Category Archives: Library Checkout

Love Your Library Begins: October 2021

By Rebecca Foster on October 25, 2021 | 22 Comments

It’s the opening month of my new Love Your Library meme! I hope some of you will join me in writing about the libraries you use and what you’ve borrowed from them recently. I plan to treat these monthly posts as a sort of miscellany.

Although I likely won’t do thorough Library Checkout rundowns anymore, I’ll show photos of what I’ve borrowed, give links to reviews of a few recent reads, and then feature something random, such as a reading theme or library policy or display.

Do share a link to your own post in the comments, and feel free to use the above image. I’m co-opting a hashtag that is already popular on Twitter and Instagram: #LoveYourLibrary.

Here’s a reminder of my ideas of what you might choose to post (this list will stay up on the project page):

Photos or a list of your latest library book haul
An account of a visit to a new-to-you library
Full-length or mini reviews of some recent library reads
A description of a particular feature of your local library
A screenshot of the state of play of your online account
An opinion piece about library policies (e.g. Covid procedures or fines amnesties)
A write-up of a library event you attended, such as an author reading or book club.

If it’s related to libraries, I want to hear about it!

Recently borrowed

Stand-out reads

The Echo Chamber by John Boyne

John Boyne is such a literary chameleon. He’s been John Irving (The Heart’s Invisible Furies), Patricia Highsmith (A Ladder to the Sky) and David Mitchell (A Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom). Now, with this Internet-age state-of-the-nation satire featuring variously abhorrent characters, he’s channelling the likes of Jamie Attenberg, Jonathan Coe, Patricia Lockwood, Lionel Shriver and Emma Straub. Every member of the Cleverley family is a morally compromised fake. Boyne gives his characters amusing tics, and there are also some tremendously funny set pieces, such as Nelson’s speed dating escapade and George’s public outbursts. He links several storylines through the Ukrainian dancer Pylyp, who’s slept with almost every character in the book and has Beverley petsit for his tortoise.

What is Boyne spoofing here? Mostly smartphone addiction, but also cancel culture. I imagined George as Hugh Bonneville throughout; indeed, the novel would lend itself very well to screen adaptation. And I loved how Beverley’s new ghostwriter, never given any name beyond “the ghost,” feels like the most real and perceptive character of all. Surely one of the funniest books I will read this year. (Full review).

Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney

I was one of those rare readers who didn’t think so much of Normal People, so to me this felt like a return to form. Conversations with Friends was a surprise hit with me back in 2017 when I read it as part of the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award shadow panel the year she won. The themes here are much the same: friendship, nostalgia, sex, communication and the search for meaning. BWWAY is that little bit more existential: through the long-form e-mail correspondence between two friends from college, novelist Alice and literary magazine editor Eileen, we imbibe a lot of philosophizing about history, aesthetics and culture, and musings on the purpose of an individual life against the backdrop of the potential extinction of the species.

Through their relationships with Felix (a rough-around-the-edges warehouse worker) and Simon (slightly older and involved in politics), Rooney explores the question of whether lasting bonds can be formed despite perceived differences of class and intelligence. The background of Alice’s nervous breakdown and Simon’s Catholicism also bring in sensitive treatments of mental illness and faith. (Full review).

This month’s feature

I spotted a few of these during my volunteer shelving and then sought out a couple more. All five are picture books composed by authors not known for their writing for children.

Islandborn by Junot Díaz (illus. Leo Espinosa): “Every kid in Lola’s school was from somewhere else.” When the teacher asks them all to draw a picture of the country they came from, plucky Lola doesn’t know how to depict the Island. Since she left as a baby, she has to interview relatives and neighbours for their lasting impressions. For one man it’s mangoes so sweet they make you cry; for her grandmother it’s dolphins near the beach. She gathers the memories into a vibrant booklet. The 2D cut-paper style reminded me of Ezra Jack Keats.

The Islanders by Helen Dunmore (illus. Rebecca Cobb): Robbie and his family are back in Cornwall to visit Tamsin and her family. These two are the best of friends and explore along the beach together, creating their own little island by digging a channel and making a dam. As the week’s holiday comes toward an end, a magical night-time journey makes them wonder if their wish to make their island life their real life forever could come true. The brightly coloured paint and crayon illustrations are a little bit Charlie and Lola and very cute.

