Thanks to Eleanor, Jana, and Laura for posting about their recent library reads. Everyone is welcome to join in with this meme that runs on the last Monday of the month.
This statistic popped up on a poll I answered. Considering that this is a Penguin forum for people who consider themselves to be dedicated readers, I was appalled by the ‘Never’ figure (and the total of the bottom four bars). Do so many really buy every single book they read?! (I answered ‘Once a week’, of course.)
Literary prize season is heating up, with recent longlist announcements for the inaugural Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction and the Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction. Coming up in early March, we’ll be able to compare the Carol Shields Prize and Women’s Prize longlists. For all of these nominees and more, my first port of call is always the library. It’s especially handy when a book can do double duty for multiple lists: I’m awaiting holds of Doppelganger by Naomi Klein, which is nominated for both the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction and the Writers’ Prize; and The Bee Sting by Paul Murray, which was on the Booker Prize shortlist, is currently shortlisted for the Writers’ Prize, and won a Nero Award.
Since last month:
READ
- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
- Brother Do You Love Me? by Manni Coe
- I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
- The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht (reread for book club)
- Went to London, Took the Dog by Nina Stibbe
- The Winter Wife by Claire Tomalin
CURRENTLY READING
- Sleepless: Discovering the Power of the Night Self by Annabel Abbs
- The Home Child by Liz Berry
- Death Valley by Melissa Broder
- King by Jonathan Eig
- Mrs March by Virginia Feito (for Literary Wives)
- Howards End by E.M. Forster (rereading for book club)
- Babel by R.F. Kuang
- The Collected Stories of Carol Shields
- Before the Light Fades by Natasha Walter
CHECKED OUT, TO BE READ
- Blood by Dr Jen Gunter
- Groundbreakers: The Return of Britain’s Wild Boar by Chantal Lyons
- After Dark by Haruki Murakami
- Jungle House by Julianne Pachico
RETURNED UNFINISHED
- A Thread of Violence by Mark O’Connell – I loved To Be a Machine and Notes from an Apocalypse and so thought I could happily read O’Connell on any subject, but a crime I’d never heard about and learned the basics of within the first 20 pages was never going to engage me for the length of a whole book.
RETURNED UNREAD
- None of the Above by Travis Alabanza
- Godkiller by Hannah Kaner
- Cahokia Jazz by Francis Spufford
Others of you have loved those books, but I couldn’t get anywhere with them; forgive me!
- Day by Michael Cunningham
- Wasteland by Oliver Franklin-Wallis
- Tell Me Good Things by James Runcie
- Reasons to Be Cheerful by Nina Stibbe
- Night Side of the River by Jeanette Winterson
And maybe another time for these.
What have you been reading or reviewing from the library recently?
Share a link to your own post in the comments. Feel free to use the above image. The hashtag is #LoveYourLibrary.
Bookish Beck = Rebecca Foster. American transplant to England. Freelance proofreader and book reviewer.
Bookish Beck 
I’m just about to return Cahokia Jazz unread. I love Spufford normally, but after a few pages I knew this one wasn’t for me. And I must try that survey!
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Yeah, it’s too bad, I love Golden Hill but I’ve not been so enamoured by his fiction since then.
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Sadly, I do think it can be difficult to access libraries depending on where you live in the country – so many have been closed or have reduced opening hours – so I’m not too surprised by those figures. (I myself would have to answer ‘a few times a year’).
I didn’t like Notes from an Apocalypse so sounds like I should skip the latest O’Connell as well. Shame, given how much I loved his first!
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I’m lucky to live next to a county flagship library that is unlikely to experience cuts, but the smaller branches do have limited hours and services.
O’Connell chooses interesting subjects but doesn’t seem to have a niche yet.
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[wails for Cahokia Jazz]
I take Laura’s point below about having a hard time accessing libraries depending on your area. But it does also strike me very forcefully whenever book-blog-world people talk about book acquisitions as though they’re buying everything they read. How?! There’s a whole huge conversation to be had about book pricing (which, like food and clothes, is artificially low), but it still costs more per unit to buy a book—virtually regardless of its size, now, certainly with respect to paperbacks—than it does to buy a meal’s worth of ingredients. They’re luxury items, even if we want to keep thinking of them as vehicles of egalitarianism.
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My assumption with the major influencers is that they’re being sent everything for free, much more than they could ever possibly read. But so long as it gets into their social media photos, no matter. (Sorry so cynical!) I could probably technically afford to pay full price for every book I read in a year, but I’d be broke at the end!
Alas, I did hope to enjoy the Spufford. It was, I’m sure, a case of great book, wrong reader. I think I might actually ‘make’ my husband read it because he gets on better with world-building and speculative stuff (e.g. SF trilogies) and has enjoyed obscure Spuffords like Red Plenty before.
