Library Loot: January 6-12, 2010
Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by myself and Marg 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!
Want to share your loot?
It’s the first Wednesday of 2010 guys…can you believe it?! And here I am with probably the least amount of loot ever…three books! Can you even believe that?! lol I have this weird flu/cold thing, so I’m not up to vlogging (believe me, you wouldn’t enjoy it), so I’ll just ramble a bit about each of the titles. ;) Trust me: this common sense approach to library checkouts won’t last long; I have 13 holds waiting for me to pick up! lol
I’m so excited about Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf! I love Woolf’s writing, and Mrs. Dalloway is no exception. I read it for the first time in 2006, pre-blogging days, and I’m delighted to be rereading it as the first part of Woolf in Winter. There’s a really good group of bloggers planning to join in on the discussion, and I’m seriously in love with the whole idea of read-a-longs. (It’s not too late to join in either!)
A looooong time ago, I saw a preview for an awesome looking movie about a weird circus that had one of my favourite actors in it: John Reilly. Youtube won’t let me embed the trailer, but you can watch it here. Awesome looking, right?! I have a bit of a thing for circuses…not real ones, which upset me with their treatment of animals, but literary ones. Then I discovered that the movie was based on a graphic novel series, so I put the first volume Cirque du Freak: a Living Nightmare by Darren Shan on hold. Apparently, lots of other people had the same idea, so it just arrived. I’m totally going to count it towards the Graphic Novels Challenge 2010 too.
I was looking up a different book in my library’s catalogue, when all of a sudden Against the Grain by Jax Peters Lowell popped up. The subtitle, A Slightly Eccentric Guide to Living Well Without Gluten or Wheat totally jumped out at me, since in June I was diagnosed with a gluten intolerance. So I put it on hold on a whim. I’ve flipped through it a bit, and while it’s older than I expected (1995, before GF was in the public light at all), the chapter titles are hilarious, and there’s this awesome appendix that has an explanation of gluten intolerance written in all sorts of languages, so that if you’re travelling you can photocopy the relevent one and show it to your waiter! I’m hoping I really enjoy this one. :)
There you have it…possibly my shortest Library Loot ever, hehe. I’ve still got plenty of leftover loot that I’ve been reading, and I can’t wait to pick up my new stuff soon!
A Striped Armchair 
I aim to read a couple of Virginia Woolf books this year, so I might try and get this one.
Cirque Du Freak looks good!
I think Mrs. Dalloway is a wonderful Woolf novel! :)
When I saw you only had 3 books, I was wondering if you were okay. I hope you feel better soon!
Thanks for the good wishes! :)
I’m a new reader of your blog, so I thought I’d pop in and say hi! I’m quite the bibliophile, but since I’m in the third year of my PhD, I don’t have near enough time to read for pleasure as I’d like. I’ll live vicariously through you for now.
Thanks for stopping by! I sympathise; when I was in grad school, my reading dropped waaaay down. :)
You must be a bit off colour if you only have the three books. I think I have a bague version of what you have which cant be bothered to get better or worse and so is just annoying me. I am looking forward to Mrs Dalloway in fact I need to go dig my copy out!
So many of us are ill! And I’m glad you’re doing the Mrs. Dalloway read-a-long. :D
I need to get myself to the library and get hold of Mrs. Dalloway immediately! I’m very excited about my first read-a-long, so I shouldn’t procrastinate. Cirque du Freak looks amazing, by the way. Can’t wait to read what you think of it.
I’m surprised that you haven’t read it, with your graphic novel awesome-ness. ;)
Not another challenge!! Must resist! But Mrs Dalloway is sitting on my shelf taunting me!
lol! It’s a read-a-long…that’s different from a challenge, right? ;)
I don’t think I’ve ever seen you with such a small library stack! You stack looks like mine normally do! ;)
I am going to try to participate in the second part of Woolf in Winter when y’all tackle To The Lighthouse. I already own a copy of it (I know it was my dad’s copy, but for the life of me, I’m not at all sure as to why/how it made it to Nashville with me!), so it makes sense. I admit, I haven’t had the best luck with Woolf in the past – I’ve tried to read Mrs. Dalloway at least three times but never made it very far into it. I tend not to like the stream of consciousness style of narrative, so I doubt I’ll ever love that novel like others do, even if I do manage to finish it! But I hope I have better luck with TTL!
