Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Linda from Silly Little Mischief that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.
The Girls at the Kingfisher Club by Genevieve Valentine – a somewhat disappointing retelling of “The Twelve Dancing Princesses” set in prohibition-era New York. It’s readable but lacks the nuance and moral complexity that I want from this sort of book.
The Old Ways by Robert Macfarlane – I’ve started this a few times and, reading the first fifty-or-so pages over the weekend, was completely swept away by the beauty of Macfarlane’s writing about human footpaths and why we walk them.
Delancey by Molly Wizenberg – Molly runs the highly successful food blog Orangette and I read and enjoyed her first book, A Homemade Life, back in my early blogging days. I still regularly use a number of her recipes. This, her second book, is focused on what happened when her husband decided he wanted to open a restaurant.
The House by the Dvina: A Russian Childhood by Eugenie Fraser – My favourite new blog reader, Beth, got in touch with me recently by email to offer up some reading suggestions. Now, first of all, I love when any reader gets in touch with me but Beth sent such thoughtful, varied suggestions that her emails were truly highlights of my days. This was one of her recommendations and, after having it on my TBR list for years, her email spurred me to finally check it out. Thank you, Beth!
Paris Letters by Janice MacLeod – Woman moves to Paris, woman falls in love, woman writes book. And I will always, always, always read any book that follows that formula. I may not always finish them, but I have high hopes for this one.
A Garden in Lucca by Paul Gervais – I’m feeling quite cosmopolitan with my book choices today: two from the US, one from (mostly) the UK, another in Russia, one in Paris, and finally this gardening memoir, set in Tuscany.
What did you pick up this week?
I loved Delancey even a little bit more than A Homemade Life. 🙂
That sounds promising!
Paris Letters sounds promising!
Doesn’t it though? I’m excited to start on it.
I enjoyed Delancey, and highly recommend the brownie recipe. I’ve made it 3 times already in 3 weeks, and everyone goes crazy over them.
I don’t usually like brownies but I may just have to try this recipe if it’s that good!
Warning: they’re massively rich, and the sugar content is more than 3 times the flour content.
Thanks for the mention! I hope you like the book (Dvina); it will be so fun to hear your thoughts! I recently read The Siren Years (Ritchie) with great interest. I love diaries and letters! Occasionally, he seemed to straining for effect, but I have that tendency also sometimes. I will probably move on to the other volumes with time ( and funds!).
So happy to hear you’ve tried Ritchie! He is a personal favourite.
I have Delancey in my loot pile from a couple of weeks ago. Enjoy your books!
Thanks, Linda!
Looks like a great stash. I’m reading manuscripts this week to prepare for a workshop, but I’ll keep your new finds in mind for the next time.
Good luck with the manuscripts, Marcia!
I loved The House by the Dvina. So descriptive of a vanished way of life.
I’m very excited to start on it.
Paris Letters appeals to me … I’m a sucker for this kind of book, too.
Currently reading Jacqueline Winspear’s latest, a stand-alone novel set in WW1 (aren’t so many this year?) and not one of her Maisie Dobbs series: The Care and Management of Lies. So far, very good, but there are some quite chunky pieces of history in the narrative which mightn’t have been known at the time, only retrospectively, so this detracts a bit from the story. It’s as if Ms Winspear really wanted to write a history of the period rather than a novel, but because she is such a good writer, I feel I can forgive her this.
A novel that’s more history than fiction sounds promising to me, but I’m a little odd that way.
Where exactly does The Old Ways take place? I’m trying to read across all the American states.
It’s set primarily in the UK with a few excursions to other countries, but not the US.
I’m curious about The Old Ways since I love hiking and human geography.
I ordered, read and adored Paris Letters in quick succession. It really does inspire you to think……”maybe I could do something different”. I have The House by the Dvina ready to go, but then I just bought the new Philippa Gregory so many books, so little time and the school holidays about to end! Keep ’em coming please!