Library Loot!

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Marg and Claire 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!

     This is our first Library Loot post! We decided to start this week as we have a rather ambitious selection.

 

Howard's End is on the Landing: A Year of Reading from Home by Susan Hill

I have heard a lot about this book. The blurb on the back reads: "Early one autumn afternoon in pursuit of an elusive book on her shelves, Susan Hill encountered dozens of others that she had never read, or forgotten she owned, or wanted to read for a second time. The discovery inspired her to embark on a year-long voyage through her books, in order to get to know her own collection again." For the past year, I have been trying to make a dent in my collection of unread books. Besides, I'm a sucker for books about books. ~ Frances

Sylvia Beach and the Lost Generation by Noel Riley Fitch

If you've viewed our Challenge page, you'll know that we're doing the One, Two, Theme! Challenge. For one of my themes, I've chosen Literary Paris in the 1920s and 1930s. Sylvia Beach owned a bookshop in Paris, Shakespeare & Co., where she sold and often lent books to many American expatriates including Ernest Hemingway, T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Gertrude Stein. During these decades, Paris was the cultural capital of the world. I hope this book provides flavorful background to my reading of these authors for the challenge. ~ Frances

Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell

I've never read Gaskell! It's time I remedied this situation. ~ Frances

The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen

I read Garden Spells and enjoyed it. I thought I would give this book a try. ~ Frances

The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister

I saw this online and was captivated. It's a story about eight people who gather once a month for a cooking class in a restaurant: "The students have come to learn the art behind Lillian's soulful dishes, but it soon becomes clear that each seeks a recipe for something beyond the kitchen. One by one they are transformed by the aromas, flavors, and textures of what they create..." ~ Frances

Hotel Paradise by Martha Grimes

We have both read this before many years ago. It is Grimes's best mystery, by far. After re-reading Hotel Paradise, we may read the sequel, Cold Flat Junction. ~ Frances & Rose

The Bodley Head Fitzgerald Vol. V

Again, this is for my One, Two, Theme! Challenge. It is a collection of short stories by Fitzgerald publishes by The Bodley Head. It includes "Bernice Bobs Her Hair," "Winter Dreams," "The Ice Palace," "The Rich Boy," and "The Last of the Belles." ~ Frances

The Go-Between by L. P. Hartley

This has a great first line! How can you pass that up? I've been wanting to read this book since I saw the film with Alan Bates and Julie Christie. I found a copy just this week! ~ Frances

The Bodley Head Saki

Yet another collection published by The Bodley Head. I am currently revisiting Saki's short stories, which I haven't read since high school. Most of what I have read has included Saki's recurring character Clovis. "Tobermory" and "Esme" are particular favorites. This collection also features stories with Reginald. ~ Rose

Early Dramas of Friedrich von Schiller Vol. V

This collection includes Intrigue and Love (also known as Luise Miller), some Wallenstein, and The Piccolomini. I had not heard of Schiller until very recently when he was described to me as "Germany's answer to Shakespeare." I'll find out for myself just how true that statement is. As of now, I am reading Luise Miller, which is similar to Romeo and Juliet. I envy any of you who find yourselves at the Donmar Warehouse this summer to see Felicity Jones and Alex Kingston in a new translation of Luise Miller. 

~ Rose