Rose Blanche by Ian McEwan (illus. Roberto Innocenti): Patriotism is assumed for the title character and her mother as they cheer German soldiers heading off to war. There’s dramatic irony in Rose being our innocent witness to deprivations and abductions. One day she follows a truck out of town and past barriers and fences and stumbles onto a concentration camp. Seeing hungry children’s suffering, she starts bringing them food. Unfortunately, this gets pretty mawkish and, while I liked some of the tableau scenes – reminiscent of Brueghel or Stanley Spencer – the faces are awful. (Based on a story by Christophe Gallaz.)

Where Snow Angels Go by Maggie O’Farrell (illus. Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini): The snow angel Sylvie made last winter comes back to her to serve as her guardian angel, saving her from illness and accident risks. If you’re familiar with O’Farrell’s memoir I Am, I Am, I Am, this presents a similar catalogue of near-misses. For a picture book, it has a lot of words – several paragraphs’ worth on most of its 70 pages – so I imagine it’s more suitable for ages seven and up. I loved the fairy tale atmosphere, touches of humour, and drawing style.

Weirdo by Zadie Smith and Nick Laird (illus. Magenta Fox): Kit’s birthday present is Maud, a guinea pig in a judo uniform. None of the other household pets – Derrick the cockatoo, Dora the cat, and Bob the pug – know what to make of her. Like in The Secret Life of Pets, the pets take over, interacting while everyone’s out at school and work. At first Maud tries making herself like the others, but after she spends an afternoon with an eccentric neighbour she realizes all she needs to be is herself. It’s not the first time married couple Smith and Laird have published an in-joke (their 2018 releases – an essay collection and a book of poems, respectively – are both entitled Feel Free): Kit is their daughter’s name and Maud is their pug’s. But this was cute enough to let them off.

Posted in: Library Checkout, Love Your Library | Tagged: children's books, Christophe Gallaz, Cornwall, Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini, Ezra Jack Keats, Helen Dunmore, Holocaust, Ian McEwan, John Boyne, Junot Díaz, Leo Espinosa, library books, Love Your Library, Magenta Fox, Maggie O’Farrell, Nick Laird, picture books, Rebecca Cobb, Roberto Innocenti, Sally Rooney, Zadie Smith

Library Checkout, September 2021

By Rebecca Foster on September 27, 2021 | 49 Comments

My library has been closed for a few weeks while a new lighting system is being installed, so I’ve had fewer opportunities to pick out books at random while shelving. Still, I have quite a stockpile at home – a lot of the books are being saved for Novellas in November – so I can’t complain. Meanwhile, I’m awaiting my holds on some of the biggest releases of the year.

This will most likely be our last September in our current rental place as we’ve started house-hunting in the neighbourhood, so I’m trying to appreciate the view from my study window while I can. I’m taking one photo per day to compare. The first hints of autumn leaves are coming through. (Look carefully to the right of the table and you’ll see our cat!)

As always, I give links to reviews of books not already featured, as well as ratings. I would be delighted to have other bloggers – not just book bloggers – join in with this meme. Feel free to use the image below and leave a link to your blog in the comments if you’ve taken part in Library Checkout (on the last Monday of each month), or tag me on Twitter and Instagram: @bookishbeck / #TheLibraryCheckout & #LoveYourLibraries.

READ

Medusa’s Ankles: Selected Stories by A.S. Byatt
Tales from Moominvalley by Tove Jansson
Everyone Is Still Alive by Cathy Rentzenbrink
September 11: A Testimony (Reuters)
Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell [graphic novel]
Lena Finkle’s Magic Barrel by Anya Ulinich [graphic novel]

SKIMMED

The Easternmost Sky: Adapting to Change in the 21st Century by Juliet Blaxland
Gardening for Bumblebees: A Practical Guide to Creating a Paradise for Pollinators by Dave Goulson
An Eye on the Hebrides: An Illustrated Journey by Mairi Hedderwick
A Walk from the Wild Edge by Jake Tyler

