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Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Sharlene from Real Life Reading 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.
Last week, Sharlene noted that one book seemed a bit light for my weekly loot. But it was strategy. Suddenly all my library holds were rushing towards me at once and I was bracing for impact. And now here they are:
Wilding by Isabella Tree – What happens when you let nature take over thousands of acres that have been industrially farmed for years? That’s the experiment Isabella Tree and her husband undertook at their West Sussex estate and the results are fascinating. I first heard about this in a Financial Times article and am intrigued to find out more as I read this. (Book Depository)
The Wandering Vine by Nina Caplan – I don’t love wine but I love history and I love travel writing so am excited to hear about Caplan’s journey. (Book Depository)
The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson – A new book from Wilson is an event worth celebrating! I loved her memoir and her first novel was one of my favourite books of 2013 so I have high hopes for this fantasy inspired by the tensions between Muslims and Christians in Inquisition-era Spain. (Book Depository)
Drumveyn, The Larach, and Sun on Snow by Alexandra Raife – Last September there was a “Can you help?” post over at Cornflower Books that immediately intrigued me. A reader was looking for a half-remembered book about a family in Scotland written in a D.E. Stevenson-esque style. I stalked the comments until the answer came – the book was Drumveyn by Alexandra Raife. And now I’m finally getting around to reading it, plus a few more of Raife’s books.
Coming to My Senses by Alice Waters – I’m headed down to San Francisco next week to visit a friend so, rather than just reread Saturday’s Child to get myself in the mood for the city, I thought I’d try this memoir from the woman who changed American food culture from her base in Berkeley. (Book Depository)
Cousin Harriet by Susan Tweedsmuir – I’ve had this on my TBR list since December 2012 (after reading this review) so happy to finally get my hands on it (thanks to the always miraculous interlibrary loan system).
Swiss Watching by Diccon Bewes – There are not enough books in the world about the Swiss so I was delighted that my library finally got a copy of this one. (Book Depository)
A Paris Year by Janice MacLeod – I’m heading to Brittany next month and will only be passing through Paris but this has helped get me in the mood for France in general. (Book Depository)
In Paris with You by Clementine Beauvais – I hadn’t fully realised I needed a modern YA version of Eugene Onegin until I started reading this on my morning commute yesterday. (Book Depository)
The Rhine by Ben Coates – A travelogue recounting Coates’ journey along the Rhine (from his home in the Netherlands all the way up into the Swiss Alps) and its history as one of the most important rivers in the world. (Book Depository)
What did you pick up this week?
This post contains affiliate links from Book Depository, an online book retailer with free international shipping. If you buy via these links it means I receive a small commission (at no extra cost to you).
Posted in Library Loot | 15 Comments »
Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Sharlene from Real Life Reading 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.
Sharlene has the Mr Linky this week.
It’s here! After much longing and not very patient waiting, I finally have my hands on The Quest for Queen Mary, an edited collection of James Pope-Hennessy’s notes from when he was writing his career-making biography of the queen. All other books have been cast aside while I throw myself into the world of mad old gossiping royals and courtiers. (Book Depository)
What did you pick up this week?
Posted in Library Loot | 12 Comments »
Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Sharlene from Real Life Reading 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.
Kings of the Yukon by Adam Weymouth – By the time I’d finished the first 30 pages of this book I’d already recommended it to three people. Weymouth spent four months canoeing down the Yukon river, moving against the migrating Chinook (also known as King) salmon, and observing the relationship between the fish, the people who live along the river, and the landscape. The writing is staggeringly good and it’s easy to understand why it won multiple awards on publication last year. (Book Depository)
Expiation by Elizabeth von Arnim – A von Arnim novel I haven’t yet read! There are only a handful of these left so I’ve been spacing them out for a bit. Coincidentally, I just discovered (on searching to see if this was still in print) that Persephone will be reissuing it in October!
Handel in London by Jane Glover – I read a review of this in the Financial Times last autumn and have been looking forward to it ever since. (Book Depository)
Early Riser by Jasper Fforde – A new book from Fforde is always something to be excited about! (Book Depository)
Caught in the Revolution by Helen Rappaport – I’ve borrowed this before without ever getting to it but I’m still eager to read it. It’s a history of the outbreak of the Russian Revolution told using first-hand accounts from foreigners who were in Russia at the time. Rappaport is always wonderfully readable so, assuming I can make time for this, I’m sure I’ll enjoy it! (Book Depository)
Help Me by Marianne Power – A memoir from a woman who set herself the challenge of spending a year living by the edicts of self-help books. I couldn’t put this down once I picked it up, completely absorbed and unexpectedly moved by Power’s disastrous experiment. (Book Depository)
Miss Palmer’s Diary by Gillian Wagner – I picked this up on a whim, always being intrigued by diaries – particularly Victorian ones. There was a blurb from Roy Strong, whose taste in books is usually pretty trustworthy, and that’s really all I’m going on here. (Book Depository)
Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho – I thought it would be fun to reread this (I loved it the first time around) while I wait for my library to get a copy of Cho’s new book, The True Queen. (Book Depository)
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang – Oh dear. This won several awards last year for best fantasy debut. Sharlene even gave it five stars on Good Reads. I picked it up and tried to understand why but found it absolutely unreadable. It feels like YA (which it is not marketed as) in the worst possible way, with obnoxiously 21st century dialogue in a historical setting, no sense of time or place, and a loathsome heroine who has the Harry Potter-esque curse of being the Most Special Person Ever in lieu of having a developed character. Awful stuff. (No BD link for this. Do not buy it, do not borrow it, do not read it, just banish it entirely from your mind.)
What did you pick up this week?
This post contains affiliate links from Book Depository, an online book retailer with free international shipping. If you buy via these links it means I receive a small commission (at no extra cost to you).
Posted in Library Loot, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
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