This June I joined my boyfriend on a business trip to Bratislava, Slovakia. While he was busy with work in the mornings I wandered the city for bookstores and did some reading.
The first picture shows one of the few bookstores I visited located in the immediate center of Bratislava – Oxford Bookshop. While it holds books in many various languages it had by far the best selection of books in English. The reason the street looks empty is that all the shops in this street open after 10 AM and I went a little earlier. Just a few hours after this picture was taken this street was one of the busiest in the city with hordes of tourist groups walking around.
I loved that the opening hours were from 10 AM to 19 PM. And was actually jealous and envious of the people who worked there for having such working hours. I browsed for a long time and treated myself with a book that I noticed earlier this year on GR.
The Vegetarian by Han Kang
This book by Korean author recieved The Man Booker International award last year and has not been translated into Croatian at all. I was intrigued by contemporary story from a Korean cultural perspective. I liked the cover quite a bit too.
Next I visited two bookstores in two different shopping malls. Both were part of the Panta Rei bookstore chain. While in the company of Starbucks and Cinema City both bookstores had a small Coffee Shop inside the actual bookstore premises. It looked quite cozy and casual. While most of the books were in Slovakian they had a pretty decent selection of bestsellers in English.
As an avid reader I had to take some books with me on the trip. I could not decide which I would like more so I’ve packed four different ones. I also packed one additional for my boyfriend to read just in case.
Books I’ve brought with me were:
Interview with the Vampire (The Vampire Chronicles #1) by Anne Rice
I’m very happy with my progress with this book. This was actually the third time I started reading and have gotten more into the book. I used to have real issues with separating the book and the movie since they are completely different. I’ve seen the movie many times and I’m glad I’m finally getting somewhere with this book that’s been on my TBR for years!
The Hidden Oracle (The Trials of Apollo #1) by Rick Riordan
Apollo was the name of the hotel in Bratislava that we were supposed to stay in. We ended up in a different hotel but I brought this book with me anyway. Sad part is that I haven’t really gotten to reading it on the trip at all!
Žena s drugog kata by Jurica Pavičić
This is a book by Croatian author and columnist we had as a RL book club assignment. I’ve read this book earlier this year. I brought the library copy with me to brush up on since we had a meeting just after I came back from the trip.
The Scar by China Mieville
This book I brought for the boyfriend to have something to read. It is the chubbiest from all the books I brought with around 800 pages. Boyfriend barely started it during the trip.
As an added bonus I brought my tablet for some Kindle reading just in case and I also ended up reading:
Captured by Gerran (Dragons Take a Princess #2) by Dalia Wright
None of the books above are actually finished reading yet and I hope to get to them soon. I am glad that I can say: “I read Interview with the Vampire in Bratislava!”
anastasiaadamov 