Bestest Friend and I are doing a blog project. Every day we will write a blog post on a pre-determined theme chosen by a random noun generator. The theme for the nineteenth day of the month is "Library." I've decided I'm going to just tell you what are on my library book shelves each month.
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Paper books checked out:
Mary Jane by Jessica Anya Blau
Property by Valerie Martin
Vita Nostra (Vita Nostra #1) by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko, translated by Julia Meitov Hersey
What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teaching of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer - This is a very well-received book by a local author and it's supposed to be my non-fiction read for the month, but I just don't want to read it. It feels like homework.
We Are Not From Here by Jenny Torres Sanchez
Flame of Sevenwaters (Sevenwaters #6) by Juliet Marillier - The last book in the series!
Spanish books checked out:
Los buscadores de las nubes (Amulet #3) by Kazu Kibuishi
Con cariño, Amalia by Alma Flor Ada and Gabriel M. Zubizarreta
Ebooks checked out:
It Had to Be You (Chicago Stars #1) by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
How to Fake It in Hollywood by Ava Wilder
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain - This might end up being my non-fiction of the month, sorry Braiding Sweetgrass.
Audiobook checked out:
True Story: Murder, Memoir, Mea Culpa by Michael Finkel
Paper books on hold:
Black Sun Rising (The Coldfire Trilogy #1) by C.S. Friedman - The eternal hold.
Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano - #157 in line
I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai - #55 in line
Montana, 1948 by Larry Watson - #1 in line
Yellowface: A Novel by R.F. Kuang - #14 in line
Audiobooks on hold:
A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life by George Saunders - #40 in line - When I'm in the mood for an audiobook, I just look for one that's available, but this was recommended by my friend Dana on the Culture Gabfest specifically as an audiobook, so I'm waiting for this one.
Ebooks on hold:
Trail of Lightning (The Sixth World #1) by Rebecca Roanhorse - #4 in line
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller - #11 in line
Cinder by Marissa Meyer - #29 in line
Maybe in Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid - #63 in line
The Last Train to Key West by Chanel Cleeton - #17 in line
A Woman of Substance by Barbara Taylor Bradford - #2 in line
O Caledonia by Elspeth Barker - #5 in line
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo - #8 in line
What books do you have checked out from the library?
Wow- you have a lot of books!!! I'm in the middle of Vita Nostra right now, which I'm really enjoying, but I seem to have a houseful of people who want to prevent me from reading. It's really frustrating- I started this book at a very chaotic time. Oh well! I'm enjoying it anyway, in little chunks.
ReplyDeleteHa! I hate it when my real life interferes with my reading life. I just want to read my book!!
DeleteI LOVE THE LIBRARY. Right now, I have a bunch of books from the library. Several I have read: Nora Goes Off Script, The Bodyguard, In a New York Minute, Defending Jacob. And some I have yet to read: I Have Some Questions for You, The Soulmate (which is due in three days - perhaps I should start this one), We All Want Impossible Things, The Country of Ice Cream Star, and Girls They Write Songs About, plus two cookbooks. Many (most?) of these books were recommendations from bloggers!
ReplyDeleteAlso, I pre-ordered Yellowface and it arrived a few days ago. Cannot wait to read it!
There's a lot of buzz around Yellowface. I really loved Babel, which was the author's previous book, so I have a lot of hopes for it. I get a lot of recommendations from other bloggers, too. I honestly don't know how I even heard about books before I started reading blogs.
DeleteI'm working my way through Braiding Sweetgrass ... probably at a rate of one essay every month or two. I think I started it in 2021. I like it, but I feel like each essay is packed with such dense rich contemplations that it takes time to read. Maybe just read one essay? I liked The Council of Pecans and the chapter on basket weaving the best so far.
ReplyDeleteCurrently I have check out - Index, a History of, which is a fascinating and *very* nerdy look at how literary systems of classification came to be. There is a whole chapter on page numbers.
Oooohhhh....Index sounds fascinating. I listened to a 99% Invisible podcast once about how Chinese doesn't have alphabetical order and so their ordering systems is very different from ours. I love hearing about this stuff! I'm adding it to my TBR.
