Thanks, as always, to Eleanor and Skai for posting about their recent library borrowing.
I’ve ordered my first interlibrary loan from another library in the SELMS (South East Library Management Systems) consortium: The Migrant Painter of Birds by Lídia Jorge. This is a novel I discovered through the Rough Guide to Portugal (Rough Guides always have a great section at the back for related reading, including not just travel books but also varied fiction). There is a £4 charge for the ILL service, but I decided it’s worth it because the Kindle book is £7.99 – more than I’d pay for an e-book, plus I read so much electronically for work that I prefer to read in print when I can – and secondhand copies are much more.
I’ll take it on our trip to Portugal next month, along with a couple more Portugal-set novels I found through a catalogue search, some doorstoppers for getting stuck into on the 20-hour ferry rides, and the audiobook of Shuggie Bain in case the waves are so bad I can only lie on my bunk, close my eyes and wait for death. (We had a beautifully smooth sailing to Spain in 2022 and hope that history repeats itself, but can’t count on it. I’ll have the Kwells, acupressure bracelets, ginger ales and ginger biscuits all to hand!)
Spotted with delight in the Acknowledgements of two recent reads:
- Wendy Erskine: “If I’ve not written The Benefactors sitting at my kitchen table, it’s been in one of these beloved spots: Belfast Central Library, the Linen Hall Library, Woodstock Library, Zentralbibliothek Zürich, the Mitchell Library, Glasgow, the Central Library, Liverpool and Central Library, Dublin. Thank you. Nowhere finer than a public library.”
- Niamh Ni Mhaoileoin (Ordinary Saints): “My heartfelt thanks to literally everyone in the world who does anything to support the continued existence of public libraries. In particular, to the staff, volunteers and taxpayers who sustain the National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh Libraries and Leith Library.”
My library use over the last month:
READ
- Strangers: The Story of a Marriage by Belle Burden
- Like Mother by Jenny Diski
- Leaving Home: A Memoir in Full Colour by Mark Haddon
- Of Thorn & Briar: A Year with the West Country Hedgelayer by Paul Lamb
- Half His Age by Jennette McCurdy
- The First Day of Spring by Nancy Tucker
CURRENTLY READING
- Eva Luna by Isabel Allende (for book club)
- The Heart of Christianity by Marcus Borg (a reread)
- Bog Child by Siobhan Dowd
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (a reread)
- Carrie by Stephen King
- The Spirituality Gap by Abi Millar
- First Class Murder by Robin Stevens
- Our Better Natures by Sophie Ward
CHECKED OUT, TO BE READ
- Pathfinding: On Walking, Motherhood and Freedom by Kerri Andrews
- The Swell by Kat Gordon
- Skylark by Paula McLain
- Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange
- Carrion Crow by Heather Parry
- Women Talking by Miriam Toews
I was amused by the found poem (below) that a subset of my borrowed books created on my bedside shelf. I imagined a group of women walking along a coastal path, being overcome by a malevolent wave, and perishing.
ON HOLD, TO BE COLLECTED
- Tender: 100 Poems for the First 100 Days of Life by Harry Baker
- Our Numbered Bones by Katya Balen
- The Impossible Thing by Belinda Bauer
- The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich (for May book club)
- The Migrant Painter of Birds by Lídia Jorge
- The High Mountains of Portugal by Yann Martel
- Katherine by Anya Seton
- Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart (audiobook)
- Wise: Finding Purpose, Meaning and Wisdom Beyond the Midpoint of Life by Frank Tallis
IN THE RESERVATION QUEUE
- Lost Lambs by Madeline Cash
- A Beautiful Loan by Mary Costello
- The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
- Art Cure: The Science of How the Arts Transform Our Health by Daisy Fancourt
- Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett
- Honour & Other People’s Children by Helen Garner
- The Shock of the Light by Lori Inglis Hall
- Almost Life by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
- The Careful Surgeon: Finding Light, Courage and Compassion in the Face of Life and Death by Shehan Hettiaratchy
- Alice with a Why by Anna James
- The Wilds by Sarah Pearse
- A Hymn to Life: Shame Has to Change Sides by Gisèle Pelicot
- Sempre: Finding Home by Raymond Silverthorne
- A Far-Flung Life by M.L. Stedman
- The Original by Nell Stevens
- Greenwild by Pari Thomson
RETURNED UNFINISHED
- The Parallel Path: Love, Grit and Walking the North by Jenn Ashworth – I have to admit to myself that I don’t enjoy long-distance walking travelogues, even when written by authors I generally like.
- Seven by Joanna Kavenna – I hadn’t the patience for something so experimental.
- People Like Us by Jason Mott – I read about 50 pages and it was so satirical, like Paul Beatty on steroids, that there was no reason to care.
- Pick a Colour by Souvankham Thammavongsa – I read 60-some pages and was unspeakably bored. Such a shame as her short story collection was great.
RETURNED UNREAD
- The Brain at Rest: Why Doing Nothing Can Change Your Life by Joseph Jebelli – Requested off me before I had time to even skim it.
