Library Checkout: December 2019

One final chance to get through the rest of the 2019 releases I was most interested in reading. At the last minute, a bunch of my reservations on Costa Awards shortlisted books (one from the Novel category, one from the First Novel category, one from the Biography category, and the entire poetry shortlist) arrived. I’m pushing myself to get through at least the poetry.

I give links to reviews of any books I haven’t already featured, as well as ratings. What have you been reading from your local libraries? Use this image and leave a link to your blog in the comments if you’ve taken part.

READ

• The Easternmost House: A Year of Life on the Edge of England by Juliet Blaxland
• Ring the Hill by Tom Cox
• The Mizzy by Paul Farley [poetry]
• The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico
• The Heavens by Sandra Newman
• My Name Is Why: A Memoir by Lemn Sissay

SKIMMED

• Five Ingredient Vegan: 100 Simple, Fast, Modern Recipes by Katy Beskow – I made the banana pecan bars, above, for a quick snack.
• Afloat: A Memoir by Danie Couchman
• The School of Life: An Emotional Education by Alain de Botton
• Happy Ever After: Escaping the Myth of the Perfect Life by Paul Dolan
• Diary of a Lone Twin by David Loftus
• The Making of Poetry: Coleridge, the Wordsworths and Their Year of Marvels by Adam Nicolson
• The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold
• The Christmas Chronicles by Nigel Slater

CURRENTLY READING

• The Body Lies by Jo Baker
• Surge by Jay Bernard [poetry]
• Flèche by Mary Jean Chan [poetry]
• The Confessions of Frannie Langton by Sara Collins
• Reckless Paper Birds by John McCullough [poetry]
• Under the Camelthorn Tree: Raising a Family among Lions by Kate Nicholls
• Mr Dickens and His Carol by Samantha Silva
• A Good Enough Mother by Bev Thomas

CURRENTLY SKIMMING

• Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez

CHECKED OUT, TO BE READ

• The Botanist’s Daughter by Kayte Nunn
• Frost by Holly Webb
• Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon [for February book club]

PLUS an exciting new batch of university library books! (I keep hoping no one notices the odd selection of books my husband borrows in addition to his standard bird biology stuff…)

• The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster
• Literary Values by John Burroughs
• Short Short Stories by Dave Eggers
• You Are Now Entering the Human Heart: Stories by Janet Frame
• The Trick Is to Keep Breathing by Janice Galloway
• Oleander, Jacaranda: A Childhood Perceived by Penelope Lively
• Jazz by Toni Morrison
• Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy
• My Own Country: A Doctor’s Story by Abraham Verghese

ON HOLD, TO BE PICKED UP

• Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah
• Confession with Blue Horses by Sophie Hardach
• The Ice by Laline Paull

IN THE RESERVATION QUEUE

• The Handmaid’s Tale [graphic novel] by Margaret Atwood; illustrated by Renée Nault
• Whatever Happened to Margo? by Margaret Durrell
• This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel
• The Night Brother by Rosie Garland
• When All Is Said by Anne Griffin
• Speak No Evil by Uzodinma Iweala
• The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy
• The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes
• The Imitation Game: Alan Turing Decoded by Jim Ottaviani [graphic novel]
• Feel Free: Essays by Zadie Smith
• Blood Orange by Harriet Tyce

RETURNED UNFINISHED

• The Glass Woman by Caroline Lea
• The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

RETURNED UNREAD

• Ducks, Newburyport, Lucy Ellmann – 1000+ pages. It just wasn’t going to happen. Not even a skim.
• Early Riser by Jasper Fforde – The blurb appealed to me, but I quickly remembered that I don’t actually like Fforde’s writing (I read The Eyre Affair many a year ago).

What appeals from my stacks?