Library Checkout: January 2018

Here’s what’s changed since last month:

 

LIBRARY BOOKS READ

• The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne
• Ali: A Life by Jonathan Eig

Two absolutely knock-out doorstoppers!

CURRENTLY READING

• Herzog by Saul Bellow
• This Cold Heaven: Seven Seasons in Greenland by Gretel Ehrlich
• Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry
• On Balance by Sinéad Morrissey [poetry – shortlisted for Costa Prize]
• The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks
• Spirals in Time: The Secret Life and Curious Afterlife of Seashells by Helen Scales

Then you’ll recognize a lot of the same titles hanging over from last month. The lack of a firm due date for the university library books (they can be renewed pretty much indefinitely) makes me put them off in favor of other, seemingly more timely, reads.

 

CHECKED OUT, TO BE READ

Public library:

• Harmless like You by Rowan Hisayo Buchanan
• Inside the Wave by Helen Dunmore [poetry – winner of Costa Prize]
• Useful Verses by Richard Osmond [poetry – shortlisted for Costa Prize]

University library:

• The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
• The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz
• To the Is-land: An Autobiography by Janet Frame
• Vita Nova by Louise Glück [poetry]
• On the Road by Jack Kerouac
• The Cabaret of Plants: Botany and the Imagination by Richard Mabey
• There Is an Anger that Moves by Kei Miller [poetry]
• And When Did You Last See Your Father? by Blake Morrison
• The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
• The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
• The Magnificent Spinster by May Sarton

RETURNED UNREAD

• Ghosts of Christmas Past, a story collection edited by Tim Martin – The only one I read was Neil Gaiman’s dark 100-word tale, “Nicholas Was.” When it came down to it, I realized I wasn’t actually that interested in holiday ghost stories.
• The High Places by Fiona McFarlane – Once again I borrow a short story collection with the best of intentions but return it unread. Sigh!
• NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity by Steve Silberman – Alas, this was requested back from the uni library by another user. I’ll have to get it out again another time.
• Bellwether by Connie Willis – My husband read it and enjoyed it well enough, but from his description it sounds silly to me. I’ll try to find another of her books to be the right follow-up to last year’s read of To Say Nothing of the Dog.

---

What have you been reading from your local libraries? Does anything appeal from my stacks?