- Jolly Foul Play by Robin Stevens – Ditto, but that’s okay because I think I’m tiring of the series and it’s time for a break.
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 image below. The hashtag is #LoveYourLibrary.
Bookish Beck = Rebecca Foster. American transplant to England. Freelance proofreader and book reviewer.
Bookish Beck 
A grisly end to your found poem! I’m hoping I’ll enjoy A Beautiful Loan more than The River Capture when I get to it. Academy Street is long time favourite.
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For me as well — one of the perfect novellas. Did you also read her short story collections? The recent one was hit and miss for me.
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I did, and had a similar reaction.
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Hooray! Someone else who couldn’t get on with Pick a Colour. I thought it was only me … I love your found poem, despite the Jolly Foul Play at work 😉
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Alas, I really wanted to like it but I wasn’t interested in any of the characters. Do read her story collection, though.
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OK, I’ll try those then. Thanks.
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Ooh, are you planning to review Half His Age (here, on GR, or elsewhere)? I don’t think I’ll pick it up myself but a friend read it recently and had mixed feelings.
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I took notes before I had to return it to the library for the long reservation queue behind me. I’ll either write it up for GR or do an update on here of which books I’ve read from my Most Anticipated list and how I got on with them. Mixed feelings for sure. McCurdy is great at voice but I wasn’t always convinced by how psychologically astute Waldo was about herself (and yet continued to self-sabotage anyway).
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Oh, I’m so glad I’m not the only one who found the Thammavongsa incredibly disappointing after her short story collection! Everybody else seemed to love it. I read a lot of Kavenna in my mid twenties but I doubt I’d ever pick her up again; definitely experimental stuff that’s more clever than it thinks it is.
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The setup sounded great, but what I read was really samey. Maybe if she’d had each chapter delve into the backstory of a particular character, it would have been more enticing.
I’ve always meant to try Kavenna’s fiction, but if this was anything to go by, I won’t get on with it well. I’d forgotten I have read a travel book by her, The Ice Museum.
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Yes, I like the backstory idea! It was super samey. I think I might also have read The Ice Museum, but have forgotten…
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I love the cover on The Migrant Painter of Birds!
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It’s very striking! I’m thinking it must be an Audubon.
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Maybe so.
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Hi, again, everyone! I look forward to reading everyone’s library reads each month. It’s started to feel like those faithful friends that I don’t see often but we always have a good time catching up with each other when we get together. Rebecca, I think it’s very cool that you read your first Interlibrary loan. I read two last year, so I could continue a series that my library only owned the first book for. Here is my library reads for March: https://inspirationalskai.blogspot.com/2026/03/love-your-library-march-2026-february.html
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Thanks, Skai! I’ve added your link in.
I did read an excerpt from the novel before I decided the £4 ILL charge was worth it. Now I will read every word during my Portugal vacation 🙂
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I’m a bit confused by the difference between ‘on hold’ and ‘in the reservation queue’. I assume the former are literally waiting for you in the library and the latter are now being read by somebody else and will arrive at some future point. I’m also stunned at just how many books you’re allowed to reserve. I’m not sure if my library has a limit because I’ve never tested it, but I have a horror of them all arriving at once.
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Sorry for the confusion, Sarah; you’re exactly right about the difference, though. Maybe it’s that I’ve mixed my American (hold) and British (reservation) terminology?
It’s a limit of 15 reservations per account in my library system, but I commandeer my husband’s library card and reserve and borrow for both of us — I’m at the library every week for my volunteering session, whereas he’s barely stepped foot in it in the decade we’ve lived in this town.
It definitely does happen sometimes that all the books arrive at once, especially if they’re new stock that come in the same shipment. But it’s no problem to borrow everything and then return some books unread — every loan helps boost the library’s statistics and protect budgets.
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To be fair, I’m easily confused. There’s always a couple of shelves of reserved books in our library, but I usually only reserve one at a time, unless I’ve been perusing books for a specific challenge, when I might want more options.
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That’s very disciplined of you!
I feel like you should know blogger Marianne, who’s recently joined our Literary Wives online book club and has lived in the Netherlands. https://momobookblog.blogspot.com/
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Somehow I had thought I’d be back to the library by now but it’s looking like another couple of weeks (still lots of snow, and so, some ice) here. It’s only the second year I’ve drawn a line beneath borrowing during the winter (which is likely when most people borrow MORE not less) and only the first year that I was determined about it (last year, I borrowed whenever we rented a car, but returns became complicated). I didn’t like the idea at all, but it’s turned out to be quite enjoyable not having duedates (other than my invented ones); having said that, I’m quite excited by the idea of browsing… once everything has melted!
I just wasn’t in the mood for that Erdrich novel when I had it. And I’m curious why you’re drawn to Anya Seton. And I haven’t read the Thammavongsa (partly out of nervousness that the longer form might not suit, but I seem to recall that Susan loved it) so I’m curious about your response. Also, I’ve been rethinking some paid ILLs too…
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