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.

Well, my holiday is winding to an end, which comes with both pros and cons.  On the positive side, I get to go home and enjoy all the wonderful books that have been piling up at the library’s hold desk.  On the negative side, I will miss sunshine.  A lot.  There are a lot of grey, wet days in the forecast back home.

Next week I also start a brand new job after having taken most of the last year off to travel!  I’m going to work at a wonderful company and, most excitingly, in a role I had a major part in designing so it should be very satisfying and a great challenge for me.  But it will be busy, especially the first month or two, so I’m going to savour my relaxed reading time over the next few days!

A Positively Final Appearance by Alec Guinness – indulging in my occasional craving for celebrity with this collection of Guinness’ journals from 1996 to 1998.  It is one of the many books I added to my TBR list while reading Browsings by Michael Dirda last year and my decision to read it is based solely on that recommendation.  I know absolutely nothing about Guinness except that he starred in my favourite moving (The Bridge on the River Kwai) so this should be interesting.

The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory – It’s not every contemporary romance novel that gets a cover blurb from Roxane Gay.  Other readers seem to be just as enthusiastic as her and I’ve seen this described glowingly by a number of newspapers and magazines.

This Could Hurt by Jillian Medoff – a workplace novel about five colleagues in the HR department of a small company, this may or may not be the best choice just as I go back to work!

Happy City by Charles Montgomery – I am fascinated by the systems, processes, and infrastructure that can improve people’s lives so this analysis of the importance of urban design looks like just the book for me.  Also, a timely read as the Mercer Quality of Life city rankings were recently released (Vancouver remains steady at #5, the only North American city to crack the top ten).

The Hollow Land by Jane Gardam – I discovered Jane Gardam back in 2014 and read seven of her books in quick succession.  I’ve not read much by her since then, wanting to savour the titles I had left, so am looking forward to reacquainting myself with her genius in these stories of two children exploring the Cumbrian fells.

How to Stop Time by Matt Haig – This sounds wonderful and just the right amount of odd to be perfect for me.

The Lonely City by Olivia Laing – Loneliness is a popular and sadly critical topic these days but Laing’s much-praised book, published in 2016, seems to have been one of the first to bring the discussion into the mainstream.

Restart by Gordon Korman – when I was growing up, I adored Korman’s series about the boys of Macdonald Hall.  He’s been writing steadily for children for decades and while I don’t usually read many children’s books, this story about a bully who reinvents himself after memory loss sounds like the kind of thing Korman would excel at.

Live Lagom by Anna Brones – More secrets of why Nordic people are better than you!  I do love how defensive Swedes get when they see people swooning over the indulgent Danish art of hygge and am deeply enjoying their rebuttal with all these books about lagom (and am rather on their side).

What did you pick up this week?

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