The Captive Reader

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.

Beth Chatto: A Life with Plants by Catherine Horwood – This was happily sitting on the new arrivals shelf when I went for a browse and I snapped it up.  It’s impossible to be interested in gardening and not have heard of Chatto, though I’ve actually read very few of her books.  The one I did read – Dear Friend and Gardener – was excellent and I’m looking forward to learning more about the woman herself.  (Book Depository)

The Way We Eat Now by Bee Wilson – I have been so looking forward to this.  Wilson is an amazing food writer and this book, released earlier this year, looks at the way food systems have changed and how that has changed how we – all of us, all around the world – eat.  (Book Depository)

Wilding by Isabella Tree – This book was so in demand last time I had it out that I had to return it when I was only part way through.  I can’t wait to pick it back up and learn more about the rewilding project Tree and her husband undertook at their West Sussex farm. (Book Depository)

What did you pick up this week?

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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.

The Art of Theft by Sherry Thomas – Any new book from Sherry Thomas is worth celebrating! (Book Depository)

London Belongs to Me by Norman Collins – How can it already be 3.5 years since Rachel first raved about this book?  It’s also a favourite of Darlene‘s and with such strong endorsements from two of my favourite readers I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to get around to it.  (Though, to be fair, the delay was assisted by the fact that my library didn’t own it for most of this period.)  (Book Depository)

Fresh from the Country by Miss Read – Last month, Scott announced the nine titles that will be reissued by Furrowed Middlebrow in January and this was the one that intrigued me most.  The cover of the edition I have is horrendous and very much at odds with the sweet original illustrations inside.  (Book Depository pre-order)

After rereading Strong Poison last week for the 1930 Club, I’m eager to continue getting reacquainted with Lord Peter.  I have some of the books at home but they either too fragile or heavy for daily commuting use.  Thankfully, my library had these three in stock:

Clouds of Witness 

Five Red Herrings

The Nine Tailors

What did you pick up this week?

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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.

It’s a tale of two halves today.  Half of my books are ones I’ve looked forward to for months and months (and sometimes years).  I know about them, I’ve been anticipating reading them, and I am delighted to finally have my hands on them.

The other half, I know nothing about.  I saw them sitting on a shelf and thought ‘why not?’

Piglettes by Clementine Beavais – Novelist Sarra Manning enthused about this when it came out (in English in 2017) and I’ve been wanting to track it down since then.  I read it the moment I picked it up from the library and adored it so much I may need to read it again before I return it.  (Book Depository)

Joining the Dots by Juliet Gardiner – Back at the end of 2017, I made a list of the new releases from that year that I wanted to read.  This is the very last book off that list for me to try and I can’t wait. I love Gardiner’s histories (The Thirties and The Blitz especially) and am intrigued to see how she approaches her own history. (Book Depository)

From Scratch by Tembi Locke – I returned to my default position of placing library holds on any book that vaguely sounds like an expat memoir.  And then, in the months of waiting that followed, I heard excellent things about this memoir by an actress who, once rejected by her husband’s Sicilian family, was brought close to them through shared grieving following his early death.  (Book Depository)

Farm from Home by Amanda Brooks – I briefly flicked through this and thought it seemed like great escapism.  Now that I’m starting to read the text, I’m not so sure I can take the extraordinary number of “rich people discover the country” cliches it contains.  We shall see.  Not having heard of her before, I quickly googled Brooks when I realised the text was clearly written by someone living in la-la-land and discovered she is former NYC socialite and current Instagram maven, which makes everything make SO much more sense.  (Book Depository)

Greatest Hits by Laura Barnett – I will always read the jacket of any Europa book I see and this one immediately grabbed me.  The format is intriguing – a singer-songwriter picks sixteen tracks that define her and we learn the stories around them, thereby learning about her life – and I’ve been feeling in the mood for something music-related after being thoroughly disappointed by Daisy and the Six this summer. (Book Depository)

Love in Row 27 by Eithne Shortall – Shortall has a new book out so I recognized her name when I saw this on the shelf.  It looks light and a bit silly but perfect for filling the gaps between heavier reading.  (Book Depository)

What did you pick up this week?

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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.

Remembered when I warned that I had many library holds suddenly all starting to move towards me at the same time?  Here they are.

I had a hold shelf almost to myself at the library to hold them all.  Unfortunately, I have no free shelves at home!  They, along with the other books I already had out, are now piling up on surfaces around the house.  It is slightly chaotic but, on the plus side, means you are never far away from a book.

