Library Love
I would like to talk about books, one of those jewels of life I refer to often. You’ll indulge me, yes?
Our libraries are opening up gradually and I am pretty happy about that. I’ve been into the local branch twice now, and, perhaps because of the sheer novelty of being inside again, I found two bagfuls of books (one each time) I had not planned on borrowing. There were so many that looked good! I was like a kid in a candy store.
(This is not the first time I’ve extolled the virtues of libraries. Indeed….)
I’ve linked some particularly favorite books so far. Lots yet to go.
There were those new “Choice Reads” paperbacks without titles (on one’s checkout list) …
Picnic in the Ruins, Too Robert Petersen. A mystery with some wit.
Death with Dostoevsky, Katherine Bolger Hyde, an academia mystery.
Six of Crows, Beardugo. Not sure…a fantasy? Not usually my cuppa tea, but looked interesting.
Indelible, Laurie Buchanan. Ex-cop, writer’s conference, Pacific Northwest, serial murdered. You know.
Cursed, several famous authors. Takes on fairy tales. Tried it, couldn’t stay interested, but you may enjoy its premise.
Killer Content, Olivia Blacke. light mystery, Brooklyn, bookstore. What’s not to like for a lazy afternoon read?
American Sherlock, Kate Winkler Dawson. Nonfiction about one of the first forensic scientists and the birth of the CSI.
In a Book Club Far Away, Tif Marcello. Female friendships and the books that brought them together.
I also decided to pick one fiction shelf to challenge myself to select one book that looked interesting from the back titles sitting on that shelf. I took four books from an “L” shelf:
The Home Place, Carrie Le Seur. Oh I did love reading this book. Marked a lot of writing gems, story kept me interested all the way through. Despite its being written in present tense. Ugh.
“A flicker of the old connection passes between them as they stand at their horses’ heads rubbing manes, slipping on halters and gentle fingers. Alma inhales warm, grassy horse breath and wonders if love doesn’t die of time and distance, but of little daily slights and brutalities…What existed once between them is preserved under glass. It would have to breathe and live again here and now, between their adult selves, for her to know if it was ever real. “
The Grand Complication, Allen Kurzell. This is a book written twenty years ago. I am enjoying its many references to words and letters and its wit. But I like most books about books and libraries and with little mysteries to solve, so judge accordingly. So far, it’s fun!
“Narrated by Alexander Short, a stylish young reference librarian of arcane interests, The Grand Complication propels the reader through a card catalog of desperation and delight, of intrigue and theft. It’s a novel of suspense that comes full circle, with a clockmaker’s precision and a storyteller’s surprise.”
The Restaurant Critic’s Wife, Elizabeth La Bar. Marriage, motherhood, ambition, romance: a nice little love story, it looks like. Jury is out yet.
Also, Wrongful Death, by Lynda LaPlante, a Brit cop/detective mystery. La Plate wrote the BBC Prime Suspect series that Helen Mirren starred in. Not sure if I’ll get to this one, but I do love her female cops!
And I picked up my holds, titles gleaned from recent recommendations or topics I’ve becoming interested in.
August Snow, Stephen Mack Jones. The first in a series of three so far. I really enjoyed this book for the characters, the story, a loving but honest description of Detroit, and the turns of phrase. It also helps to like the main character, and I think you’d. like him too.
The Burning, Madigan Beard, about the Tulsa Race Massacre. Haven’t started this one but when I was searching for it, I came across another The Burning, a novel by Jane Casey. An accidental discovery that I really enjoyed reading.
Siracusa, Delia Ephron. The review intrigued me, I read some, but abandoned. Too many book, too little. time.
Transient Desires, Donna Leon. I am such a fan of this Commissario Brunetti Venice mystery series and read them all when there’s a new one. I couldn’t wait for the book so started listening to it instead. If you haven’t discovered this series, oh, please do consider it. Although each one stands separately on its own, for sure, you will enjoy getting to know him and his life as a Venetian detective from book one. The intelligent, often witty conversations with his professor wife, are especially fun. And there’s always a good mystery to solve, as well as comments about Venice, bureaucracy, and tourists you’ll appreciate.
Pale Rider, Laura Spinney. About the 1918 Spanish flu. Because, well..you know.
Last, not least, and I can’t even tell you how I found this one but I it looks like such a good read. Methinks a good romance in a period I love to read in. Time After Time by Lisa Grunwald.
“On a clear December morning in 1937, at the famous gold clock in Grand Central Terminal, Joe Reynolds, a hardworking railroad man from Queens, meets a vibrant young woman who seems mysteriously out of place. Nora Lansing is a Manhattan socialite and an aspiring artist whose flapper clothing, pearl earrings, and talk of the Roaring Twenties don’t seem to match the bleak mood of Depression-era New York. Captivated by Nora from her first electric touch, Joe despairs when he tries to walk her home and she disappears. Finding her again—and again—will become the focus of his love and his life.”
My library stash from two different trips. I’m hopeless.
“City people come and go, fall in love with Montana like Steinbeck then find the big sky oppressive, the reserved people and their closed-off culture too difficult, the winters too long, the great spaces perversely claustrophobic. They leave as precipitously as they came.” The Home Place
Hey, man. Don’t kid yourself. You are the books you choose to read. Amen.