Guide to the Vatican : Museums and City

Honestly? I need to sit with a big book of pictures of the Vatican Museums, or go back and walk around with my nose buried in this book to actually get anything out of it. LOTS of info, much of which doesn't translate without the item in front of your eyeballs.

Now I have an excuse to go back, right?

At Home : a Short History of Private Life, by Bill Bryson

While I wasn't thrilled with the author's reading of the book, the writing itself was the usual in-depth research combined with wry humor. I may have to find this book and read it (with my eyes) as so many of the names he mentions didn't stick because I didn't see them.

In any case, following the floor plan of his home in England, Bryson explains why and how our houses work the way they do today, and what has changed over the course of history, specifically in the last 150 years or so.

The Frost Fair, by Edward Marston

This is a volume in Marston's series that follows Henry Redmayne, architect, who is helping to rebuild London just after the Great Fire (in 1666). In this one, his brother is accused of murdering his former fencing instructor and thrown into Newgate Prison. Also, Henry has developed a relationship with a young woman, which is placed in jeopardy because of his brother's arrest. He must clear his brother's name as well as his own while continuing to pursue his career.

Which, of course, he does, with help from his Puritan friend, Jonathan Bale. Fun.