Just back from London

We´re just back from a short trip to London where, amongst other things, I did a little research in some of the major bookstores. Did they have Sofi Oksanen´s Purge in stock? I´m happy to report that several copies were available on the shelves of Blackwell´s and Foyles main stores. Foyles shop on the South Bank did not have the book, though. Also, a smaller bookstore in Marylebone High Street had the book in stock, but I don´t remember the name of the shop. The few smaller stores I checked did not have it. So, on this admittedly very limited evidence, I suppose the situation is neither especially bad, nor good. The guy I spoke to in the Marylebone shop recognised the book I was referring to when I asked about it and he said that they had sold some copies, but that the book hadn´t received particularly high-profile publicity, as it has in Finland and Estonia.

We also continued our study of London restaurants. This is an on-going project with us; so on-going, in fact, that I fully expect it will never end. Hooray. Here are some of our findings, all restaurants where we ate very good meals and the price represented good value for money, in our opinion:

Fishworks in Marylebone High Street

The Four Seasons in Gerrard Street (Chinese, as the location suggests)

Thai Garden in Museum Street