The Captive Reader

Welcome all to my first week as the co-host of Library Loot! Since I started blogging in January, Library Loot has consistently proved to be a highlight of my week and I’m always delighted to see what varied and energetic use devoted bloggers make of their local libraries. With so many doom and gloom stories in the media about the decline of libraries over the past decades, it’s wonderful to know so many people still use and appreciate them!

Marg and I also thought now would be the perfect time to do a bit of rebranding and where better to start than with our logo? So, we’re opening up a contest for a redesign of the Library Loot button. Think it should be more colourful? Include more books, or, indeed, a library? Artistically-inclined or not, we’d love to see what you come up with! Here are the details:

• Image size should be similar to current button – nothing too large – and must include title “Library Loot”
• Entrants must be prepared for winning design to be used each week. Credit will be given when the design is chosen, but will not be included thereafter
• Contest open until the end of August
• New design will be announced the first week of September
• No limit on number of entries per blogger

Please email all submissions to both myself (thecaptivereader at hotmail dot com) and Marg (ozdiamondlil at gmail dot com).

Now, onto the loot…

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Marg and myself 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!

Wish Her Safe at Home by Stephen Benatar
Another of the NYRB Classics that I placed on hold simply because it was a NYRB Classic. I love libraries simply because they allow me to be so whimsical in my choices at no cost or inconvenience. I have heard good things about this one, though it might not be quite my style. We shall see!

The Butterfly Mosque by G. Willow Wilson
After seeing enticing reviews seemingly everywhere in June and July, I had to pick this up. From the publisher:

After graduating from university, Willow Wilson, a young American — and newly converted Muslim — impulsively accepts a teaching position in Cairo. There, she meets Omar, a passionate young nationalist with a degree in astrophysics. Omar introduces Willow to the bustling city, and through him she discovers a young, moderate nationalist movement, a movement that both wants to divest itself of western influence and regain cultural pride. When the two find themselves unexpectedly in love, despite their deep cultural differences, they decide that they will try to forge a third culture, a new landscape that will embrace some of each of their cultures, and give their fledgling romance some hope of survival.

Women of the Raj by Margaret MacMillan
I’ve been fascinated by the Raj since I first read Kipling as a child. This title has been on my TBR list for several years now and it finally felt like the right time to check it out. Covering all three and a half centuries of British involvement with India, MacMillan focuses primarily on the final hundred years, from the mid-nineteenth century to 1947. This suits my tastes perfectly, as it’s my preferred period of history (regardless of region or nation).

Twelve Rooms with a View by Theresa Rebeck
Must admit that I found this one through Elle’s Top 10 Summer Books for 2010. The premise (three sisters inherit a New York City apartment – complete with tenants – from their estranged mother while their stepbrothers, who grew up in the building, fight them for possession) sounds rather chick lit-esque but Rebeck has impressive credentials as both a novelist and a playwright so I’m hopeful.