Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.
Happy 2013, everyone! How better to start off a new year than with a new batch of books from the library?
London War Notes, 1939-1945 by Mollie Panter-Downes – I loved Panter-Downes’ short stories in Good Evening, Mrs Craven, have just finished her beautiful novel One Fine Day, and am now more eager than ever to move onto these columns written during the war for The New Yorker.
The Light Years by Elizabeth Jane Howard – I am determined that 2013 will be the year I not only start The Light Years (which I’ve done several times now) but also finish it. The universe seems to agree that this is a good year to get attached to the Cazalets: the BBC has just started airing a radio dramatization and Howard is apparently working on the fifth book in the series.
Framley Parsonage by Anthony Trollope – after reading Doctor Thorne last spring, I told myself I had to review it before I could move on to Framley Parsonage, the next of Trollope’s Barsetshire books. Months later, when I realised that the review was probably never going to be written, I was too busy trying to complete A Century of Books to be able to work anything from the 19th Century into my reading. Now I am ready (and I even might get around to writing that review of Doctor Thorne, too).
The Fishing Fleet: Husband-hunting in the Raj by Anne de Courcy – I love Anne de Courcy’s social histories and can never resist any book on the British Raj.
A Small Place in Italy by Eric Newby – I have been meaning to read Newby’s travel books for some time but it seems like I’m going to start with the least-travel oriented of them all: the story of Newby and his wife’s experiences buying and restoring a farmhouse in Tuscany during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.
Sylvester by Georgette Heyer (read by Richard Armitage) – after rereading Sylvester last week, I am in the mood to listen to Richard Armitage read it to me.
What did you pick up this week?
I read The Light Years a year or so ago and have the second book in the series on my shelf. I haven’t heard any of the radio drama yet, but will catch up with it this week. The Fishing Fleet is a book I definitely want to read – it sounds great.
I haven’t listened to the radio drama yet but I am looking forward to catching up with it on the weekend; everyone who has been listening seems to be enjoying it!
Must get The Fishing Fleet as I have this author’s other books, all excellent.
Glad you have picked up The Light Years … I made a couple of false starts with this years ago and then suddenly I couldn’t put it down, likewise the other three in the series and delighted to learn that EJH writing a fifth Cazalet novel.
What have I picked up? Well, none in the TBR pile has really hit the spot so I ventured to my little Victoria swivel bookcase which holds my Persephones and chose The Home-Maker by Dorothy Canfield Fisher – enjoying that so far. Also started Nicolo Rising by Dorothy Dunnett but finding that hard going, or is it me who fails to understand what is actually happening in the first couple of chapters, and who these characters are (even with a character cast list at the front of the book!)
PS Glad you have the Panter-Downes – this is also on ny shelf.
Have you read the Panter-Downes letters yet, Margaret? I am only part way through 1940 right now but they are so good. Someone needs to reissue this and soon!
Richard Armitage! Le sigh…. I wish my library had some of his audios but they don’t! Might have to buy one with the Itunes vouchers I got for Christmas. Love the sound of The Fishing Fleet too.
Time to petition your library or else, yes, pull out that voucher, Marg. The Naxos audiobooks are very good and there is something particularly amusing (to me at least) in listening to RA do the voices of elderly females. He is surprisingly good at it.
My house is library book bare at the moment. I have made a resolution that only one library book at a time as I have so many books in my own library that are unread plus all my hundreds of Penguins. Going to focus this year on the Century of Books and Classics Club challenges using all the books in my own library. But have to get books I hear about from others. I have 100 on my library wishlist so will just go through them one or two at a time. That way I hope to get through my own. Hahaha..we’ll see. I could change all of this on a whim. Good luck w/ all of your wonderful reading. I like Newby a lot.
And here I am congratulating myself whenever I have less than 20 items out from the library at a time! Good luck with your resolution!
I picked up London War Notes myself at the library on Saturday. I put in an inter-library loan request as soon as I read about it in your post on her short stories, and because it’s ILL (hard to renew) I started it immediately. Now I’ll have to add the de Courcy as well. I love Framley Parsonage, so I’m glad to see that on your list.
Isn’t it good, Lisa? I’m only in 1940 right now (having started reading this afternoon) but I am so impressed by Panter-Downes. Why hasn’t Persephone reissued this yet?
You’ve managed to find a library copy of Mollie P-D’s book! Lucky you
I had to inter-library loan it but, yes, I got it!
A new Cazalet! I remember enjoying this series a lot. I liked your idea of going back to the earlier Barsetshire… but I don;t want to be overambitious. I’m on a one-book-a-year Trollope progression, and I might stick to that for now.
One Fine Day is just lovely, btw.
I embrace any Barsetshire but Trollope’s definitely got ignored last year and I am eager to return there. I’ll probably (read: definitely) work some Thirkell in as well but I’m into the mid-1950s books now and they are no where near as wonderful as the earlier volumes.
Happy new year! I haven’t been to the library yet, but I do love the look of your loot, especially the London War Notes.
Happy New Year to you too, Bina!
I think you have the most amazing library! I’ve got Barchester Towers queued up myself. Hopefully, I will get to more Trollope this year.
One of these (the Panter-Downes) is ILL but yes, my library is wonderful!
I am so pleased that you (and Lisa) have the London War Notes. they are every bit as good as you’d hope and they really should be in dove grey with the short stories.
I’m not to sure about a fifth Cazalet Chronicle, but I loved the series, I want to reread it, and ultimately I have to trust Elizabeth Jane Howard.
Agreed! These letters need to be in dove grey soon so everyone else can discover how brilliant they are. I admired One Fine Day, loved Good Evening, Mrs Craven, but these I adore.
There’s an audiobook of Sylvester narrated by Richard Armitage?! Whaaat?! Must. Find. Immediately.
You must! It is that wonderful. He also narrated two other wonderful Heyer audiobooks: Venetia and The Convenient Marriage.
I ‘d love to get The Fishing Fleet. I’ve heard of so many names for the girls who came out and sadly those who went back as well without finding a partner. This must be good. An audio book of Sylvester. Wow, wow, wow.
I’ve loved reading about ‘the fishing fleet’ in other books on India so it will be interesting to finally read a whole book devoted to them!
Looking forwards to The Fishing Fleet very much – that’s all my reader buttons pressed! Hoping the paperback will reach our library in time to save me from giving in and actually buying a copy…
Can only hope Richard Armitage isn’t too preoccupied with The Hobbit to keep up his schedule of Heyer recordings – I’m holding out for The Nonesuch next.
It sounds fun, doesn’t it? And de Courcy’s other books have all be great, so I have high hopes for this one.
As for RA and audiobooks, yes, I desperately hope he will do more. The Nonesuch would be wonderful but I’ll also keep my fingers crossed for Frederica and Arabella.
I loved Dr. Thorne. Framley Parsonage is also good, and I mostly liked The Small House at Allington. I’ve started The Last Chronicle of Barset and I’m determined to finish this series so I can get to work on more Trollope! I only have 40 more of his novels to go!
Only forty! I have more than that (43) so I suppose I should be thankful I’m starting on him relatively early in life. I can tell that one of the delights with Trollope is going to be rereading.