DeleteBraiding Sweetgrass is a lovely book. I didn't read it read in one go though; I like Diane C's idea of dipping into it an essay at a time.
ReplyDeleteThe consensus seems to be it's a great book. I don't doubt that, really. I just don't know if I'm in the right headspace for it right now.
DeleteRight now I have from the library: My Body, Fleishman is in Trouble, Don't Call Me Home, When The Apricots Bloom. In transit from the library: Yellowface. A friend sent me The Paper Palace, and I received as a Christmas and a birthday gift the following: Lady Justice, and Lucy By The Sea. I want to read them all at once but I'm 3/4 of the way through My Body.
ReplyDeleteEveryone's getting Yellowface! We should do a blogger book club for it.
DeleteOh, and I have a ton on hold and on my "for later" list but it's too many to mention!
ReplyDeleteGreat selection!
ReplyDeleteBraiding Sweetgrass- dense, dense, dense! Read it back in 2021 I think... Drive the Plow- read it while in Poland visiting a friend last August so it seemed symbolic and appropriate since it's by Olga Tokarczuk. Sadly, I did not/could not finish. But I tried.
Excited about my two upcoming books (both non-fiction)
1. Dopamine nation by A. Lemke
2. Poverty in America by M. Desmond (also author of Evicted).
Oh, no! You couldn't finish Drive the Plow? I'm curious as to why not. It's our book club choice and it's highly regarded. Hm.
DeleteOh, I'm excited about the new Matthew Desmond book, but I'm going to wait and read some reviews to see if it's different enough from his previous work to read something so heavy. Evicted was such an interesting read.
I'm about to download some e-books, so I only have one physical book checked out of the library - The F*ck It Diet. I read it this time last year, it changed my approach to eating dramatically - overnight! - and I wanted to re-read it a year later. I know mileage would vary for different people, but this book was/is a good read for me after years of struggling with body image and disordered eating!
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's time you purchased a physical copy of the book (or a copy on your Kobo) if it's one you think you'll go back to time and time again? I don't buy a lot of books, but anything I reread, I purchase.
DeleteMary Jane <3 <3 <3 I hope you love that one as much as I did! I'm also curious about your thoughts of We Are Not From Here when you get around to it.
ReplyDeleteRight now, I have Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak, Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting by Clare Pooley, and The World Record Book of Racist Stories by Amber Ruffian and Lacey Lamar. I also have The Swimmers by Otsuka on audiobook checked out.
I do think Mary Jane and We Are Not From Here will be June reads because they can be renewed and I currently have a couple of books that coming up against my loan window. But I promise I'll get to them!
DeleteOoh, ooh!! I've actually read one book from your list! This always excites me, because I've usually never heard of a single book you list. hahah! But I've read Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking. I read it quite a while ago, so I honestly don't remember too much about it exactly.... but I think I enjoyed it?? My current non-fiction read is Outlive by Peter Attia which is health/science book about longevity.
ReplyDeleteHa ha! I DNFed that Quiet book almost right away. LOL.
DeleteI have not been interested in reading Braiding Sweetgrass, either. I don't think I will even though I've heard great things about it. It just doesn't interest me for some reason.
ReplyDeleteI just finished "If We're Being Honest" which has been on several summer reading lists. It's a debut character-driven novel about a family that gathers for the patriarchs funeral. I really liked it. Now I am reading "Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club" by J. Ryan Stradal. He's a Minnesota author that writes books set in Minnesota. I have loved all of his books and am enjoying this one so far.
I think I'll try Braiding Sweetgrass, but I think I have such a block on it that it won't be able to break through. I'll try, though.
DeleteIt's interesting because I think of Wisconsin as the supper club capital. I'd never heard of a supper club when I lived in Minnesota, but it's ubiquitous here.
I've seen so much about Braiding Sweetgrass and... I just can't get myself into reading it. Did you ever dive in? Or dip a toe in? And also - I am glad I am not the introvert who DNF'd Quiet. LOL.
ReplyDeleteIt turns out that I actually got a YA version of Braiding Sweetgrass, which makes it seem slightly more likely that I'll get to it. But I haven't cracked it open yet. Hm. We'll see.
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