Customer Reviews

Prague, My Love : An Unusual Guide Book to the Hidden Corners of Prague

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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Prague is a beautiful and complex city. James's book provides insights beyond the traditional tourist guide. Prague is full of spirits, past and present, from Huss to Kafka to Klima. This is the penultimate way to see them. A tour guide without pictures makes perfect sense here for to understand Prague is to see it through words. It takes the reader through maze of history, most of it woven together in a way that gives lasting memory. Having spent much time in Prague over the years I appreciated its careful narrative. I wish I had read it long before my first visit.

This is a beautiful book, a real easy way to look into the heart of this mysteriously beautiful city. The characters are human and realistic. I loved it and re-read it twice.

A really facinating review of Prague's secrets and secret places. A must for anyone who wants to get beyond the superficial tourist bits of the city.

With an English-speaking visitor and a native Czech guide, this takes you, chapter by chapter, chronologically through the eras that have built up and ripped down Prague. It's a bit hard to believe that this book has been co-authored by a native English speaker, as the idioms often smack of ESL: instead of being interrupted, she's always finding that he "cuts across her." I must admit this only adds to the book's appeal. At the time just after the fall of the Wall, the city it describes may not be there just as it's here captured, but this heightens the allure of what's evoked, accounting for the rather "enchanted" air of much of the book. Simple but handsome drawings hint at what you'd see, and a welcome coverage of the area's often neglected ancient sites begin the itinerary promisingly.

Less dauntingly erudite than the study of its occult lore, "Magic Prague," better digested than the history "prague in Black and Gold," yet more detailed and relaxed than the typical guidebook, this combined narrative and handbook is recommended alongside the "PragueWalks" volume! I wish I had read it before my Prague stay, but I'm glad I have read it before my next trip to the Vltava.