Library Loot: June 30 to July 6

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva and Marg that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library.

Mabe you noticed that I didn´t loot anything from the library last week. I felt quite proud because of that and then this week I had to celebrate by going to the library! I decided to try to get some oldies but goodies that so many of you seemed to like, and it´s so fun that the editions my uni library had even look old and respectable 😉 It´s even better when there´s no title on the book and people on the train are craning their necks to find out what I´m reading!

Here´s what I got:

Stich ins Wespennest/ Miss Buncle´s Book (D.E. Stevenson)

Could only find the German version but I´m hoping that it won´t matter too much. Or is the writing style the best thing about it?

A Very Great Profession. The Woman´s Novel 1914-39 (Nicola Beauman)

Reading about literature, can it get any better? I took one look at the table of contents and decided to save it for a lazy weekend.

Mrs Harris Goes to New York (Paul Gallico)

I´m so jealous of everyone who´s already enjoyed the Bloomsbury Group books, they look and sound fantastic.

Young Anne (Dorothy Whipple)

Is there anyone who´s read Dorothy Whipple and not gushed about her? My library had this one, apparently her first or any early work, and I´m excited to see what the fuss is about.

Excellent Women (Barbara Pym)

Read this one today, I just wanted to read a few lines to get an impression of the story, but somehow I had suddenly arrived at the last page!

Death of a Gentle Lady (M.C. Beaton)

Kind of a detour from the other books, but since I enjoyed Beaton´s Agatha Raisin series I thought I should try the hamish macbeth series as well (since the main character has such a great name).

Have you read any of these books, what did you think? And what did you loot from the library this week?

Library Loot: June 16-22, 2010

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva and Marg that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library.

At first I was so proud because I had only checked out one book, but then today I decided to get some dvds and couldn´t resist taking another look at the fiction section. My loot this week is a nice change though, I only got one English book and the others are from Germany (I know, wow 😉 ), France, Italy and Spain. On the downside, it appears that two of these books haven´t been translated into English yet.

Here´s this week´s loot:

Bonjour Tristesse (Francoise Sagan)

I´m probably the last person to read this, but I´m very curious if it can live up to all the hype.

In a German Pension (Katherine Mansfield)

Haven´t read any Katherine Mansfield either, I hope this one is good to start with.

Salvador und der Club der unerhörten Wünsche/ Cosas que nunca occurrirían en Tokio (Alberto Torres Blandina)

The author received the Los Dos Orrilas award for this book in 2007 but it has only recently been translated into German. I can´t find any information on an English translation though. The story is about Salvador who works as a cleaner in an airport. He talks to a lot of the travellers and can tell what they are like and where they are going just by looking at them. He also lessens the anonymity and loneliness of the airport a bit by telling people stories.

Akademie Pessoa/ L´accademia Pessoa (Errico Buonanno)

This sounds like a great read for bookworms. It´s about the Pessoa academy, a secret society of people fighting against literature. But then suicides happen which seem to be linked to a manuscript. Couldn´t find an English edition for this one either, sorry.

Scherbenpark (Alina Bronsky)

This one´s been translated by Europa editions as Broken Glass Park. It´s about seventeen year old Sascha who was born in Russia but is now living in a ghetto in Germany. She is trying to juggle ghetto life, the elite highschool she is allowed to attend because she is gifted, wanting to kill her stepfather and discovering love. This book has been received very well here but I decided to wait for the hype to die down a bit, I don´t want to be disappointed just because my expectations were too high.

Have you read any of these books, what did you think? And what did you loot from the library this week?

Library Loot: June 9-15

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva and Marg that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library.

Has it been another week already?? Although I´ve been reading, I feel like my tbr pile hasn´t gotten smaller at all. When I look at my reading pace and my library looting, Sisyphus comes to mind.

Here´s this week´s loot:

Das Ikarus Mädchen/ The Icarus Girl (Helen Oyeyemi)

I´m sure Helen Oyeyemi needs no introduction, her works are very present in the blogosphere, and most reviews have been positive.

Bozo David Hurensohn/ The Man Who Came In From The Back of Beyond (Biyi Bandele-Thomas)

Bandele-Thomas is another Nigerian author. This novel was apparently written when he was only eighteen and is about modern Nigeria and also about a novel within a novel. I got Oyeyemi and Bandele-Thomas´ books for the Orbis Nigerian Mini Challenge which runs till the end of June.

The Raw Shark Texts (Steven Hall)

This is a thriller featuring a character with amnesia, and  The Literary Lollipop´s review of it convinced me to try it.

