The UK has just experienced its coldest week since 2010, so it’s no wonder we’ve been freezing here in our drafty old house. It’s turning milder (and rainy), so we hope to have it habitable for hosting my parents-in-law on Christmas day, and my sister the week after.
Margaret sent me a link to this charming story about a public library in Poland that moved its entire collection 350 meters down the road using a human chain of over 600 volunteers. Marcie sourced many of her graphic novel and poetry reads, as well as various globe-trotting stories, from the library this year. And Eleanor has been reading loads of print and e-books from her library: everything from Dickens to sci-fi. Thank you all for your contributions!
Earlier in the month my library closed to the public for two days to complete a stock take (which happens once every three years). I helped out for my usual two hours on the Tuesday morning, scanning children’s chapter books with a tiny device about the size of two memory sticks put together. We scanned the library’s nearly 50,000 on-shelf items in the equivalent of just over one working day.
All of my remaining reservations seem to have come in at once. There’s no hope of me reading all the big-name 2022 releases (such as the Booker Prize winner, and Celeste Ng’s new novel) before the end of the year, but I will see if I can manage to finish a few more that I have in progress.
Since last month:
READ
- Pages & Co.: The Treehouse Library by Anna James
- Heat and Dust by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
- Maureen Fry and the Angel of the North by Rachel Joyce
- Everything the Light Touches by Janice Pariat
- Leap Year by Helen Russell
- The Family Retreat by Bev Thomas
- Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson
CURRENTLY READING
- Horse by Geraldine Brooks
- A Heart that Works by Rob Delaney
- Leila and the Blue Fox by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
- Standard Deviation by Katherine Heiny
- Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
RETURNED UNFINISHED
- Lessons by Ian McEwan
- Liberation Day by George Saunders
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 
I’ll be interested to see what you think of Horse.
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I’m enjoying the interplay of past and present narratives so far, but no chance I’ll finish it this calendar year to include it in any best-of considerations.
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Same!
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I’ve a number of library books in hand this month (though nowhere near as many as you!) – three titles by Arthur Machen, a biography of Angela Carter, and a kid’s book by Astrid Lindgren (this last for the NordicFINDS read in January). That lot should keep me going along with my own unread copies for quite some time!
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Ooh, thank you for the reminder of Nordic FINDS! I must grab something off the shelf for that.
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Oh, I’m so glad you returned Liberation Day unfinished. So did I, and after I’d reserved it too. I thought I might have given it a fairer chance if I hadn’t got so very many books in my Actual, as opposed to Virtual pile to read.
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I only read the first story. It was way too similar to a story from the other collection I’ve read of his.
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Over 50,000 items in one working day! Great job!
Thanks for always shining a spotlight on libraries!
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It was all hands on deck — even the IT people were roped into scanning items. So with everyone focused on one task, it went faster than I think they were expecting. I scanned about five bays worth of chapter books and I was pleased with that.
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My dad just read and recommended Horse to me.
Right now, I’m reading the third book of my Library Project, which I said something about almost a year ago now and which I have started but not written about yet. My first installment is coming soon! 🙂
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Is your dad also a big reader? I am enjoying it so far. I’m sad that after that I’ll only have one of Brooks’s novels left.
Oh, I’d forgotten about your project! I’ll look forward to hearing more about it, and will be sure to link to it next month.
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My Dad read a lot before he had kids, then he stopped for many years, but my mother worked hard to turn him back into a reader again. And she picks out his books for him, so they’re good ones! 🙂
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I tried to get my dad and sister back into reading. I succeeded, temporarily, with my sister.
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I see you returned Lessons unfinished. Did you run out of time or were you not enjoying the book? I have an ARC but am hesitant about it – McEwan’s most recent fiction hasn’t wowed me
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I read the first 75 pages. It was enjoyable enough, though felt quite different from his recent stuff — more like William Boyd’s work. I’m not as captivated by 1980s/Cold War narratives.
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I impressed myself by actually finishing a book that I had on a one week borrowing period, Sea of Tranquility. I took another one-week book and haven’t touched it!
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Good job! That was a very addictive read, easy to devour quickly, yes?
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Sorry you didn’t fall in love with Maureen Fry like I did, but hey… no two people read the same book, right?
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I’ve read all of Rachel Joyce’s books and like them, but find them a little obvious and twee.
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Well, as they say… no two people read the same book – or author, I guess.
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[…] Because all but four of these books were borrowed from North Yorkshire Libraries, which continues, even now, to buy a wide range of appetising new books, I dedicate this post to Bookish Beck’s Love your Library […]
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And here I m – very late in the day, but still … https://margaret21.com/2022/12/30/my-life-in-book-titles-2022/
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[…] I agree with Margaret about the discovery of my local Marple and Stockport Library. I love to borrow the poetry books and the borrow book gives me kindle and audible. Bookish Beck also has title challenges, book reviews and love of library posts. https://bookishbeck.wordpress.com/2022/12/19/love-your-library-december-2022/ […]
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