Wednesday 2 February 2011

Library loot

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from
The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader 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 last thing I should be doing is toodling off to another town's library to help myself to their booty and thus fuelling my pathetic addiction to library books. But well, it was a lovely afternoon yesterday so we chucked our grandson in the back of the car and off we pootled to South Molton, a town like our own, in deepest Devon. Sadly for our grandson there were absolutely no cows whatsoever to be seen, but many sheep, horses and various boy's toys in the shape of diggers and steam rollers working on the rural roads, so he was quite happy. And so was I (and Hubby!) with the excellent library loot I nabbed off the shelves of South Molton library:



From the bottom:

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safron Zoer. I read about this book here on Stuck in a Book's blog and was so intrigued I reserved it from the library. I suspect it might be one of my more unusual reads of the year.

To Dream of the Dead by Phil Rickman. A survivor from my last library loot. I *will* get to this.

A Lost Lady by Willa Cather. A random grab, mainly because several people whose blogs I read love her books.

Auctioneer's Lot by Philip Serrell. The author is a regular expert on the BBC's Bargain Hunt programme so I thought this one might be fun to read... quirky stories etc.

Battles at Thrush Green, Return to Thrush Green, Gossip from Thrush Green by Miss Read. 'Nuff said. It's fairly obvious which series I'm enjoying at the moment...

A.A. Milne: His Life by Ann Thwaite. Totally random grab this one. South Molton library had a good selection of biographies (better than ours) and this one just jumped out for some reason.

So there you go. Bit of a mixed bag but all looking like good reads.

~~~oOo~~~

17 comments:

verity said...

Hurrah for visiting other libraries and for more Miss Read. I'd love to read the Ann Thwaite bio...

swlove said...

Aren't we lucky to have our libraries!

Margaret said...

A Lost Lady is excellent. And I love the Miss Read books (haven't read any for years).

I like biographies - looking forward to seeing what you think of A A Milne's.

I go to two libraries - one over the border in Scotland, which is nearer than the one in England! And I borrow books from the mobile library too - I'm addicted as well.

Val said...

Who can resist library books...not me only I am working on bringing home less and actually managing to read some instead of them just visiting and being a form a weight training on their journeys too and from the library in my bag....lol
I think you can read the Willa Cather book for free online here
http://www.classicauthors.net/Cather/LOSTLADY/
Just in case anyone fancies it and can't get it (that sounds not quite right...but you know what I mean I'm sure)

Lovely pile of books there ..I'd be interested to know your opinion on the Milne bio as I think I might add that to my list :o)

Jodie Robson said...

To Dream of the Dead was a pretty satisfying read, I thought. I struggled to read my last haul from the library, too much work and too many review copies backing up, but I do love the library even when I'm complaining that they don't have things (like the AA Milne bio, sigh). I've got one treasure out at the moment, so maybe I'll share that later :)

Cat said...

A lovely variety of loot. I remember the Miss Read books , enjoy Phil Rickman and the Milne biography sounds really interesting.

Happy readung!

DesLily said...

oh yeah, you *needed* books from the library LOL LOL... ohhh she snuck in a biography! I have a few I need to get to some soon.

Anonymous said...

What happened to the "mocking" books?? LOL

You know, I've never read any Miss Read books. Where would I start? And why am I asking because that would mean bringing more books into my house!!!

Ahem, where would I start? Really asking.

Cath said...

Verity: Well the argument *for* visiting other libraries is to use them and help stop them being the victim of the cuts. So I'm not beating myself up too much. Yes, that AA Milne book is looking rather good and is one I definitely plan to read.

Sue: Yes, we are, but they really are under threat here so I wish more people in the UK would use them.

Margaret: I thought A Lost lady was something different for me, I don't read enough American lit.

I think the AA Milne has interested several here so I'd better read it. LOL.

Nice to know I'm not the only addict!

Val: your comments really had me chuckling - the weight training and then 'just in case anyone fancies it but can't get it'... not sure why that had me laughing. *cough* But yeah... I do exactly the same with library books... take 'em home and then take 'em back again with only a couple read.

GeraniumCat: I'm really bad at taking a load of books out and then not reading them. I did decide, at the start of the year, that I would only take up to five out at a time. You can see how long that NY's resolution lasted...

Pat: I think I'm officially hopeless. LOL. Yep, I snuck in a biography and it looks like a good one. This other library had a better selection... my own library seems mainly to stock modern celebrity autobiographies.

Kay: The 'mocking' books are on the other coffee table, in the lounge. I can hardly see the TV over the top of them! This coffee table is in the conservatory where, as you can see, I do my jigsaw puzzles.

Miss Read? I sent 'Sue' here a list I copied online so I will e.mail it to you too. But be warned... they're addictive!

StuckInABook said...

Although you read about the Foer on my blog, I haven't read it! I'll tell my housemate, who wrote about it - she'll be pleased :)

But, I HAVE read the Ann Thwaite book, three times I think - it's the best biography I've ever read! I'll think you'll find it at least fairly interesting... (and then you'll want to read AA Milne's own autobiography!)

Cath said...

Simon: I was planning to pop back to the post and let you know what I thought of the book after I'd read it. Thought perhaps you might like to pass my comment on to your house-mate then.

I'm pretty sure I'll find the Ann Thwaite *very* interesting. I gather it includes details of Milne's service in WW1, so that's a good start. I also have one his mysteries to read - The Red House Mystery.

StuckInABook said...

Hi Cath - yes, it does talk about Milne's time in WW1 - and you might also find interesting Christopher (Robin) Milne's second book in an autobiographical trilogy, The Path Through The Trees, which talks about his service in WW2 (and the running of a bookshop!)
Simon

Bev Hankins said...

This must be interesting bios & autobiographies day. The Milne book on your list is the third one I've come across that has grabbed my attention. I'll be interested to see what you think.

Here's my loot (with a bio and autobio!): http://myreadersblock.blogspot.com/2011/02/library-loot-february-2-8.html

Vintage Reading said...

I'm feeling the library love! I think you will enjoy the Willa Cather, it's a good read.

Cath said...

Simon: brilliant, thanks for the rec, will add that to my list. Always glad to hear of good biographies as there are so many to choose from.

Bev: I do love a good biography but the market is so saturated with modern celebrity type books where the aim is to make a fast buck at Christmas, that it's hard to make an informed choice about what to read. Two biographies on tbr pile that I'm looking forward to reading are Oscar Wilde's and Gerald Durrell's. Will go and look at your loot in a moment.

Nicola: I thought it was you who likes Willa Cather but wasn't quite sure. Looking forward to reading this one.

Willa said...

Great loot you have! I really want to read "A Lost Lady" and sample some Miss Read

Cath said...

Willa: I'm quite excited about this particular lot of library books and am determined not to go to the library again until I've read some of them! Except that I have 2 books on reserve - The Surgeon by Tess Gerritson and Mariana by Monica Dickens - so I will just have to force myself to go and pick those up. LOL.