I already e-mailed you, but TTL is the most stream-of-conscious Woolf novel I’ve read. Well, no, that would be The Waves, but I loved The Waves much more than TTL! ;) You might want to try The Voyage Out, which was her first novel and it is much more traditional.
I have to read To the Lighthouse this year.
Since when is The Saga of Darren Shan a graphic novel? I remember reading them when I was younger. I never did finish reading all of them. They’re decent YA novels, a lot better than the ridiculous and moody relationship troubles of Twilight. An enjoyable way to pass the time I suppose.
I didn’t know that they were originally books! lol Good to know. :)
If you haven’t already read The Hours, I highly recommend reading it soon after reading Mrs. Dalloway. It’s amazing how well Michael Cunningham captures Woolf’s writing style.
I’m gluten intolerant too, so that last book sounds super interesting. I can’t wait to hear what you think of it.
I have read The Hours. :) I really enjoyed it, and I loved the movie adaptation (which I saw before I read the book).
I figured you probably had, but I wanted to mention it just in case. I hope you’re feeling better now!
i have this weird thing where i sort of love finding out a book im interested in at the library has a wait list, i feel a sense of community with those other strangers and also feel validated for reading the book too! it means im keeping up with the trends. hope your wait for Cirque du Freak is worth it!
lol; I get a thrill out of checking out a book that obviously hasn’t been checked out in awhile. I feel like I’m discovering secret treasure, as well as making the book happy! ;)
I like to check out neglected books – but if it’s good I get annoyed and think “why aren’t more people reading this?”
Yay for Mrs. Dalloway! And what a lovely copy you have too. :)
I’ve been hearing about the Cirque du Freak movie and probably will watch it, mainly for John C. Reilly as well. Something that is amusing to me is that the director of the movie is the brother of the director of Twilight: New Moon. Keepin’ it in the family I guess. :)
That’s not my cover, I just thought it was pretty so I used it for Library Loot. lol Oh dear @ the directors thing…that makes me not want to watch the movie. ;)
I hope you feel better, Eva. I finally got over my bug so I hope you have a speeder recovery than me.
I once started Mrs. Dalloway but couldn’t focus on it. I’d like to give it another go sometime as several bloggers have gushed about how good it is. And my younger brother, who is a non-reader, LOVED the Cirque du Freak series. He owns all over them and re-reads them quite frequently.
Thanks Christina! I’m glad to hear your brother loves Cirque du Freak. :D And I hope you have better luck w/ Woolf in the future!
I need to pick up my copy of “Ms. Dalloway” too. I’m hoping to find a used copy in the bookstore. This will be my first Virginia Woolf book so I’m really looking forward to it. Also, that “Cirque du Freak” book looks interesting, though I might have to avoid it if there are clowns in it. *shivers*
Hope you feel better soon!
Your first Woolf?! How exciting! I’ve never been disturbed by clowns, but I’ve had friends who are. Rats are what freak me out (1984=gave me nightmares).
I love the cover on that edition of Mrs. Dalloway. I have a really old edition, that has a very boxy woman on the cover in this weird art style that has always bothered me. It really doesn’t fit the book. That white rose though is just wonderful.
I love it too! It’s the copy that I got from my library, though. :/ With LL posts, I like to pick the prettiest cover, regardless of what I got! I hate it when covers don’t match the books at all.
I hope you feel better soon Eva :( I have a weird cold thing too and it’s just miserable!
Thanks Chris! I hope you feel better soon too!
Oh, I’ve been wanting to read Mrs. Dalloway! I think I’ll go on my library website and request it!
Marvelous! You should join the read-a-long! :D
I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve never read any Woolf but Mrs. Dalloway is on my agenda for the coming year.
