Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Sharlene from Real Life Reading 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.
Advent started this weekend and so, of course, did the Christmas baking. It is vitally important to a) bake as many types of cookies as you can, b) make them as small as humanly possible while still being visible the human eye (and mouth), and c) have them available to show off to other competitive Czech women who come to judge you (also known as feeding the neighbours). Since I live in Canada, this last point is less vital but I need to feel that I am not letting my heritage down. So far, I’ve baked 443 cookies (numbers are important in competitive sports) but that’s only the first six varieties. This is basically how my evenings will be spent for the next week: work, then 4 hours of baking until bedtime. But the glory at the end will be great (hopefully). At least my colleagues, friends, and neighbours (and, to a much lesser extent, family) will be well-fed.
Since there is no reading happening after work, I’m sneaking in as much as I can on my commute and during rainy lunch hours. Right now, I’m rereading Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin with great pleasure. It came out last year (this year for American readers) and it was one of the rare times when I dashed out to buy the book on publication day. It’s probably the best Pride and Prejudice-inspired book out there and this is now the third time I’ve read it.
Does that mean I haven’t picked up anything from the library? Of course not. What a ridiculous idea. Some people shop to kill time – I drop by the library. There is one dangerous near my work (a very fortunate alternative to the massive bookstore that is actually IN my office building) and another by my house. I stop by, I stroll through, and I end up leaving with armfulls of books.
Here’s what I dragged home this week (no photos this week – all excess energy is being focused on baking):
Middlemarch by George Eliot – I’ve never read this classic but was recently listening to an audiobook where the young characters are studying it in school and one character was so enthusiastic I felt I had to try it. And December is always a good time for big Victorian novels.
Lent by Jo Walton – I’m not entirely sure I’m in the right mood to appreciate this right now but I am eager to read it. A fantasy novel focused on Savonarola cannot be missed.
The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff – Slightly Foxed has started to reissue Sutcliff’s books as part of their “Cubs” series and seeing it mentioned so frequently had me longing to revisit it.
A Single Thread by Tracey Chevalier – Very excited about Chevalier’s newest release. So many of the elements – the 1930s! Needlework! Surplus Women! – appeal and her writing is usually (not always, but usually) very engaging.
Heartland by Sarah Smarsh – subtitled “A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth“, I’m really intrigued by this.
You Must Change Your Life by Rachel Corbett – No idea. This is the fruit of a lunchtime wander through the library, when I was clearly inspired by hunger pangs to pick up things I never would have otherwise. It looks at the friendship between Rodin (who I know nothing about) and Rainer Maria Rilke (who I would usually have said I don’t need to know anything about).
The Familiars by Stacey Halls – A witchhunt! This is all I know. This is all I need to know in order to be intrigued.
Good Poems edited by Garrison Keillor – Another random grab during that lunchhour wander. I don’t usually read poetry but have been dipping into this and really enjoying it, proving that random grabs are a good idea
What did you pick up this week? (And what intense holiday traditions do you engage in?)
The Captive Reader 
Oh wow that’s a lot of cookies! How many more are you planning to make? Also I’d love to know what varieties, if you don’t mind sharing,
I’m roughly 1/3 done, so there’s probably 1,000 or so left to make. They really are tiny though (ideally, you can fit 3 or 4 of the biggest ones in your palm and more for the smaller varieties). I’ll have family around to help starting tomorrow, which will be much appreciated!
As for the varieties, here’s what is going on:
Vanilla Crescents
Bear Paws
Biberle
Hazelnut Shortbread
Black-White Checkerboard Shortbreads (x2)
Zimtsterne(x2)
Elisenlebkuchen
Basler Brunsli (x3)
Shortbread (x2)
Almond-Raspberry Birds’ Nests (x3)
Nutbars
Coconut-Chocolate Bars
Spekulatius (spice cookies)
5 of these are from Luisa Weiss’ Classic German Baking, which has a dedicated Christmas chapter. Some are family recipes and the rest are from a Christmas supplement my mother pulled out of a women’s magazine in the early 1970s when she was a teenager and new immigrant to Canada trying to figure out what a North American Christmas consists of!
Wow! I have not heard of a few of these! And love the idea of tiny cookies (although they seem to be much harder work!)
I finally got to Middlemarch last summer and absolutely loved it. I hope you enjoy it!
Very promising! I’m excited to start it.
Claire, you are an interesting person on so many levels . . . I really appreciate all your book recommendations, to the point where I have a list on my desktop titled “Claire Recommends.” And I love your descriptions of your life and travels. Have you thought about writing a book yourself?
That’s lovely to hear! It’s always nice to know I’m helping to inspire others’ reading choices. As for writing, perhaps one day. Right now, I’m having lots of fun with my work and have spent the last few years earning some industry designations in my spare time. As I get more settled, perhaps I’ll think more about that…
A wonderful woman, living in the city next door, opened a tiny literary bookshop with enough money set aside to last two years. We supported her at every opportunity! Sadly, she had to close. But while ringing up our last purchase, Natalie handed me one of those gorgeous cloth-bound Penguin editions of Middlemarch as a thank-you for being a good customer. I need to carve out a chunk of winter reading time for it!
How sad to hear of a bookstore closing but how wonderful that, even briefly, she made her dream a reality!
I wish I could be 1) neighbour 2) working in your office near a library.
That would be lovely 🙂
I hadn’t heard of Ayesha but my library has it so it should be waiting for me Saturday. Thanks for the recommendation.
My mother was recently at an event where someone (congenial) had never heard of Rosemary Sutcliff. She came over and borrowed everything I had which might unnerve her friend. I have not reread any for years but I thought Eagle of the Ninth was part of a series so maybe not right to start with, although I seem to recall it was her best. I really liked The Armorer’s House.
Ayesha is a really fun read and a much better than usual reworking of P&P. I hope you enjoy it!
As a volunteer at the CNIB, I had the pleasure of recording Ayesha at Last, last year. It was a lot of fun, with plenty of scope for drama in all the varied characters.
That sounds like it would be great fun! What a wonderful way to volunteer your time.
“A fantasy novel focused on Savonarola cannot be missed.” Now there’s a phrase you don’t hear every day. Fantasy is not really my genre, but that sounds intriguing.
I’m definitely intrigued.
But if there is one fantasy author I’d love to introduce you to, forget Walton (sorry Jo!). Please, please, please try Guy Gavriel Kay. He writes fantasy novels inspired by history and they are the most absorbing, beautiful books and I adore them. I think everyone should read Under Heaven (inspired by the Tang dynasty), ideally once a year. His books always inspire fantastic further non-fiction reading and my fascination with Moorish Spain (I’m planning a visit to Andalusia next autumn) started when I read his book The Lions of Al-Rassan.