Everyone is welcome to join in with this meme that runs on the last Monday of the month.
Thanks to Eleanor (here and here) and Laura (and image below) for posting about their recent library reads! I loved seeing Marina Sofia feature beautiful public library designs in one of her Friday Fun posts. Tom Beer, the Kirkus Reviews editor-in-chief, wrote about the love of books starting with libraries. And Sarah Turley shared this New York Times article (no paywall for the next few weeks) about the history of Black librarians during the Harlem Renaissance, including Nella Larsen.
The computer system was down at my library for a couple of weeks in May–June, such that I had to spend my volunteering sessions shelf-tidying or processing returns rather than filling reservations as I usually do. After the system update, I found that my saved lists had disappeared from my online account. Along with a general list of ~170 books I might want to borrow in the future, I had shelves for short stories, novellas, and Literary Wives. It is annoying that they’re gone, but maybe also freeing. If I hadn’t borrowed a book already, I must not have really wanted to read it, right?
There have also been tweaks to what certain categories are called. “Bestsellers” are now listed as “Short term loan,” which makes more sense for the two-week-loan collection as not all the books are blockbusters. But instead of Young Adult, the call number is now “Older teenage fiction” in the “Young person’s fiction” collection. Rather than School-Age Picture Books, it’s now “Picture books for older readers.” Seems like reinventing the wheel to me, but oh well…
My library use over the last month:
READ
- Piglet by Lottie Hazell
- Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy
- Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder by Salman Rushdie
- The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
SKIMMED
- Languishing by Cory Keyes
CURRENTLY READING
- Death Valley by Melissa Broder
- The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
- Learning to Think: A Memoir about Faith, Demons, and the Courage to Ask Questions by Tracy King
- Unearthing: A Story of Tangled Love and Family Secrets by Kyo Maclear
- Late Light: Finding Home in the West Country by Michael Malay
- Mrs Gulliver by Valerie Martin
- After Dark by Haruki Murakami
- Excellent Women by Barbara Pym
- Stowaway: The Disreputable Exploits of the Rat by Joe Shute
- Mrs Hemingway by Naomi Wood (a reread)
RETURNED UNFINISHED
- Restless Dolly Maunder by Kate Grenville – It somehow seemed like I’d read this fictionalized family history before. The first two chapters were fine but I didn’t need to continue.
- Kay’s Incredible Inventions by Adam Kay – Silly and insubstantial, yet felt endless. I loved Kay’s Anatomy, his first book for kids, but the sequels have been unnecessary. I read 57 pages. (The other day at church I was amused to see a boy of ~11 years old walk in with this book under his arm. Truly, he is the target audience. I hope it kept him entertained during service!)
RETURNED UNREAD
- Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree – Seemed weird/twee/try-hard.
- You Are Here by David Nicholls – I read a few mini-chapters and thought, meh; I should release this to the 52 other people of my library system who appear to be desperate to read it. I did like the “Accept All Changes” section about the proofreader protagonist’s pedantry (I read a similar passage in a Mary Costello short story recently). If I ever want to try again, I have it on my Kindle from Edelweiss.
- The Spoiled Heart by Sunjeev Sahota – The first few pages were not just dull but actively awkwardly written, such that I had to go back and read particular sentences two to three times. Even the tiny fraction that I read felt dated and arbitrary: why focus on this situation, this time period, these people? Again, if I wish to try again I have it on my Kindle from NetGalley.
- Quilt on Fire by Christie Watson – I read a few pages and it seemed like this midlife memoir was going to be scattered and cliched.
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 
Oh no that’s a shame about the new Sahota – I’ve enjoyed his work in the past. I suspect I’d feel the same about the Grenville and the Baldree (I read Legends and Lattes and it was a bit twee).
I’ve done a #loveyourlibrary Instagram post this month as well, had quite a good library month as one of my local libraries bought the entire Women’s Prize for Non Fiction shortlist.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Awesome, thanks! I’ll screenshot and add that in. Doppelganger was very interesting (even just to skim, as I did) and a worthy winner. Hope you enjoy A Flat Place. I thought it was brilliant.
