The Captive Reader

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.

Party Animals by David Aaronovitch – I learned about this entertaining memoir of growing up in a communist family in post-war Britain from Slightly Foxed.  It was short-listed for their Best First Biography prize this year and deservedly so.  I’m almost done and have had such fun reading it.

Letters from Boy edited by Donald Sturrok – interesting looking collection of letters from Roald Dahl to his mother.

Sarong Party Girls by Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan – Absolutely no memory of how this novel about party girls in Singapore came to my attention but the publisher hooked me by calling it “Emma set in modern Asia”.  Not sure I buy that but a mention of Emma is literally the surest way to get me to read a book.

A Little Love Song by Michelle Magorian – I’ve been wanting to reread this novel for a while but have been unable to unearth my copy from storage.  Library to the rescue!

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey – having adored Ivey’s newest release, To the Bright Edge of the World, I felt it was time to read her much-praised debut novel.

Reading Claudius by Caroline Heller – okay, I might have lied above when I said a mention of Emma was the surest way to get me to read something: I suspect my weakness for books set in Prague, like this one, is slightly more dominant.  It certainly sounds right up my alley: “A stunning elegy to a vanished time, Caroline Heller’s memoir traces the lives of her parents, her uncle, and their circle of intellectuals and dreamers from Central Europe on the eve of World War II to present-day America.”

Happy All the Time and Shine On, Bright and Dangerous Object by Laurie Colwin – after finishing Colwin’s More Home Cooking, I felt it was time to try some of her fiction.  I was impatient when I picked these up, read them both quickly, and had very different reactions to them.

An Omelette and a Glass of Wine by Elizabeth David – also inspired by More Home Cooking.  Colwin referred to David frequently in her essays and to this book in particular.

Taste of Persia by Naomi Duguid – Duguid’s newest.

The New Book of Middle Eastern Food by Claudia Roden – a classic and always a favourite to return to.

What did you pick up this week?