Bargain Books

When I was in Barcelona, I picked up three books- a cookbook in Spanish for 1,90 Euros with recipes I want to eat but suspect I'll never be bothered trying to make, a book called The Cat Who Talked Turkey for the bargain price of 3 Euros, and a book called La Vida Sexual de Catherine M. This last one I got because it's my name, and Allen told me it's supposed to be a really good book. However, I'm glad I got it in Spanish and not English because so far it's proved to be slightly graphic but a lot of it I don't understand. I'm also learning a lot of words I don't think will come in handy in everyday conversation. It's interesting though, because even though it was only published a few years ago, I think the author's writing about women's liberation a few decades ago. Sort of like reading The Female Eunuch and seeing what's changed and what hasn't. Next time I buy a book in Spanish I'm going to buy a children's one so I can actually understand what's happening. The bookstore also sold Th Chronicles of Narnia in Spanish but it was beyond my budget.

I finished reading Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro in Barcelona. Definitely worth the 10 Euros I paid for it. It was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. The Booker Prize is a bit of a hit and miss, I think personally but this one was good, and Ishiguro is more or less a trustworthy author. The choice of English books in Logrono is very limited- I had a selection consisting of classics for around four times the price you'd pay in Australia, Danielle Steele and other romance/potboilers/pulp fiction. Perhaps I should join the local library. Not being able to read is stressing me out, especially when I'm sick and can't leave my house and I have nothing else to do. If I get incredibly desperate I might have to borrow Paulina Simmons from Emily. (Please, someone shoot me first).