Tag: Barcelona

Books

Book 539: The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue (Guide #1) – Mackenzie Lee

Geoff W

After seeing this over and over being the darling of the book blogosphere and reading the rave reviews of it I figured I should check it out. I read a lot of LGBT literature, a lot of young adult literature, and quite a bit of adventure literature so I thought why not. And although I wasn’t completely disappointed, I was genuinely underwhelmed and for once it wasn’t the mood I was in. I’ll start with the not-so-great and finish with what I enjoyed.

I’m a finicky reader at best and have curated a pretty good system of choosing the books I read, including taking into account books that fellow bloggers who have similar tastes to me read, but this one just didn’t click for me quite like others have. I kept to my usual style of not reading anything about the author or the book after I decided I want to read it. [Generally I get excited about a book/author and purchase/reserve something by them and then I let it sit for a while so that I can clear my palate.]

Continue reading “Book 539: The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue (Guide #1) – Mackenzie Lee” →

Books, The Classics Club

Book 359: Don Quixote – Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (Part 2)

Geoff W

I did it! I finally finished! After almost exactly a month to the day that I started the infamous Don Quixote I finished it. I recapped my Don Quixote Part 1 reading last week because I knew I would struggle to remember everything in it due to how long it took to just read that part but now I’m ready to recap Part 2!

I thoroughly enjoyed Part 2 of Don Quixote. I didn’t enjoy it for the same reasons as I enjoyed Part 1, but it was as great. I think the biggest difference is Cervantes, if possible, was even MORE aware of his works impact on culture and literature. He took the jibes and teasing in Part 1 and turned them into full-blown sarcasm and satire in Part 2. I think a lot of this is in direct response to the “fake Don Quixote,” published before he could release Part 2 and I talk about that in my Reading Spain, AKA an Homage to Miguel de Cervantes post (about half way through under the Biblioteca Nacional Museo section).

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Random

Spain Photos!!

Geoff W

Hey Everyone!

2015 06-09 Tiny Elevator Footie
The tiny little elevator in our Madrid Hotel!

I planned to upload more photos but when I saw how many photos I took (roughly 1,100) I realized that was never going to happen. I did finally upload them to Picasa. I’ve always uploaded them to Picasa ever since my first trip to Europe. So why change now? I have realized I need to get a new external hard drive to put all my photos on, but until then they’re “safe” (or as safe as they can be) in the cloud. So that this post isn’t empty of photos here’s our vacation in selfies, one a day every day! I’ve included where we were so you get an idea of what you’re looking at (or not in the bad ones :-D):

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Updates

June Recap 2015

Geoff W

2015 06-26 First DanceI. Am. Exhausted.

In case you didn’t know, June was an incredibly busy month from being an international jet setter to participating in the marriage of two of my good friends, to one of the busiest times of the year at work, I have good reason to be.

First, I’ll start you off with a photo of Caroline and Nick’s first dance. It’s probably what they were most worried about, but it was excellent! We all had an amazing time and it’s hard to believe they’re FINALLY married. YAY! Here is a shot of the water as the sun went down. This was the view of all the guests during the ceremony:

2015 06-26 Gloucester PanoramaNow on to the bookish. Don’t worry, I will talk about Spain, but you’re only going to get a VERY brief preview (AKA a lot of panoramas at the VERY end of this very long post).

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Random

Adios Madrid y Hola Barcelona!

Geoff W

2015 06-03 Vas a BarcelonaLast week we were in Madrid and this week we are in the beautiful Barcelona. I have no idea what we’re doing in Barcelona and I cannot wait to find out. I know we’ll see a lot of Gaudí and I am excited about that, but other than that I’m not sure.

The reason for this is, when we decided the trip I was going to plan one city, Madrid, and Tim was going to plan the second city, Barcelona. There were I’m sure more museums and artsy things (and of course a bookstore visit) in Madrid, but I’m excited to let Tim take me where he wants in Barcelona!

I hope you are ready for the explosion of pictures when I come back!