The Captive Reader

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader 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.

Any time I have reason to go downtown, I always try and figure out if I can fit in a trip to the central branch of the library.  It is a magical place (so many floors of books!) and I can never visit enough.  I had a lunch date with my aunt on Saturday so decided I could go pick up a couple of books beforehand.  It turned out to be more than ‘a couple’ but, perhaps constrained by having only one carrier bag or by the prospect of carrying those books on the scenic forty-five minute walk between the library and my aunt’s apartment, it was still a very reasonable number.  I’m particularly excited to have picked up some more Trollope – I have missed him!

A Brief History of Montmaray by Michelle Cooper – Danielle mentioned this YA book last week and as soon as I learned that other readers had compared it to I Capture the Castle, I had to place a library hold.  It came in on Saturday and I read it that night, finding it absolutely delightful.  It has so many irresistible elements – an island setting! Fictional royalty! The 1930s!  A diary format! – and I cannot wait to read the next book, The FitzOsbornes in Exile.

Bringing Up Bébé by Pamela Druckerman – this has been everywhere in the press and, after enjoying all the excerpts I came across, I had to try it for myself.  Admittedly, parenting books aren’t my natural reading picks but this is more a personal book than a guide, chronicling the cultural differences one American woman experiences while raising her child in Paris.  I started reading on Tuesday and it is very entertaining – the so-called ‘French’ style is very familiar but I’m fascinated to read about the (occasionally bizarre) ways Druckerman and her American and British friends approach parenting.

The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan –I’ve been hearing amazing things about The Wheel of Time fantasy series for years.  When Colin mentioned it last week in his brother Simon T’s “My Life in Books” feature, it seemed like a sign that I should finally start it, so here I am with the first book.

Four Plays by A.A. Milne – Having spent a good amount of time reading Milne in January (I loved Miss Elizabeth Bennet, Once on a Time, and his autobiography), it felt time to visit with him once again!  My copy also has the most amazing bright green, patterned library binding I’ve ever seen – I’ll have to take a photo of it at some point to share.

The Lunar Men by Jenny Uglow – I’ve been looking forward to this ever since reading Jenny’s review last spring.  I loved Uglow’s biography of Elizabeth Gaskell and trust this history of the Lunar Society of Birmingham and its energetic, influential members will be just as excellent.

Flora’s Lot by Katie Fforde – probably my favourite of Fforde’s novels.

A View of the Harbour by Elizabeth Taylor – I did read At Mrs Lippincote’s and though I didn’t adore it, I did enjoy Taylor’s style enough to want to try more of her work.  This is the March readalong book for the Elizabeth Taylor Centenary so it seemed as good a book as any to read next!

Doctor Thorne by Anthony Trollope – It has been too long since I last visited Trollope’s Barsetshire, though I have been spending a fair amount of time lately in Thirkell’s 20^th Century version of that delightful county.

Framley Parsonage by Anthony Trollope – ditto.

And, because I can never resist the gardening section when I visit the central branch:

The Transplanted Gardener by Charles Elliot – From the question of why England is so wet – or, in the view of a dripping American, seems to be – to an account of the great Charles Darwin’s favourite obsession (it was earthworms), The Transplanted Gardener contains a sparkling set of essays exploring the history, practice, and eccentricities of gardening in “the world’s greatest potting shed,” England.

The Potting Shed Papers by Charles Elliot – In these essays, Charles Elliott casts a whimsical eye over gardens and gardening around the globe. From the Japanese craze for the Ingurishu Gaaden (English Garden) to the relentless plundering of tropical forests for glamorous orchids, from Bishop Compton’s horticultural obsessions to sex and the single strawberry, Elliott seeks to bring to life some of the more remarkable episodes in horticultural history.

My Garden, the City and Me by Helen Babbs – Helen Babbs is a self-proclaimed city girl who lives on the second floor of a flat in a chaotic corner of London. An urge to find more green in the city and a stronger connection to the natural world leads her to create her first garden, an organic edible garden on her rooftop.

What did you pick up this week?