Oryx and Crake (Margaret Atwood)

It´s an Atwood novel, it depicts a post-apocalyptic society, it´s bound to be good. I want to read it this year for Jennifer´s Canadian Authors Challenge.

Das Labyrinth der Wörter/ La tete en friche (Marie-Sabine Roger)

I´ve been eyeing this one for a while now, and it was finally not checked out from the library. It´s about a not too clever man who meets an old woman on a park bench and she begins to introduce him to books. I seem to be reading a lot of books that feature old women this year 🙂

Talking about Detective Fiction (P.D. James)

Perfect book for those who enjoy the detective genre, I´m hoping P.D. James will have a couple of good recommendations for a picky crime reader like me.

Reading Women: Literary Figures and Cultural Icons from the Victorian Age to the Present (ed. Janet Badia and Jennifer Phegley)

I think I´ve seen this book on some blog but I really can´t remeber where exactly. Anyway, this looks like a fascinating read and I´m really beginning to like my university library.

The Surplus Woman: Unmarried in Imperial Germany, 1871-1918 (Catherine L. Dollard)

Ana made me want to read about surplus women, and I thought I should try to read about Germany, so I got this book, also from the uni library.

Have you read any of these books, what did you think? And what did you loot from the library this week?

Library Loot: June 2-8, 2010

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva and Marg that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. The Mr. Linky is at Eva´s blog this week.

I missed my library loot last week so even though I have loads of unread books lying around here I had to get some new ones out. They look really good at my place 🙂

Here´s the complete list:

The Ladies of Grace Adieu (Susanna Clarke)

I read her first book some years ago and quite enjoyed it so I hope this one will be good as well. Also, the cover looks fantastic 🙂

Cold Comfort Farm (Stella Gibbons)

Loads of gushing reviews made me want to read this one, I also loved the film adaptation. I´m hoping I´ll be able to read it in time for Nymeth´s 1930s challenge.

Money in the Bank (P.G. Wodehouse)

The combination of fantastic weather and weekend calls for some Wodehouse (although really, everything calls for some Wodehouse 🙂 ).

The Spare Room (Helen Garner)

There´s no escaping this one in the bookstores at the moment and the library is much cheaper. Still, I don´t know when I´ll be in the mood for a heavy book like this.

The Act of Roger Murgatroyd (Gilbert Adair)

A satire of and hommage to Agatha Christie´s mysteries, I had to check this one out. This book is supposedly not only a great parody but also a very good mystery. I´m excited about this one (and it´s also part of a series!). Quite proud of myself for only getting one crime novel this time 🙂

And then there´s another pile of books, which I looted from a good friend with excellent taste last week (my book fairy so to speak). I´m calling it the friend loot:

The End of Mr. Y (Scarlett Thomas)

I loved her other novel PopCo (check it out if you´re into mysteries and code-cracking) and this one´s supposed to be even better, I´m very excited to read it.

Croc Attack (Assaf Gavron)

Another book lots of people have reviewed and raved about, I´m quite sure I´ll enjoy it as well. Also finally a book toward my read-more-world-lit resolution.

The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner´s Dilemma (Trenton Lee Stewart)

The third MBS book, I finished it yesterday and had a great time. I love children´s books because of the wonderful sense of adventure they inspire.

Going Bovine (Libba Bray)

I read Bray´s Gemma Doyle series and liked the first book a lot, the rest was a bit too esoteric for me, but I´be heard great things about Going Bovine.

I really have a lot of great books lying around my place but somehow I can´t really seem to focus on one. I managed to finish one yesterday but other than that I´ve cracked open five books and restlessly go back and forth between them. I hope it´ll get better soon! I´ll take a pile of books with me to the balcony and hopefully get my mojo back.

Also, I apologize that this whole post is in italics, wordpress doesn´t like me today and I don´t know anything about html.

What did you loot from the library this week?

Library Loot: May 12 to 18

This is the post of shame really, I thought I could do with only borrowing two books from my uni library this week, but no I had to return some books to the other library and couldn´t resist taking a peak at the fiction aisle.

I tried to make it quick but unfortunately they had some interesting books displayed and I only had to slow down and with me they went. I guess I´ll just have to give up on restraining myself. It´s not like I have to pay for them apart from the yearly fee. So be prepared for gloating LL post from now on 😀

Here are my quick finds:

Die Geschichte  von Herrn Sommer (Patrick Süskind)

I´ve read The Story of Mr. Sommer ages ago but I remember enjoying it a lot and I´m trying to read some German literature as well. If you ´re looking to read some German books, try this one. It´s more of a novella really and the story as well as the writing is beautiful. The illustration by Sempé adds to the charme.

