We're back stateside after a beautiful adventure traveling in England. A true vacation through and through. It's a wonderful, needful thing to relax, disconnect, and explore. More on the trip coming soon, but I thought it would be fun to share a little literature update with some thoughts on buying books on vacation and why traveling with a Kindle is a wonderful idea.
So, without any more preamble, some books I've been loving recently include:
A Lady Dunbridge Mystery Series
Genre: cozy mystery
Author: Shelley Noble
Books in the Series: *currently four
The perfect cozy, period mystery. Lady Dunbridge is introduced as a dowager countess coming to New York in the early 1900s. She's thrust into a crime scene immediately where she discovers a knack for solving murders.
A bit of romance is sprinkled in, colorful characters, and a glimpse into Manhattan in the early 20th century. I read all four books faster than I would have liked and now how to be patient for any other books in the series.
Towards Rest
Lee and I often like to choose a devotional book or meditational book to read together while on vacation and just in time Alabaster Co came out with a beautiful book on how we experience rest and why it's part of our worship process.
It's thoughtful, wonderfully written and the perfect thought-provoking devotional to read at any time of the year - on vacation or not.
You can find it at Alabasterco.com
Books Set In England
Can you tell I was getting ready to go to England? All three are darling, cozy books that are quick reads but no less charming than an Austen.
There are no shortage of books with similar settings ( bookshops, bakeries, flower shops, etc.) and predictable sweet stories of perseverance, love, community, and identity. Any of these would be ideal to take while traveling abroad or looking for an armchair adventure.
While this was not a bookstore exclusive trip, we managed to pop into a fair few bookstore while in London. Early on in our travels together, we determined that one of the best souvenirs was to find a unique book from a local bookshop that both of us were excited to read and purchase that as a memento of the trip.
We write in the inside cover the location and date it was purchased and place it on our bookshelves when we come home as a beautiful reminder of a bookstore memory from our trips and travels. This trip will be marked by 2 beautiful Japanese books one by Toshikazu Kawaguchi – Before the Coffee Gets Cold Book 1 and Tokyo Express by Seicho Matsumoto
Thoughts on the Kindle And Travel
It was after our trip to Maine last year that Lee and I - after finding the majority of our suitcase weight was taken up by books – looked at ourselves and determined to get Kindles before the next major trip. They ended up being an excellent Christmas present from my parents and have since gotten an absolute workout. I've been a very strict physical book person my whole life. I love the feel, smell, and tactile experience of holding a physical story, but for travel and indeed for other moments of life they're not entirely practical.
I have no experience with other e-readers and we have the standard Kindles, none of the fancy iPad versions, but it was absolutely delightful to slide it into my small backpack and take it everywhere with us - from the plane to the countryside. If you've been reluctant to pull the trigger on a simple e-reader, like I had been, but find yourself weighed down with books while traveling, I would highly recommend the experience of reading on a Kindle. And it's such a bonus that you can have multiple books with you at all times on one 8oz device.