My daughter bought me "The Shadow of the Wind" as I thought she might.

I'll maybe start that today. It's pretty quiet here.
Someone gave her two travel books for xmas presents. They're DK Eyewitness Travel. I'm not trying to advertize them, but just wanted to tell anyone who is travelling or knows someone about to travel, that they're the best books I've ever come across in this category. She got "Italy" and "France". They're updated annually which helps, and they're pack jammed with absolutely everything and beautifully illustrated as well. They look more like little miniature encyclopaedias.