Library Checkout, May 2021

Another big library reading month for me as I scrambled to get through the books that were reserved after me and then wrangle the remaining pile under some semblance of control before heading back to the USA for my mother’s wedding. I’ve also suspended any holds that look like they might arrive imminently – the first time I’ve taken advantage of this option. Once I’m back I’m sure I’ll quickly build up another goodly stack to last me through the summer.

I give links to reviews of books I haven’t already featured here, as well as ratings for most reads and skims. 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.

 

READ

• The Madness of Grief: A Memoir of Love and Loss by Reverend Richard Coles
• Ten Days by Austin Duffy
• Featherhood: On Birds and Fathers by Charlie Gilmour
• Deep Water by Patricia Highsmith
• The Absolute Book by Elizabeth Knox
• Ness by Robert Macfarlane and Stanley Donwood
• The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne by Brian Moore
• The Pleasure Steamers by Andrew Motion
• You’re Not Listening: What You’re Missing and Why It Matters by Kate Murphy
• Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson
• Woods etc. by Alice Oswald
• Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters
• Neurocomic by Dr. Matteo Farinella (illustrations) and Dr. Hana Roš
• Many Different Kinds of Love: A Story of Life, Death and the NHS by Michael Rosen
• When We Went Wild by Isabella Tree and Allira Tee (a children’s picture book; doesn’t count towards my year total)

SKIMMED

• After: A Doctor Explores What Near-Death Experiences Reveal about Life and Beyond by Bruce Greyson
• The Ministry of Bodies: Life and Death in a Modern Hospital by Seamus O’Mahony

CURRENTLY READING

• Blue Dog by Louis de Bernières
• Becoming a Man: Half a Life Story by Paul Monette [set aside temporarily]

CHECKED OUT, TO BE READ

• Under the Blue by Oana Aristide
• Summer Story and Autumn Story by Jill Barklem
• This Happy by Niamh Campbell
• The Pure Gold Baby by Margaret Drabble
• Lakewood by Megan Giddings
• The Master Bedroom by Tessa Hadley
• A More Perfect Union by Tammye Huf
• The Rome Plague Diaries: Lockdown Life in the Eternal City by Matthew Kneale
• His Only Wife by Peace Adzo Medie
• Dreamland by Rosa Rankin-Gee
• How to Be Sad: Everything I’ve Learned about Getting Happier, by Being Sad, Better by Helen Russell
• Earthed: A Memoir by Rebecca Schiller
• The Color Purple by Alice Walker (to reread)

IN THE RESERVATION QUEUE

• Who Is Maud Dixon? by Alexandra Andrews
• Misplaced Persons by Susan Beale
• Civilisations by Laurent Binet
• Medusa’s Ankles: Selected Stories by A.S. Byatt
• Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers
• Heavy Light: A Journey through Madness, Mania and Healing by Horatio Clare
• Second Place by Rachel Cusk
• Darwin’s Dragons by Lindsay Galvin
• Early Morning Riser by Katherine Heiny
• The Premonition: A Pandemic Story by Michael Lewis
• Nothing but Blue Sky by Kathleen MacMahon
• Circus of Wonders by Elizabeth Macneal
• Demystifying the Female Brain by Sarah McKay
• When the Stars Go Dark by Paula McLain
• Elegy for a River: Whiskers, Claws and Conservation’s Last, Wild Hope by Tom Moorhouse
• Acts of Desperation by Megan Nolan
• Heartstoppers, Volume 1 by Alice Oseman
• Joe Biden: American Dreamer by Evan Osnos
• The Dig by John Preston
• My Phantoms by Gwendoline Riley
• I Belong Here: A Journey along the Backbone of Britain by Anita Sethi
• Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead
• Broke Vegan: Over 100 Plant-Based Recipes that Don’t Cost the Earth by Saskia Sidey
• Still Life by Sarah Winman
• The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben

RETURNED UNFINISHED

• You Exist Too Much by Zaina Arafat
• The Last Migration by Charlotte McConaghy – I read the first 22 pages. The plot felt very similar to Ankomst and I didn’t get drawn in by the prose, but this has been a huge word-of-mouth hit among my Goodreads friends. I’ll try it again another time.
• Hot Stew by Fiona Mozley

RETURNED UNREAD

• Failures of State: The Inside Story of Britain’s Battle with Coronavirus by Jonathan Calvert and George Arbuthnott – I think I’m finally tiring of Covid stories.
• Life Support: Diary of an ICU Doctor on the Frontline of the COVID Crisis by Jim Down – Ditto, though having now seen him at a Hay Festival event I might give this a try another time.
• Life Sentences by Billy O’Callaghan – I can’t even remember how I heard about this or why I put a request on it!

What appeals from my stacks?