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Oh, that’s probably true. #spon content has certainly proliferated. And knowing what little I know of Mr. F’s reading interests, he might very well like the Spuff. Highly recommended.
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I hope you’ll manage to get around to Day.
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I’m sure I will someday. I’ve read very little by Cunningham and might try to catch up on some backlist stuff first. I own The Snow Queen.
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I’m similarly amazed when I hear about readers who rarely or never use the library. In some conversations I’ve had, it appears there is some concern or stigma about things being unsanitary, and a great deal of pride in owning books like a prize to be showed off. I’ve also run into some unsavory attitudes toward people who can’t afford to purchase books, which irritates me so much. The library has something to offer everyone, regardless of economic status or opinion on reading or a million other variables. On the other hand, I love seeing all that you and others who link up check out, and hearing about how others’ libraries work. Looks like you’ve got a hefty, interesting stack this time!
Here’s my February Library Love post: https://reviewsfromthestacks.wordpress.com/2024/02/26/draft-love-your-library-24-1/
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Thanks so much, Jana! I’ll add your link in. It’s really unfortunate to hear about those attitudes. You’re right, the library is for everyone — one of the few public spaces that truly is. My library was very careful about quarantining all returned books for 48 hours at the height of Covid, and any time a book comes in reeking of cigarette smoke it gets pulled out for airing. My sister refuses to shop at Goodwill, probably for similar slightly snobby reasons.
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Well, I somehow got confused and thought that the Love Your Library day was the FIRST Monday of the month, so I had my reminder to participate all set for this coming Sunday! LOL. Oh well. I’ll set it straight for next month. 🙂
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Oh, sorry, Laila! You’re welcome to participate any time and I can add in your link.
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I find never quite shocking too, expecially for so called book lovers. I do take Laura’s point though, especially with what has happened in Birmingham
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Even for people like us who have way too many TBR books at home, it’s good to support the library and it will always have new and interesting books that we haven’t accessed in other ways.
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An enthusiastic library team really adds to a community, and not just by borrowing books. We have heafty newsletters crammed with free offers to attend talks by authors, specialists in publishing, reader and writer groups, toddler times and a library van visiting outlying areas once a week. Our library helps by digging out historical research from sources Australia-wide, with an attitude of a curious cat. A town without a library has no soul.
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I agree the library is part of the soul of a community! Today at mine there were IT and adult literacy lessons going on, plus rhyme time for babies and toddlers.
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I need to read that Sherman Alexie–I just recently started following his Substack, which is great. Also, I wonder if you’d like the more recent one by Tea Obreht–Inland–I thought was great. (But then I always love audiobooks if done well; I think I just love being read to). And now I see she has a new one coming out next month I’ll have to look out for.
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My first from Alexie. Alas, I DNFed Inland when it first came out. It felt very different from The Tiger’s Wife. I’ve read the NYT short story her new one evolved out of and I’m not sure if a whole novel seems appealing, but I’ll look for reviews.
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Ah, if only there was a library that had books in English for me to check out!
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That must be a struggle for people who live in non-anglophone countries.
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Wow, I’m also shocked by that Never reply. I wouldn’t read anywhere the number of books I do without my library! I agree that it’s particularly helpful for following along with award lists. Ours is closed at the moment due to flooding; we can still request holds but I do miss browsing the shelves.
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Oh, that’s really sad! I hope it can reopen soon.
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Me too! We’re really missing it!
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Yay for the Alexie novel. I remember reading the scene with the big game on the subway and nearly missing my stop! He’s great with knowing where to add/cut detail and keep the pacing tight.
Are you specifically aiming for some old Orange/Women’s Prize titles with the 2024 coming soon? I didn’t love The Tiger’s Wife as much as you did. (Haven’t tried the newest.)
If you’re interested in reading Cunningham together, I see both Snow Queen and Wild Swan are in the library up here and they’re both on my TBR (along with Day, obvs.). But it’d have to be later in the year…
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A real mastery of tone there. So funny but so heartbreaking, too.
No, I’d already read all the WP winners. The back shortlist/longlist reading is never-ending, but I do note when I get to one.
Sure, we could read The Snow Queen later in the year — winter is ideal for me to tie into seasons 🙂 December?
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Sometimes December is tricky with deadlines but the first half of the month could work, and I like the idea of it being snowy: good thought! And I’ve been trying to catch up with his books for ages. Maybe others would like to join too.
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We have been known to have snow here in November, though it’s most likely in February. (And not likely at all, overall.) True, later December is taken up with year-end superlatives and statistics, so the first half of the month sounds good.
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Well I’ve just joined our new Friends of the Library to try to save our local library (the fourth most-used branch library in Birmingham, so we’re vaguely hopeful) …
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Yay, good for you!
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