Maisie Dobbs (Jaqueline Winspear)

I´m always on the look-out for another good mystery and I haven´t tried Masie Dobbs yet. This one takes place in London in 1929 so I´m hoping that  I´ll like either the mystery or the description of the 20s/30s, if not both.

The Arrival (Shaun Tan)

This one comes highly recommended by Vishy so I´m pretty sure I´ll like it. Why my library decided to acquire the English as well as the German edition of a picture book is beyond me.

Meeresrand (Véronique Olmi)

I read somewhere that Olmi´s works are fantastic and it was put on a front shelf cover up so I decided to give ot a try. I´m not sure about the English title, so here´s the original French one: Bord de mer.

Do you have any thoughts on these books or want to join in on my celebration of library loot decadence, drop me a line 🙂

Library Loot: May 12-18

I´m getting either better or worse with my library loot, I´m not sure which yet. I finally thought of using the university library for fun books as well as research. And they´ve actually got a few Persephone classics but in other editions. And they´ve got lots of other great books but I´m trying to pace myself.

I´ve only got two books out of the uni library but I´m going to the other library later today to return some books. I´m doing the library loot post now because I´m hoping that it´ll convince me not to check out more books. Call me an optimist! 🙂

So here are the two (!) books I looted this week:

I got Sweet Danger by Margery Allingham, which was published in 1933, for Nymeth´s 1930s challenge (it runs for another month and you only have to read one book, so go sign up if you haven´t!). I´m very curious about his one, as Allingham is supposed to be one of the British queens of crime (although Agatha Christie is my reigning queen of crime!). I know, another crime book, this blog is getting very predictible and boring!

I recently read my first Nancy Mitford book, Love in a Cold Climate, and completely fell for Mitford´s wit and humour. And then I found The Letters of Nancy Mitford & Evelyn Waugh at my uni library. I´ve taken a quick look, and their letters seem to be amazing, can´t wait to read this one.

What did you loot this week?

Library Loot: May 5 to 11

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva and Marg that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library.

Let´s all forget what I said about not borrowing any books from the library anymore, what was I thinking? I´m glad I browsed the shelves because I found some great books, and in my defense, I´ve already finished one 🙂

Here´s this week´s pile:

Agatha Raisin and the Walkers of Dembley (M.C. Beaton)

I quite enjoyed the Agatha Raisin book I read last week (the review will be up soon) so I was happy to find the next book had been returned to the library.

The Affair of the Bloodstained Egg Cosy (James Anderson)

If you´re a regular reader of this blog, you´ll have noticed how much I like cosy crimes. This one had a fun cover and the word cosy in the title 🙂 Also, the blurbs are just really teasing, calling it a “mystery in the great tradition of Agatha Christie” and “If you half-close your eyes you can almost smell Poirot or Miss Marple shuffling through the pages”. I had no chance of resisting this one!  Hope it´ll be good, it´s the first book in a series.

Love in a Cold Climate (Nancy Mitford)

Can´t believe I´ve never read any of her books before, I finished this one already and loved it.

Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont (Elizabeth Taylor)

Another Virago Modern Classic, I couldn´t resist. And according to the backflap, the writer has been called the Jane Austen of this century.

Tropical Fish (Doreen Baingana)

I want to read more diversely but somehow I always end up with books by white American/ British authors. This one sounds quite interesting, it´s mostly set in Uganda.

Shades of Grey (Jasper Fforde)

I´ve been waiting for the library to acquire this book for ages and snapped it right up when they finally did. I love Fforde´s works, I love dystopian literature. I should love this one, right?

The Making of a Marchioness (Frances Hodgson Burnett)

Another great find, can´t believe my library finally invested in a Persephone! 🙂

Any thoughts on these books? And what did you loot from the library this week?

Library Loot: April 28 to May 4

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva and Marg that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. The Mr. Linky is at Marg´s this week.

I can´t believe I went to the library again and took out 7 books! I have a huge unread pile of library books already, but they do look better at my place than at the library 🙂

I´ve been trying to get into the whole graphic novel thing. I doubt that I will ever feel as passionate about them as I do about books, but I really liked Persepolis and Exit Wounds so I included the comics section in my library round.

Anyway, here´s my pile for this week:

Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener (M.C. Beaton)

As always, I´m on the look-out for cozy crimes. Mae´s review of an Agatha Raisin book made me want to try them out. This one isn´t the first in the series but the only one that wasn´t checked out.

