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.
Gap Year Girl by Marianne C. Bohr – a travel memoir about taking a gap year – in your mid-fifties. I enjoyed Bohr’s recent book about hiking the G20 in Corsica so was excited to track this down.
Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett – I’m having great fun with Pratchett this year.
The Leopard by Giuseppe di Lampedusa – the classic novel of societal changes in Sicily during the risorgimento.
A Commonplace Book by Alec Guinness – Alec Guinness’ diaries (A Positively Final Appearance, My Name Escapes Me) are wonderful and revealed him as a passionate reader so it’s fascinating to see what passages he jotted down in his commonplace books.
George Lyttelton’s Commonplace Book – while grabbing Guinness’ commonplace book, it seemed only right to grab another. I’ve learned to love Lyttelton through his letters with Rupert Hard-Davis and I particularly enjoy his thoughts on whatever he was reading, so look forward to this.
Readings by Michael Dirda – as if Dirda hadn’t inspired enough of my reading this year through Bound to Please (including 2 of the books this week – it’s because of him I’m reading Pratchett again and have finally picked up The Leopard), I’ve gone back for more. This is a collection of personal essays rather than criticism though so less devastating for my TBR list.
My awareness of Alec Guinness and the Lyttelton Hart-Davis letters are also thanks to Dirda (after reading Browsings) so this is really a Dirda-driven post, with Bohr as the one exception.
What did you pick up this week?
Yes, Dirda is amazing!
I just left a comment on your other post on Alec Guinness’s diary. I definitely want to read this. Thanks for sharing
Glad to have drawn you to the Guinness – it’s great!
Oo would be interested to see what Dirda is like in personal-reflection mode rather than bookish mode.
Dirda is still very much in bookish mode, but these are very different from his usual criticism and cover everything from his reflections on certain teachers back in his school days to a meeting of the PG Wodehouse society. Very enjoyable!
My son loves Terry Pratchett so I’d love to have a shared interest like that. Is there a particular book you’d recommend starting with? Obviously I could ask my son but we don’t usually like the same sort of book so I’m curious what a kindred spirit (I.e. someone else who loves Eva Ibbotson and Guy Gavriel Kay and Amor Towles and DE Stevenson etc etc) would recommend.
I think Guards! Guards! would be a great place to start. I’ve also heard great things about Small Gods as a standalone but haven’t read it yet.