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.

A Circle of Quiet by Madeleine L’Engle –  This is the first of the Crosswicks Journals, a collection of four memoirs in which L’Engle’s muses about her writing, her faith, and her family.  My approach to the Journals has been typical: I started at the end, with Two-Part Invention.   It is the story of the last months of her husband’s life as cancer quickly takes over his body but it also the story of their forty year marriage.  It is devastatingly wonderful and one of the best books about marriage I have ever read. I then moved on to the second book, The Summer of the Great-Grandmother, and found much to love there, too, as L’Engle deals with her mother’s dementia-ridden final months and the realisation that she is now responsible for all the family memories.  A very high bar has been set and I’m interested to see how this compares.

The Long Spring by Laurence Rose – I can be a bit “meh” about nature writing but this is nature writing combined with travel writing so I’m keeping an open mind.

Warlight by Michael Ondaatje – I’m very excited about this new release from Ondaatje, especially since it seems to be concerned with memory, one of my favourite literary themes (hence my love of Penelope Lively’s works).

The Finnish Way by Katja Pantzar – I have worked my way through all the other Nordic country “how to be happy” books and now find myself learning about sisu, the Finnish cure-all.  Look, I don’t think it’s a surprise by now if I tell you the Nordic answer to eternal happiness is: Just Be Normal.  The end.  Still, a publishing trend hurts no one.

Eat Up! by Ruby Tandoh – I’ve only heard glowing praise for this food memoir from Tandoh, a Great British Bake Off finalist.  Having followed her columns for a while, I know she is a passionate and insightful writer and concerned with topics I find fascinating (like the ties between food and culture, or how nutrition and “virtue” have taken precedence over pleasure when it comes to fixing a meal).

My So-Called Bollywood Life by Nisha Sharma – why is YA diversifying so much faster than adult fiction?  This has been universally praised so I’m looking forward to it but I would be so much happier to read about adults.  Publishing industry, work harder!

Cookbook time!

Mamushka and Kaukasis by Olia Hercules – I’ve borrowed these before but have them out again and this time we’re actually cooking from them!  There have never been so many herbs in my house before – the lamb dish we made this weekend was loaded with parsley, cilantro, and dill, and was absolutely delicious.  Summer may not be the ideal time for all of these Ukrainian and Georgian/Azerbaijani dishes but we march on regardless.  I can’t wait to make all of the soups – but I have been waiting because even a soup fiend like myself knows it’s a horrible idea to spend hours with the stove on when its 30+ degrees outside.  But the heatwave here is set to end this weekend and my soup pot and I will be reunited – and unstoppable.

Made in India by Meera Sodha – I feel like I am cheating on Madhur Jaffrey but am quite enjoying these delicious and easy recipes.

And, since the library isn’t just for books, here are the DVDs I have out right now.  An Ideal Husband (Jeremy Northam with a mustache!) and The Winslow Boy (Jeremy Northam without a mustache!) are old favourites but the rest are new to me.

What did you pick up this week?

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