Maya Rodale Blog » London!

A few of my favorite RESEARCH things

Maya — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 09:49:59 +0000

Yeah! Research! Super fun! Maybe not, but here are my favorite sources for looking stuff up and checking stuff out.

Google books: It’s very useful for finding old, out of print books (that are free!). Also, you can search for keywords, etc, in the text to see if it’s worth reading or even worth buying.

The Colindale Newspaper Library: This is a trek—an hour outside of London, you need a pass, you must check your baggage, and you must be quiet. But it’s awesome. I read actual newspapers from the early 1800’s. They come in giant bound volumes to flip carefully through. It’s just an amazing feeling to touch and smell and read those 200+ year-old papers.

Museums: Especially one’s with gift shops. I LOVE the Regency rooms at the National Portrait Gallery in London.

Amazon: All sorts of good, unusual books delivered.

Colonial Williamsburg: Recreate the days of yore experience! CW is a quaint, fascinating and fun experience. I don’t know of any other place where you can immerse yourself in another world like that. It’s something about the lack of electricity, I think (except for the cash registers in the cute little shops!).

The best experience of all, for me as a writer, was dinner with my family in the tavern at CW. Though it was still a bit light outside, it was rather dark inside. We dined by candlelight. Someone played an old fiddle. We ordered meat pies with venison, and other game meats–an authentic colonial recipe. Footsteps sound different on those old floors.

You could so just imagine a hero and heroine discretely dining in a dark corner, listening to the music, looking out at the last of daylight …

My Summer In The Library

Maya — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 20:47:45 +0000

I spent a lot of my summer at the British Library doing research. It’s not exactly fun, but it is interesting. For a literature and history nerd, to be able to see, touch and read original texts from, say, London, 1820 is kind of thrilling. I’ve been focusing on newspapers (the gossipier the better!), romance novels from the Regency era.But in order to gain access to the reading rooms and all these old bits of paper, you have to get a Readers Pass. It’s, like, more difficult than getting a driver’s license. Multiple forms of ID are required, and they quiz you on specific texts you plan to use. You can’t bring your regular handbag into the reading rooms, only the items you can fit into a clear plastic bag, which the guards then check. No food or drink, and no pens! Notes are taken via laptop or pencil. As annoying as it was, I stuck with pencil just because I didn’t want to walk 40 minutes everyday carrying my laptop.I found lots of cool stuff but the main thing was that just because a book labeled itself “A Romance” didn’t mean it fit our definition of romance. See my previous blog The Monk, A Romance. And you know how the buzz at conferences is always about historicals being dead or dying? Maybe not—the historical setting was popular very early on. I found a lot of books with subtitles like “A romance of the 11th century.”The British Library also has some cool old books on display in their galleries (no readers card required). The Magna Carta is on display—or so they say. The scrap is so charred and illegible that for all we know, it could be a grocery list from days of yore. Also on display are early folio’s of Shakespeare’s and illuminated manuscripts. My favorites things in this gallery are:1. A handwritten copy of Jane Eyre, open to the conclusion, so you can see the famous words “Reader, I married him.”2. Jane Austen’s notebooks and letters. One volume contains a lot of the plays and stories she wrote as a young girl. Her father wrote on the inside cover, “Effusions of Fancy by a very young lady consisting of tales in a style entirely new.” He was right about that!The British Library also has a gift shop, which is a lovely place to take study breaks. And buy pencils.

Bath, Part Three

Maya — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 06:01:25 +0000

More from my lovely trip to Bath! The Assembly Rooms and Fashion Museum: The assembly rooms were closed for a private party, so we were not able to stroll through (though we did get to peek). They are large, airy and beautiful—and just like in the movies. The fashion museum is located in the same building—it’s pretty quick and quite fun. The collection is quiteextensive and has separate displays of shoes and handbags (joy!).

Here is a gorgeous evening gown from 1804. It’s made of white muslin with glass beads.

The Jane Austen Center was mostly about the BBC movie (with dresses worn from the movie) and not so much about her books. They did have a map of Bath, featuring the sites mentioned in Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. The gift shop was probably the best part, and the place for all of your Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy stuff (posters of him in the white shirt to, you know, hang above your bed or something). For other Austen stuff, there is the Jane Austen House museum in Winchester and you can also visit Lyme Park, the house used as Pemberly in the BBC movie.

For an afternoon snack, the place to go is Sally Lunn’s. This cute little tea room a few blocks away from the Pump Room has been around for ages. Sally herself arrived in 1630, and they claim the house is the oldest one in Bath. Sally Lunn’s famous buns are about the size of a dessert plate, and a little bit like brioche. They are served with melted butter and clotted cream and the delicious Sally Lunn tea blend. The place is touristy, but it’s worth the wait.

Bath, Part Two

Maya — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 04:25:57 +0000

Obviously, one thing to do in Bath is….visit the baths. I probably would have skipped the Roman Baths if I hadn’t gotten free admission as part of the group I was with, but I’m glad I went as it was actually quite cool to see. They are built over a thermal spring (and the reason Bath is named as it is), and there are remnants of a temple, too.

1) The terrace overlooking the Great Bath, site of the sacred spring. The water didn’t look to pretty up close. 2) The overflow of the sacred spring. Note the steam rising from the water, which gets to about 114 degrees Fahrenheit. 3) One of the many heated baths.

Next door to the baths is the Pump Room. I had grand plans to sample the water until I saw the noxious looking water in the Roman Baths. I’m told that it tastes “like a nosebleed” which is another reason I passed. Maybe next time!

Bath, Part One

Maya — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 13:36:58 +0000

I recently took a short trip to Bath and loved it so much that I think I might have to move there one day. It’s beautiful (and all the buildings match!), very walkable, and has lots of great shops. And then there are the famous sights like the Assembly Rooms, the Roman Baths, and…..

The Royal Crescent was built in the late 1700’s and, according to its website, it is “justly considered one of the finest achievements of urban 18th century architecture and represents the highest point of Palladian architecture in Bath.” It really is quite stunning. Wikipedia says that the crescent and the nearby circus are intended to represent the moon and sun.

The most famous house on that street is Number One Royal Crescent. Why yes, I had to visit yet another historic house! (I’m actually getting sick of them). This one is quite pretty and actually seemed kind of homey (unlike, say, Spencer House). I loved the dining room with views of the Royal Crescent on two sides. The study, across the hall from the dining room, was set up as if gentlemen were drinking port, smoking and playing cards after supper—complete with a wall panel opened to where the chamber pot would have been kept. Pictures were not allowed, but you can take their virtual tour.