking backpacks on our upcoming trip, space for reading materials is hard to come by. As it stands now, I'm planning to bring two Rick Steves books with me--one which covers Amsterdam and Brussels, the other Germany and Austria. I'm carrying these travel books with me for two main reasons: 1) to access Rick Steves' superb advice along our journey 2) to receive 5-10% discounts at many of our hotels. We'll be staying in eight hotels during our trip and I found seven of the eight hotels in Rick Steves' books. Most of the seven hotels offer a discount to Rick Steves' readers who present the book at check-in and pay cash. (You know how much I love discounts, so I'll gladly lug the books around Europe to save a buck or two.)


If I'm lucky, I may just be able to fit one more book in my luggage. Right now, I'm reading The Red Tent by Anita Diamant (which was recommended to me by my cousin Alysa), but since it's a library book, I won't be taking it with me. I remember when we were growing up, my mom never let us take library books on trips since there was always the possibility they could get lost or damaged. That thinking stuck with me and even today, I won't take library books with me if we're going to be flying on an airplane. (Car trips are ok, though!) Instead, I'll usually head to Costco and pick up a few new titles.

But today, I received an e-mail from Barnes & Noble, which offered me an appealing alternative to buying paperback books. What about buying an audio book and downloading it to my MP3 player? Wow, now that was an option that hadn't even crossed my radar! Even better, Barnes & Noble is running a promotion now through May 3rd, whereby you receive 50% off one title when you use the code: L7J4J3D at check-out. Click HERE for more details!

Well, I'm off to peruse the audio book titles at B&N.com. Maybe I'll buy a Jodi Picoult book (she has tons of titles out right now and I've yet to read one) or a book called The Reader by Bernhard Schlink, which I've had my eye on for awhile.

UPDATE: I purchased The Reader for $5.00 and now I'm hoping Brian can help me transfer it from the computer to my MP3 player!
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P.S. I'm always interested in hearing about books you've read and liked, so feel free to leave a blog comment with literary suggestions. :-)