In the past month we’ve had visits to libraries in Canada and Catalonia – thanks to Marcie and Margaret for sharing about these.
It’s been good to see more activities resuming at my local library, where I volunteer twice a week. In recent months I’ve noticed the upstairs meeting room being used for Lego building and flower arranging, as well as for reading group discussions.
When it comes to library material, I’ve been borrowing much more than I’ve been reading. I stocked up in advance of our Scotland holiday – even though we’re travelling by train, bus and ferry, so I haven’t been able to take very many books with me.
This is what I’ve gotten to since last month:
READ
- The Dance Tree by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
- The Feast by Margaret Kennedy
- A Parrot in the Pepper Tree by Chris Stewart
- The Murderer’s Ape by Jakob Wegelius
(I reviewed the above four across my Spain trip and 20 Books of Summer posts.)
- By Ash, Oak and Thorn by Melissa Harrison
- Stormy Petrel by Mary Stewart (review to come)
- The Schoolhouse by Sophie Ward
CURRENTLY READING
- Orchid Summer by Jon Dunn
- Secrets of the Sea House by Elisabeth Gifford
- Black Narcissus by Rumer Godden
- This Is Not a Pity Memoir by Abi Morgan
- The Summer of the Bear by Bella Pollen
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 above image. The hashtag is #LoveYourLibrary.
Bookish Beck = Rebecca Foster. American transplant to England. Freelance proofreader and book reviewer.
Bookish Beck 
Crikey. If you took that many books, I doubt if you had packing space for more than one pair of clean pants! Our library, mercifully, is still buying lots of new books – but for how much longer, I wonder? I do my best to plough through a lot- but have made a few poor choices (for me) lately. Note to self: don’t always judge a book by its cover.
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It’s amazing how many books you can pack alongside clothing in a carry-on size suitcase plus a backpack 🙂
It’s tough, isn’t it? I pick up a lot of books that look unmissable from the cover and blurb but don’t engage me. I’m usually pretty good at abandoning the duds within the first 30 pages, though.
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Ah, you’ve got the same edition of Sarah Moss’s Night Waking that I own! I really like the cover. I just checked out two books from my local library to re-read for 20 Books of Summer – Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Lowland and Toni Morrison’s Beloved.
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That’s a great way of sourcing books for your rereading challenge. According to Goodreads, I first read Night Waking over a few days in January 2012 — it was my first by Moss. I’m a few chapters into my reread and think I’ll enjoy it more this time around. I found this copy in a Little Free Library.
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I have been reading writers of the 1790s – trying to fill the gaps in my knowledge of Romantic writers. Our library (in reality, libraries – Southwark London Borough share resources across multiple sites) – is a bit light on the texts, but I’ve been able to borrow Claire Tomalin’s 1971 biography of Mary Wollstonecraft and Jonathan Bate’s 2020 biography of Wordsworth, both good on contextualising the writers and their work (but neither come anywhere near Richard Holmes’ biography of Coleridge). I also borrowed Dylan Thomas’ Under Milk Wood for the Stuck in a Book 1954 bookclub, review posted here already!
Great to see support for libraries – our services in Lewisham have taken a hammering recently, but Southwark is holding up – I wrote about their more expansive and far-seeing policy here https://www.oxfambookshernehill.co.uk/hello-library-my-old-friend/
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I get to use Lewisham libraries too when I stay with family, and have been shocked at how old and unappetising some of the stock looks. We’re used to thinking of the north as the poor relation generally, but North Yorkshire is – so far – definitely protecting its book-buying budget. For how much longer will it be able to sustain this though?
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Lewisham has cut back hard – libraries are now run as community assets by volunteer boards, and have to fundraise; or they are absorbed into other businesses e.g. gyms, who take over the premises and provide a shadow of the previous service. I don’t see this improving frankly.
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Oh dear. I hope that won’t be a way forward here.
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When I worked for King’s College London I loved using the Lambeth public library service as well as the university libraries I had access to.
I’d like to read more of Claire Tomalin’s biographies.
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I went into the library today but came out empty handed – just nothing in the new acquisitions that appealed to me. I have a feeling that their book buying hasn’t returned to its pre-covid days
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That’s too bad. I rarely leave the library empty-handed on my volunteering days! Is there a way that you can make suggestions for new stock purchases?
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Supposedly we can do this but nothing ever happens with those suggestions so I stopped trying. They just seem interested in best sellers
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Come to us! We have three full bookcases showcasing new additions which partially changes every time I visit.
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Sounds like you have more new acquisitions than West Berkshire normally does! I keep an eye on the new stock trolleys before they even make it out of the workroom. A lot goes onto the “Bestsellers” racks (two-week loan, no renewal).
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Ah. We don’t have a ‘bestsellers’ rack. But I do appreciate being a volunteer and having first dibs at the new stock while processing it for display.
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[…] reasons to Love your Library, a monthly celebration hosted by Bookish […]
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I’m very late for Love your Library. In all honesty, it works better for me to post this half way through the month, as I’m not primarily a book blogger, and your chosen date is too near Six Degrees for me, which I have got into the habit of posting very early in the month. Here you are! https://margaret21.com/2022/07/09/you-can-sometimes-judge-a-book-by-its-cover/
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Thank you! It’s never a problem to post anytime you wish; I’ll always link back to it in that month’s roundup.
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