It’s entirely possible that the Sahota would pick up if I could just make myself push past the first chapter.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ah, I was less enthusiastic about Doppelgänger. I thought they could have chosen a more interesting winner – I think it would have made a better long essay than a book.
I’ve just started A Flat Place!
LikeLike
Oh, I thought it was because I’m not very politically minded that I was okay with just getting the basics of the Klein through a skim. Maybe you’re right and a long article would have been enough!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Gosh, I hope our library system doesn’t go down! Processing books in and out is one thing, but how to deal with all the passage of books from one branch to another to satisfy requests? Nightmare. As is, because it always is, the sheer volume of books you’ve got through!
LikeLiked by 1 person
This was scheduled downtime for system updates but took longer than expected and had some unforeseen effects. All the returns had to be held on trolleys in the backroom while we waited to go back online.
Reading four library books in a month? Hardly a feat or a nightmare!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was looking at all your lists of the sampled-but-abandoned and so on too. I imagine you gave them quite a fair trial.
LikeLike
Nah, not really. I DNF quickly where possible! But even a failed loan like that helps the library’s stats and gets the author a few pennies.
LikeLike
You’re very philosophical about the lists but that’s a good thing. Hope Mrs Hemingway stands up well to a second reading.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve culled and added to that list so many times over the years, and it was often the same books going on and off! Because I volunteer weekly, I have many chances to come across books while shelving or processing returns or holds. Serendipity — if something is meant to come back into my hands, it will!
LikeLiked by 1 person
“Older teenage fiction” and “picture books for older readers” don’t exactly roll off the tongue, do they? I can imagine that the zapping of the library list would feel a bit freeing. I sometimes fantasize about doing away with my Goodreads TBR list (284 titles currently.)
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m sure some careful thought went into those designations, but I’ll still be referring to “YA” myself!
A librarian told me she keeps a paper list at home for this reason. I could never do that as a substitute TBR because mine is at 6500+ on Goodreads! So the loss of ~190 or so is no big deal, really, and every week I pass a good number of the books that were on those lists. There may be a few novellas I forget about before November rolls around, but it’s not a major loss.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Have you read Travis Baldree’s Legends and Lattes? I can’t remember, but Bookshops and Bonedust makes more sense if you have even though it’s a prequel.
I have Learning to Think TBR and met the author at a book event locally, so I’m looking forward to hearing what you make of that one.
LikeLiked by 1 person
No, I’ve not read Baldree before. I didn’t like the style so wouldn’t try another.
I’m enjoying Learning to Think. A lot of good detail about her childhood, with a mix of her young self’s perspective and what she only realizes looking back about their poverty.
LikeLike
You Are Here had the same effect on me even on audio.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Huh, that’s interesting.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m reading Knife at the moment and like it a lot.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I thought it was great, even though I’ve not gotten on with his fiction.
LikeLike
Same!
LikeLike
Oh noes, I forgot to share a photo last week! And I have more than the usual library books to share just now. Too bad. (It was a short work week with Canada Day weekend, and I was rushing to make some EOM deadlines in 4 days where I’d calculated for 5.) Have you read other Kyo Maclear books? I think she’d be a perfect fit for you! (Maybe I should remember this. I’m tired, sorry. Just made another cuppa tea to get through the afternoon with some semblance of focus.)
LikeLiked by 1 person
No worries, if you post something I can save it up for the July roundup.
I’ve read Birds Art Life and didn’t like it as much as I expected to. Loved her children’s book The Liszts, though.
LikeLike
Funny, I didn’t love it either; I think I was simply expecting something different and I’ve assumed, since, that I’d enjoy it more if I returned to it (having enjoyed her other work). IIRC, I thought there’d be more about…birds…ahem. Less personal experience? Which isn’t fair, I suppose, because it’s billed as a memoir I think?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Unearthing is similarly meandering, but I think I’ll like it better.
LikeLike