Another great pick at half price in Waterstone's during my trip to Edinburgh.

I will borrow this book to em64.

Bookgeo kindly lent me this Palin travel book. I already read the first couple of pages and it looks really promising...

An utterly interesting and enjoyable trip in the New Europe. The book was a weekend treat for me; I didn't want to read it too fast. You can so easily forget that there are about 20 new countries just a couple of hours away that offer a lot to see and experience. For instance the Teutonic castle of Malbork is definately something I would like to visit one day. And if they are going to show the BBC series on telly, I'm going to watch it. I just love Michael Palin's style of writing.

Thank you so much for giving me a chance to read the book, bookgeo. Will take it to the next meetup so that it can return home.

I took this book from our meeting mainly for my husband. (I managed to vaguely regognize Palin's name.) I might try to read this book too, or just look at the pictures.

Yesterday, I heard that this book is lent, not released, and that the owner would like to get it back. So I hurriedly went through it, reading bits here and there, and looking at the pictures. I really like Palin's travel shows on tv (although I haven't really seen much due to lack of a tv set), but never read a book by him. I'm hard pressed to say whether I prefer his writing or his tv work. Both are very enjoyable.

Going back to Bookgeo, I guess, unless Chirel wants to have a look at it (I'll pester her about it).

I finally finished the book.

At first I wasn't sure if it would be worth the effort. I tried Sammaltassu's method, and consentrated on the pictures, but they were so dull and bland that I started to read the text instead (and used a couple of weeks instead of couple of days with this book). And after all it was worth it.

I learned a lot about Eastern Europe and Europian history. Of the countries Palin visits I've only visited Estonia and Germany (the eastern part). Well I've visited a zoo in Riga, but the trip was so short I can't count it. My uncle is married to a Hungarian woman. And that about covers my experience about Eastern Europe. Also as Palin mentiones many times, the maps have changed. When I went to school I learne the old Europe, and haven't really updated my knowledge since. I didn't even know the names of all the countries, and propably still couldn't list them or tell where they are on the map. But I got a special understanding from this book. Somethig I think I couldn't get from school. Although Palin tries to find something special about each country, I feel that there is a theme to all of the countries: war, communism, suppression and then finding your own voice. This was not an easy book to read, because of all the history and the ways it shaped these countries. And many times I was left wondering 'what if Finland...'. Very small things have shaped our history in a different direction from these countries (I think).

I just wish the photographs would have been better and more interesting (and less Michael Palin).

Kirja palautui takaisin kotiin. Laitoin sen nyt PC-hyllyyn ja luen sen itsekin. Kirjaa saa edelleen lainata, jos kiinnostusta löytyy.

The book is back home, it is now on my PC shelf. It can still be borrowed to friends.

I noticed this on myntti's wishlist so I will ask if she would like to borrow this PC book of mine.

Kiitos lainakirjasta! Sain sen tänään miitissä.

Eipä taida olla kovin paljon maita jäljellä, joissa Palin ei olisi käynyt. Näistä kirjoista saisi tietysti enemmän irti, jos olisi nähnyt tv-sarjankin. Tässä tapauksessa sarja on minulta näkemättä, vaikka eiköhän se ole jossain vaiheessa meilläkin telkkarista tullut.
Kirjasta ja sarjasta on jo jonkin aikaa, joten sinänsä mielenkiintoista oli lukea pohdintoja siitä, millainen "uudesta Euroopasta" tulee. Luin kirjaa silloin tällöin pätkissä, joten mistään "pakko lukea kaikki heti" -kirjasta ei ollut kyse. Tuntuu siltä, että olen pitänyt joistain aiemmista Palinin matkakirjoista enemmän. Voi olla, että aika kultaa muistot, sillä en ole niitä muita melko pitkään aikaan lukenut.

Palautan kirjan Bookgeolle illan miitissä. Kiitos lainasta!

New Europe is back home. Thanks for returning this, myntti!