Miss Webster and Chérif (Patricia Duncker)

It´s got a pretty cover and is published by Bloomsbury, that´s enough to make me pick it up. But the story sounds interesting as well 🙂

The Virago Book of Such Devoted Sisters (ed. Shena Mackay)

The bond between sisters is one of my favorite element in literature (next to unreliable narrators and dystopias), perhaps because I only have a brother.

The Life and Crimes of Agatha Christie (Charles Osborne)

One of my favorite authors so of course I´m interested in this one. After that I can read her autobiography to check what Agatha Christie thought of all this herself 🙂

The Unit (Ninni Holmquist)

Dystopian fiction of course!

Chicken with Plums (Marjane Sartrapi)

I really liked Sartrapi´s style in Persepolis, so I´m curious about this one. Although it makes me want to cook chicken with plums for dinner!

The Complete Maus (Art Spiegelmann)

I´ve only read excerpts of this one but I think I´ll like it. The one that showed that graphic literature can be high art as much as any other genre.

Any thoughts on these books? And what´s your take on graphic novels?

Library Loot 21-27, 2010

Library Loot is co-hosted by Eva and Marg.

I want to move into the library! 😀 I think I´m not allowed though (but I haven´t seen a sign prohibiting that now that I think of it), so  I´m moving all the books into my flat, bit by bit 🙂 I still have library books I need to finish but let´s just say I´m testing how they´d look in my room.

This weeks I got out six, I couldn´t carry more (I also got some DVDs and they were out of baskets):
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An Expert in Murder (Nicola Upson)

I´ve been eyeing this one for a while but now my library finally acquired it so I couldn´t leave it there. I´m always on the hunt for good cozy crimes, and the thirties were an interesting time (go check out Nymeth´s 1930s mini-challenge!) so I´m hoping I´ll enjoy it. I´ve never read any Tey so I hope I won´t have a problem with her as a “fictional” character.

On the Beach (Nevil Shute)

They had the vintage edition, I´m a sucker for this series. And the description on the back sounds interesting enough, in a depressing kind of way. Has anyone read this?

A Graveyard for Lunatics (Ray Bradbury)

I´ve never gotten around to actually reading much more of Bradbury´s works than Fahrenheit 451 and one short story so I´m really looking forward to this book. Bradbury´s take on the movie industry should be fun.

Take the Cannoli (Sarah Vowell)

Emily made me curious about Vowell´s works, and I think I´m going to enjoy this one. I love a chatty but informed style.

The Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam (Lauren Liebenberg)

Another Virago book, with a very eye-catching title! Curiously enough the proof copy made it all the way to my German library. So for once I noticed a book because of the title instead of the cover. Progress!?

England, England (Julian Barnes)

This one I had to get after reading Susi´s great review. I wish I could read all those books at the same time, but I´ve noticed recently that although I usually read two books at the same time, I focus on one work and the other does not get my full attention or appreciation. I started this two-book-system so that I could switch according to my mood but perhaps I´ll go back to one book at a time. Perhaps it´s also due to some amazing books I´ve read recently (The Lace Reader could simply not grab me while I also read Songs for the Missing, which was very emotional. I really liked the former when I focused on it). What do you think? Do you prefer to focus on one book or do you switch between a couple of books?

Library Loot: April 7-13, 2010

My first (official) Library Loot post, but I figured today was the best day to start as I went to the library and took out seven books to  celebrate being done with end-of-term papers. Okay so I went to bookstore first but the lack of books in English depressed me (they don´t  have the second Flavia book yet, a major let-  down because this was to be my treat for finishing the papers).

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I doubt that I will be able finish all these till the end of the month but they all sounded so tempting. I think they acquired a couple of great  books in my month-long absence, which was a nice surprise. Any thoughts on where to start?

The Other Half Lives (Sophie Hannah)

Her books seem to be everywhere recently and if she really writes as well as the blurbs promise, I think I´m going to have a fun evening with this one.

Lady Audley´s Secret (Mary Elizabeth Braddon)

Victorian sensation fiction and a pretty cover.

The Lace Reader (Brunonia Barry)

Pretty spine 🙂 Obviously I´m not all superficial when it comes to choosing books.

Cider with Rosie (Laurie Lee)

Cosy Cotswolds! Have read a good review of this somewhere but I can´t remember which blog, sorry. At least the recommendation stuck.

Union Street (Pat Barker)

Was lured by the Virago apple and thought I might want to read something heavier.

The Woman´s Room (Marilyn French)

Should have read this one ages ago!

Her Fearful Symmetry (Audrey Niffenegger)

Have absolutely no expectations after reading lots of meh reviews. But since the library (finally) bought it I thought why not.