CURRENTLY READING

Bloodchild and Other Stories by Octavia E. Butler
Darwin’s Dragons by Lindsay Galvin
Fathoms: The World in the Whale by Rebecca Giggs
Anarchipelago by Jay Griffiths
The Cure for Good Intentions: A Doctor’s Story by Sophie Harrison
Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay
Fox and I: An Uncommon Friendship by Catherine Raven
Cut Out by Michèle Roberts
Yearbook by Seth Rogen
A Shadow Above: The Fall and Rise of the Raven by Joe Shute
The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer

CURRENTLY SKIMMING

The Sea Is Not Made of Water: Life between the Tides by Adam Nicolson

CHECKED OUT, TO BE READ

October, October by Katya Balen
Winter Story by Jill Barklem
Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica
The Tragic Death of Eleanor Marx by Tara Bergin
Barn Owl by Jim Crumley
Kingfisher by Jim Crumley
Otter by Jim Crumley
Victory: Two Novellas by James Lasdun
Jilted City by Patrick McGuinness
His Only Wife by Peace Adzo Medie
Conundrum by Jan Morris [to reread]
The State of the Prisons by Sinéad Morrissey
Fox and I: An Uncommon Friendship by Catherine Raven
Before Everything by Victoria Redel
The Performance by Claire Thomas
Elizabeth and Her German Garden by Elizabeth von Arnim

Plus a modest new pile from the university library:

The Ballad of the Sad Café by Carson McCullers
The Takeover by Muriel Spark (for 1976 Club)
The Pigeon by Patrick Süskind

ON HOLD, TO BE PICKED UP

The Echo Chamber by John Boyne
The Blind Light by Stuart Evers
Mayflies by Andrew O’Hagan

IN THE RESERVATION QUEUE

Four Thousand Weeks: Time and How to Use It by Oliver Burkeman
Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
Manifesto by Bernardine Evaristo
Spike: The Virus vs. the People – The Inside Story by Jeremy Farrar
Mrs March by Virginia Feito
Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen
Matrix by Lauren Groff
Julia and the Shark by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Standard Deviation by Katherine Heiny
The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller
The Book Smugglers (Pages & Co., #4) by Anna James
The Morning Star by Karl Ove Knausgaard
The Premonition: A Pandemic Story by Michael Lewis
Metamorphosis: Selected Stories by Penelope Lively
Listen: How to Find the Words for Tender Conversations by Kathryn Mannix
Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason
Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney
Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead
Oh William! By Elizabeth Strout
Liv’s Alone by Liv Thorne
Sheets by Brenna Thummler
The Magician by Colm Tóibín
Still Life by Sarah Winman (to try again)

RETURNED UNFINISHED

Something out of Place: Women & Disgust by Eimear McBride – I hadn’t gotten on with her fiction so thought I’d try this short nonfiction work, especially as it was released by the Wellcome Collection and based on research she did at the Wellcome Library. However, it was very dull and just seemed like a string of quotes from other people.
12 Bytes: How We Got Here. Where We Might Go Next by Jeanette Winterson – I looked at the first essay to consider reviewing this one, but Winterson’s musings on technology and Mary Shelly feel very familiar – from her previous work as well as others’.

RETURNED UNREAD

I Give It to You by Valerie Martin – I’ll get this suspenseful Tuscany-set novel out again next summer instead.
Fall and Rise: The Story of 9/11 by Mitchell Zuckoff – I ran out of time to read this before the twentieth anniversary of 9/11, but I wouldn’t rule out reading it in the future.

What appeals from my stacks?

Posted in: Library Checkout | Tagged: library books, Library Checkout

Library Checkout, August 2021

By Rebecca Foster on August 30, 2021 | 15 Comments

I’ve read a little of everything this month, including a Booker Prize nominee and one from the Wainwright Prize longlist. A few reads were good enough to make it onto my growing “Best of 2021” list. (Full reviews of the Green and Thirkell coming soon.) In September one of my usual foci is short story collections, so I plan to get through the Butler and Byatt next month. Cathy and I have also been plotting about Novellas in November, so I’ve checked out a number of short works in advance.

As always, I give links to reviews of books not already featured, as well as ratings. I would be delighted to have other bloggers – not just book bloggers – join in with this meme. Feel free to use the image above and leave a link to your blog in the comments if you’ve taken part in Library Checkout (on the last Monday of each month), or tag me on Twitter and Instagram: @bookishbeck / #TheLibraryCheckout & #LoveYourLibraries.