Thanks to Eleanor and Margaret for posting about their recent borrowing.

All of the books that I asked to be added to stock seemed to arrive at once! By the time I picked them up, four already had at least one further reservation on them, which was pleasing as it shows it these weren’t selfish requests; the books are of interest to others, too. Although a 2026 goal of mine was to read more from my own shelves, I’m having to balance that with big stacks of library books – which I’m glad I didn’t have to buy. A few will count towards #ReadIndies if I manage to finish them before the end of the month.

I mentioned last month that loans are down in my library system. I’ve noticed a couple of new initiatives that must be intended to boost borrowing: a “Love at First Line” Valentine’s Day display, and ‘blind date with a book’-style bundles distributed around the shelves.

One unfortunate necessity to keep stock turning over is weeding. I recently noticed that a couple of books I’d long meant to read were culled from the collection before I was able to borrow them: A Widow’s Story by Joyce Carol Oates and The Cold Millions by Jess Walter.

The majority of the library’s withdrawn books are sold. The latest book sale started mid-month and I was among the first through the door on that Saturday morning to have a rummage. I came away with one mostly pristine paperback (probably a rejected donation) and a signed ex-library hardback of an Andrew Miller novel for a grand total of 80 pence.

I’ve had to do some weeding myself recently, of the theology library I run at my church. We’re pushing 500 items, and given the limited space on the shelves in the lobby, I often find I’m having to wedge books in or lay them across the top. I’ve culled 24 items over the years: duplicates, books in poor condition, and a couple I labelled as irrelevant (a Barbara Pym novel set among clergy types and a book of Coronavirus prayers I’ll keep for posterity).

I do much more frequent culling at the neighbourhood Little Free Library I curate. Turnover is low in the winter (and I put fewer books in there than usual anyway, to try to cut down on condensation), so the same stuff often hangs around for many weeks. I immediately remove anything tatty or with a spine so faded the title is unreadable, and I try to keep only one book per author (series are frequent donations but take up too much space and don’t shift). Every so often I do a complete changeover of the stock and take the rejects to a charity warehouse or have them picked up for charity – the same strategy as with the withdrawn theology books.

Appropriately, I found this next one among the Little Free Library donations: a sweet picture book based on the true story of how the young people of Daraya amassed a 15,000-volume basement library of rescued books during the first four years of the Syrian civil war. The author grew up during the Lebanese civil war and the illustrator in communist Romania, so they, too, know how books can give comfort and courage during the hardest times. “Their secret library had become a safe port in a sea of war. The hope it brought carried them from the darkness of destruction into a bright new dawn.” Lovely.

You’ll see from the Rough Guide and phrase book that we’re pondering a trip to Portugal in April. It’s feeling last minute now; we hope to book our travel and accommodation soon.

My library use over the last month:

READ

• Eva Trout by Elizabeth Bowen
• The Honesty Box by Lucy Brazier
• Badger Books by Paddy Donnelly
• Mildred the Gallery Cat by Jono Ganz
• Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green
• Green by Louise Greig
• I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman
• Footpath Flowers by JonArno Lawson
• An Experiment in Love by Hilary Mantel
• The Girls Who Grew Big by Leila Mottley
• Bog Queen by Anna North
• Winter Trees by Sylvia Plath
• Let the Bad Times Roll by Alice Slater
• Ultra-Processed People by Chris van Tulleken
• Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst

With a cheeky Oxfam book haul (Hartnett and Wood) on the top.

CURRENTLY READING

• The Parallel Path: Love, Grit and Walking the North by Jenn Ashworth
• The Heart of Christianity by Marcus Borg (a reread)
• Strangers: The Story of a Marriage by Belle Burden
• Leaving Home: A Memoir in Full Colour by Mark Haddon
• Carrie by Stephen King
• Of Thorn & Briar: A Year with the West Country Hedgelayer by Paul Lamb
• Half His Age by Jennette McCurdy
• The Spirituality Gap by Abi Millar
• People Like Us by Jason Mott
• Pick a Colour by Souvankham Thammavongsa

CHECKED OUT, TO BE READ

• Eva Luna by Isabel Allende (for April book club)
• Pathfinding: On Walking, Motherhood and Freedom by Kerri Andrews
• Like Mother by Jenny Diski
• Bog Child by Siobhan Dodd
• The Swell by Kat Gordon
• Skylark by Paula McLain
• Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange
• Carrion Crow by Heather Parry
• The Original by Nell Stevens
• Women Talking by Miriam Toews
• The First Day of Spring by Nancy Tucker

ON HOLD, TO BE COLLECTED

• The Brain at Rest: Why Doing Nothing Can Change Your Life by Joseph Jebelli
• Seven by Joanna Kavenna
• Our Better Natures by Sophie Ward

IN THE RESERVATION QUEUE

• A Beautiful Loan by Mary Costello
• The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
• Honour & Other People’s Children by Helen Garner
• Almost Life by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
• Frostlines: An Epic Exploration of the Transforming Arctic by Neil Shea
• First Class Murder by Robin Stevens

RETURNED UNFINISHED

• Redwall by Brian Jacques – I read 60 pages before this was requested off me, and I decided it was probably for the best to leave this series to my childhood.
• A Long Game: How to Write Fiction by Elizabeth McCracken – I was about halfway through when this was requested off me, but I have it from Edelweiss so can finish it on my Kindle.

RETURNED UNREAD

• Zami by Audre Lorde – I have it on my Kindle so will return this for another member of my book club (the women’s classics subgroup) to borrow as our May read.

What have you been reading or reviewing from the library recently?

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