Don’t be embarrassed! I’m not sure I’d *being* with Mrs. Dalloway. I began with Orlando, which was perfect for me (and it’s part of the read-a-long project too). But if you’re not a huge fan of stream-of-consciousness writing, you might want to go for her first novel, A Voyage Out. It’s much more traditional, and will get you used to a lot of her ideas. :)
I just finished Mrs. Dalloway during the New Year Read-a-thon and can’t wait for the discussions in the Woolf in Winter challenge. That really is a beautiful cover. I hope you’re well soon. Mr. Linky is putting in the wrong name but links to the right post for my Library Loot -very odd. I tried it twice, you may have to remove one for me, sorry. The link is here in case it does something stranger and doesn’t go through properly. Thanks and take care.
http://freshinkbooks.blogspot.com/2010/01/library-loot.html
I’ve looked at the Mr. Linky, and I only saw one link for you. Which name did you want in? I might be able to edit it!
Hope you feel better soon.
Thank you Cat!
I’m hoping I love Mrs. Dalloway as much as everyone else seems too!
I’m hoping you do too. ;)
Just three books – I am very nearly lost for works. And relieved to here you have some holds awaiting. I love the cover of Mrs Dalloway, which is a book I must read soon.
lol I love everyone’s reaction to me barely getting any library books! ;) I love that cover of Mrs. Dalloway too.
Whew…I’m glad to hear you’ve got 13 on hold…this 3-book week simply is natural! Eva, my dear, I sooooo hope you’re feeling better by the time you read this!!!!
hehe; since then, it’s increased to over 20 available for pick-up!! And thanks so much for the good wishes Debi!
Ummm…yeah, “is” as in “isn’t” that is.
I ran across your blog and immediately took an interest because I am a librarian. For several years, I’ve been running a listserv for people with gluten intolerance. Although Against the Grain is a classic, you must not rely on it for current information because some of what it includes is outdated. Try Healthier Without Wheat by Dr. Stephen Wagnan.
Thanks for leaving a comment! I had noticed it was older, so I intended to go in skeptical, but I’m glad that you confirmed that. :) I haven’t read much about gluten intolerance (short of what I can/can’t eat), but I’ll look into the Wagnan book. Thanks for the rec!
I love books about circuses! Too bad I haven’t read many of them, yet. I found Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen to be an interesting book, while Geek Love by Katherine Dunn – absolutelly amazing! I might have to check out Cirque du Freak now that so many people are praising it.
I really need to read Geek Love! :)
oooh, tiny stack…but very nice.
I haven’t been to the library yet this year. I bet it misses me.
I bet it misses you too! After all, isn’t it the Bybee-ary?
Wow. Only 3 books? You must not be feeling well!!
My son loved the Cirque du Freak book series. I thought the movie was based off the first two books: A Living Nightmare and The Vampire’s Assistant. I actually took the kids to see the movie when it first came out. LOADS of fun!! And John C. Reilly is just awesome, as per usual.
Oh really? I just assumed since the title was the latter, it was based on the second one. Whoops!
I’ve just posted my first library loot blog post. My goal for this year is to read more books on my bookshelves and from the library so I hope to post more. I’ve seen the library loot posts and am new to your blog.
Against the grain sounds interesting…I am researching gluten intolerance/sensitivity for my son. We are considering changing hid diet to gluten free as well as our family. He has many food allergies and sensitivities and stomach issues. Do you recommend any other books about this subject? I just read G Free Diet which was informative but not exactly what I was looking for. It has a good reference for products and restaurants.
Wow! I’d never heard of Against the Grain. My husband has celiac, so we’ve been cooking gluten free for some time now. I definitely want to look into that one.
Cirque du Freak looks great. I’ve not read any Woolf novels…maybe it’s time.
Boy, I had problems, as usual. I had to change the title of another blog. Oh, it’s too long to tell.(:
http://cometothelibrary.blogspot.com/
http://cometothelibrary.blogspot.com/
These are my books for the month.