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.
I have been reading a lot of recently published books lately and this week is no exception: four of the six books I brought home were published within the last year. I am planning to do A Century of Books again in 2014 so, knowing that I have 100 books from the 20th Century to read next year, I am more excited than usual about exploring the offerings of the 21st right now. Plus there are just a lot of really great, intriguing books being published!
The Bachelor by Stella Gibbons – Brother and sister, Constance and Kenneth Fielding live in calm respectability, just out of reach of London and the Blitz. But when a series of uninvited guests converge upon them – from a Balkan exile to Ken’s old flame and the siblings’ own raffish father – the household struggles to preserve its precious peace. In this full house, in a quiet corner of suburbia, no one expects to find romance.
Bassett by Stella Gibbons – The Tower Guesthouse lies nestled between the beech woods of Buckinghamshire. It is run by the unlikely partnership of balmy Miss Padsoe and young, cockney Miss Baker – divided by class and age, they are determined to dislike each other. Through their tale and the interwoven tribulations of two young lovers, Gibbons’s sparkling novel explores the heart of friendship and what unites us.
Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson – …a stunning and propulsive debut novel in which a young Arab hacker is caught up in an adventure for the ages…
The Smart One by Jennifer Close – Close’s second novel, this is not quite as good as her first (Girls in White Dresses) but it is still an interesting look at how family dynamics are impacted when three adult children return home.
The View from Penthouse B by Elinor Lipman – Lipman’s very entertaining new release about two middle-aged sisters, one widowed and one divorced, who find themselves living as roommates in a penthouse apartment in New York.
Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg – perhaps my one chance this year to read a book that the people in my real life have actually heard of and might actually have read!
What did you pick up this week?
I finished Bassett the other day, and will be reviewing soon! It is gloriously wonderful for the most part…
Excellent news, Simon! The only Gibbons I have ever read is Cold Comfort Farm so I’m interested to try some of her other books.
The Lipman book is the one that got my interest! must be really interesting – unfortunately not available in the library but one which will go on my list.Other books by this author available so I will go with those for the moment.
I’m not sure if I would call it really interesting but it is fun and entertaining. Sorry to hear your library doesn’t have it yet but glad to hear you’ll be able to try some of Lipman’s earlier works!
Do hope you enjoy Alif. I thought it was the most unusual & entertaining novel I’ve read for ages. Such a shame it didn’t make the Women’s Prize short list.
Very happy to hear you enjoyed it, Alison. I read and loved Wilson’s memoir, The Butterfly Mosque, shortly after I started blogging so am interested to see what I think of her as a fiction writer!
This is my first time participating in this weekly event. Thanks for the opportunity. I’m am looking forward to exploring new blogs!
Welcome, Pat, and I do hope you enjoy checking out other bloggers’s loot!
I’ve heard of Lean In but I don’t know much about it. I’ve considered picking up The View from Penthouse B. I’ll be interested in your thoughts.
Lean In has been very big among my circle of friends…which is a good way to tell that I went a) to an all-girls school and then b) to a business school! I’m not sure I’ll get around to fully reviewing The View from Penthouse B but it is fun and very Lipman-esque; if you’ve enjoyed her earlier books, you’ll like this one.
I have the Lipman on reserve at the library but I picked up Stuck in the Middle with You by Jennifer Finney Boylan, Gulp by Mary Roach, Whole by T. Colin Campbell, With or Without You by Domenica Ruta, Cheerful Weather for the Wedding and a mystery by Louise Penny, The Cruelest Month. I’m also looking forward to Lipman’s essays.
Cheerful Weather for the Wedding is the only title I recognize from your loot and it’s one I absolutely love! Enjoy and I hope you don’t have to wait too much longer for your turn with the Lipman!
It’s the two ‘oldies’ that catch my eye. I had Westwood on my to-read pile for April but still haven’t got to it. Nice to see more Stella Gibbons appearing.
I read a few pages of Alif at the library but didn’t think I’d like it at all – hope you will enjoy it!
Vintage has so many Gibbons titles available now. I was rather shocked by how many they have reissued – shocked but very, very pleased!
I forgot that I also bought a Gibbons, Westwood, a while back. It will be my first. Your two sound better.
We’ll see how I get on with them!