On Beauty (Brookes hosting)

In attendance:
Suse
Heidi
Bridget
Megan
Brookes

MIA:
Betsy
Kate

Bibliófila en Madrid

A warm hello to the ladies back in South Bend!

Sam and I are settling into life and work here in Madrid. We have a very cute, very small flat right in city center near the Prado, Thyssen-Bornemisza, Retiro Park, the biblioteca and more. We got lucky. We have been well-cared for by Sam's relatives and our friends here. Sam's aunt and cousins actually found us the flat and had everything lined up before we even got here. Spoiled rotten, I tell you.

I finished Tipping the Velvet while camping in Wyoming and absolutely loved it. I was sad to say goodbye to Nan; I really liked her character. Sam read The Line of Beauty during this part of our camping trip. Imagine us, after having come out of our week in the back country, sitting in the lodge with all the cowboys who had already enjoyed scoffing at what they had to carry in for us on their pack horses (couscous, olives and eight bottles of wine were among the eyebrow raising items....we're no barbarians) and Sam and I are side by side on one of the leather couches heavily engrossed in the last pages of our respective gay novels, waiting for dinner. Now imagine that one of the cowboys, in a room pretty full of not the most liberal men, asks us what we're reading. The room falls silent and we have everyone's attention. I was very happy to share with these men what my book was about, and their expressions were priceless. Some men just looked down at their boots. I think the response from the man who asked me in the first place was, "Oh. Okay. Sounds interesting." I asked him if he wanted to borrow it since I was just about finished yet he politely declined. Too bad. We might have had an nice addition to the book club, though he would have had to join via satellite or email. His name, incidentally, was Cowboy. Just Cowboy. I want a name like that.

I hope you are all well. I'm checking the blog to stay posted on what you're reading. I will be reading Shadow of the Wind next. I figure I ought to read it while I'm in Spain.
Kate, did you make it onto Antique Roadshow? I've been wondering...

Thinking of you all.

Besos y Abrazos,
Amy
P.S. Check out our blog: amagomundi.blogspot.com