Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Library Blitz


If you tell me what book(s) you are reading, I’ll tell you what I’m reading.

When I go to the library these days, it’s usually a surgical strike kind of visit.  I buzz in, pick up a few books based entirely on the title and how the cover looks, rush Youngest Daughter along to make her choices, and fly out to the next errand.

At my last strafing of the library, I picked up these:
The Price of Civilization : Reawakening American Virtue and Prosperity by Jeffrey D. Sachs.
Three Famines : Starvation and Politics by Thomas Keneally.
On the Run in Siberia by Rane Willerslev ; translated by Coilín ÓhAiseadha.
God's Century : Resurgent Religion and Global Politics by Monica Duffy Toft et al

What was I thinking?  This seems almost like the reading list my husband devised for me when I had a sinus infection.  Should I be concerned that since I brought these books into my house, my nose has been more sneezy?

I started The Price of Civilization.  When my son saw it, he asked, “Is that an economics book or a philosophy book?”  I said, “Both.”  It’s Jeffrey Sachs, who advised the transition economies of post-communist Europe (and many other countries), worrying this time about the United States.  Until I got to around page 100, it was way too depressing for me to read while trying to fall asleep.  I have had to save it for the dentist’s office and other more painful and awake venues.

Just to round out my list of alarming books: in our Bible study, we are reading Revelation. 

Fortunately, I also got these at the library:
The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party by Alexander McCall Smith.
The Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith.
Apple Turnover Murder by Joanne Fluke.
A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway.

I already finished the Mma Ramotswe book.  As always, McCall Smith provides an enjoyable read.  I’m in the middle of The Vicar of Wakefield, which I find amusing.  I just got to Chapter XVII, which contains a piece of poetry called An Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog. My husband, unable to resist a book with the words “Apple Turnover” in the title, tried the mystery, but said that halfway through the book the murder hadn’t even occurred yet. He gave up on reading it, but wants to try the recipes.  (More accurately, he wants me to try the recipes.) I don’t know if I’ll even open the Hemingway. The Old Man and the Sea has left a bad taste in my mouth since high school.

Form home, I also requested two books through inter-library loan:
Abraham Lincoln : Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith.
The Uninvited Guests by Sadie Jones.

What does it say about our reading public that I didn’t have to wait at all for The Price of Civilization, but it will be months before I get my hands on the library’s copy of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter?

I told you about my books.  Now it’s your turn!

4 comments:

Chad, Katie and Chloe said...

Reading??? What's that. I think my latest reads have been "Harry and the Space Horsey", "tangled", "Fancy Nancy" and "the Magic Treehouse #1". Ooh. I did try to read "The Scarlet Letter" again and was very upset when #1 I skipped paragraphs because of the details and #2 when I realized I mixed up the ending with "The Crucible"... I kept wondering when they were going to burn her at the stake! What a letdown.

Common Household Mom said...

Our youngest daughter is just letting go of the Magic Treehouse series. A great series for beginning chapter-book readers. I didn't like The Scarlet Letter, and haven't read The Crucible. Now I have to read it to find out who they burn at the stake!

Cassi said...

Wow --that first list! What were you thinking?!

I really love the Mma Ramotswe series. I actually own all of those --for real, too, not just on my Kindle :-) They have pride of place on a real bookshelf.

A friend recommended a new author, Jonahtan Tropper, and I just finished "How To Talk To A Widower". His books are very good character studies, and I've enjoyed two of them. Next on my list is Graceling, which I downloaded based on a recommendation from another blogger, Kristy at The Crislers.

My absolute favorite recent read, though, is Anna Quindlen's "Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake". Wonderful musings on the pleasures of not being young anymore :-)

Anonymous said...

Just finished The Art of Fiedling, a collection of short stories and now I'm reading The Three Sisters which is starting slow...