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.
I always forget how much I love September until it arrives again. The days are annoyingly short, yes, but after a long hot summer how nice it is to feel a chill in the morning, and know that it will soon be time to wear sweaters. Glorious! And my optimism for the season is complimented further by a great selection of newly arrived library books.
Just William by Richmal Crompton – I have a read a fair amount by Crompton (generally the same story told over and over and over again under different titles) but have never tried her most famous creation.
Keeping Up Appearances by Rose Macaulay – Between Simon and the British Library Women Writers series and Kate and the Handheld Press releases, there is no shortage of things to read by Macaulay! I’ve only read a couple of her books so far but I’m intrigued by this one.
Ravenna by Judith Herrin – I’m getting ready for my second visit to Ravenna later this year and eager to learn more about it’s history before I go.
The Lovers by Paolo Cognetti (translated from Italian) – a beautiful short novel about two lovers and mountain life in Northern Italy.
The Last Goddess by Kateřina Tučková (translated from Czech) – Last in a centuries-old lineage of healing women, Dora Idesová was raised by her aunt Surmena in the White Carpathians. Resistant to superstition, Dora grew up hearing stories of the “goddesses” who were said to conjure love and curses and, through divine connection, cure the spirit and the body. Now an academic, Dora is researching the tales that for generations spellbound the hillside where she grew up. As the mysteries become truths, they reveal a stunning discovery that reaches back from the witch trials of the seventeenth century through Nazi-occupied Germany. Embarking on an emotional journey, Dora is about to find out how deeply and fatefully she is entwined with secret tradition.
The Tower of Fools by Andrzej Sapkowski (translated from Polish) – the first in a historical fantasy trilogy set during the Hussite wars.
Square One by Nell Frizzell – Sarra Manning flagged this as one of the best July releases.
Double Lives by Helen McCarthy – a fascinating cultural history of working women’s lives since the 19th Century.
Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater – “It’s difficult to find a husband in Regency England when you’re a young lady with only half a soul.” Who wouldn’t want to read more?
What did you pick up this week?
The Captive Reader 
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Ok this post is like a ILL challenge… I wanted to read most of these books, and none were available in my usually excellent library!! Happy reading and I’d love to hear how they turn out.
Four of these are ILL for me and another 3 are ones I specifically asked the library to purchase so I’m not surprised they’re missing from your library’s catalogue – it’s good to know there are still ways to get them! I’ve already finished a few of these and can affirm that The Lovers and The Last Goddess are both very good.
I’m looking forward to sweater weather! But I suspect it will be at least another month or so before it hits us in NorCal.
It sounds ridiculously hot there! My best friend lives in San Mateo and is heavily pregnant so has not been enjoying the heat at all – the temperatures peaked just after her due date passed.
I do hope you enjoy(ed) the Macaulay! Though so frustrated that there is still an image circulating of that cover with her name spelled wrong on it 😀 And I grew up on the William books, adoring them. Perhaps best listened to read by Martin Jarvis, but a joy in any form.