Last Witnesses by Svetlana Alexievich – This is one of the 2019 releases I have been most excited about (another is further down the page).  It is the new English-language translation of Alexievich’s 1985 oral history of Soviet children’s experiences of World War Two.  I read it immediately after picking it up and it is every bit as good as you would expect.  It’s an interesting companion piece to The Unwomanly Face of War and I hope to write more about it soon. (Book Depository)

Triumphs of Experience by George E. Vaillant – if you read anything about happiness or longevity research, you’ve doubtless come across the Harvard study which began tracking the lives of students in the 1930s and followed them through their entire lives.  I’ve seen the study referred to in many other books and articles so am excited to read more about it and its subjects at length.  (Book Depository)

The Way Home by Mark Boyle – I have absolutely no memory of where I came across this one but I am all for people abandoning technology so presumably that was enough to have me placing a library hold. (Book Depository)

The Second-Worst Restaurant in France by Alexander McCall Smith – the newest entirely inconsequential, unmemorable, and yet strangely comforting novel from the always prolific Alexander McCall Smith. (Book Depository)

Never Greener by Ruth Jones – This was in every shop window when I was in London so it seemed like a good idea to get with the times and see what the fuss was about.  (Book Depository)

How Was It For You? by Virginia Nicholson – Hurrah!  Alongside Last Witnesses, this was one of the books I’ve most been looking forward to reading this year.  Nicholson has been working her way through the 20th century with her social histories focused on British women’s experiences (most recently in Perfect Wives in Ideal Homes) and she has now reached the explosive 1960s.  I cannot wait to read this. (Book Depository)

I’m back from Europe so it must be time to start thinking about my next trip!  I’m thinking of Andalusia in 2020 so have picked up a couple of books to inspire me: South from Granada by Gerald Brenan (Book Depository) and Driving Over Lemons by Chris Stewart (Book Depository).

Dirty Work by Anna Maxymiw – Far removed from sunny Spain, this is a memoir about spending a summer working at a wilderness lodge.  I am so, so, so happy to read about such experiences rather than have them myself. (Publisher)

The Beekeeper by Dunya Mikhail – I read a slightly mixed review of this a few weeks ago but it was enough to have me intrigued and eager to try it myself.  (Book Depository)

Inland by Tea Obreht – I loved Obreht’s debut novel, The Tiger’s Wife, and now she is back with something completely different – a western! – that is supposed to be just as wonderful. (Book Depository)

The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman – I know nothing about this book other than that it is set in Prague.  That’s reason enough for me. (Book Depository)

What did you pick up this week?

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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.

Sharlene has the Mr Linky this week.

Just one book for me this week but it is the book of the month (of the year?).  Turns out that obsessively monitoring the library’s “On Order” list and placing holds in January pays off because this ended up in my hands within days of publication:

Margaret Atwood takes us back to Gilead in The Testaments to answer the question “how did Gilead fall?” (Book Depository)

What did you pick up this week?

Read Full Post »

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 am alive!  And only mildly jet lagged (hence the existence – albeit delayed – of this post).  I ended up reading very little on my holiday (just one book – Every Secret Thing by Susanna Kearsley – and I only managed that since I read 75% of it on the plane flying over) so am eager to get back into the swing of things.  I had paused my library holds but they are now back in action and slowly starting to arrive.  Here’s what I’ve got so far:

Don’t Make Me Pull Over! by Richard Ratay – A very entertaining history of the American family road trip, enlivened with anecdotes from Ratay’s own childhood road trips. (Book Depository)

The Odyssey translated by Emily Wilson – I don’t think The Odyssey is a great book to borrow from the library – I, at least, have never found pleasure in sitting and reading it straight through – but I’m not quite ready to commitment to buying this translation.  I did enjoy it when I dipped in and out a while back and am looking forward to doing so again. (Book Depository)

The Marriage Clock by Zara Raheem – Romcoms which feature arranged marriages – or, in this case, the heroine’s determination to arrange her own marriage rather than go down the traditional path her parents view as the solution – are like catnip to me and I can’t wait to read this. (Book Depository)

What did you pick up this week?

Read Full Post »

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.

It’s all e-books for me this week as I’m off to Europe on Saturday for a quick visit to the Tyrol and then a few days in Munich.  I’m travelling with a friend for the first time so we’ll see what that is like!  I expect we’ll have lots to catch up on but it’s good to have plenty to read when we both want some quiet time.

Not a lot of variety to my reading this week but no harm in that!  I do have a hundred or so other books on my e-reader in case I’m in the mood for something else.

What did you pick up this week?

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