Library Loot: April 14-20, 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? Marg has the Mr. Linky this week.
Yesterday, I was all set to do my vlog…I’d put on a cute dress, done my hair and makeup, gotten all the books lined up just so…and then I couldn’t find the webcam! By the time my mom got home and showed me where it was, I had changed into pajamas and the sun had almost set. So instead, you get a vlog I recorded today, wearing a t-shirt, with my hair lazily pulled back, and I didn’t feel like re-recording so there are some random cuts because the full video was 16 seconds over Youtube’s 10 minute max. lol Here you go:
Covers/Linked Titles:
The Skating Rink by Roberto Bolaño (Lu’s Exploring Latin American Lit project), An Elegy for Easterly by Petina Gappah (for fun)
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (reading w/ Vasilly), Castle Eppstein by Alexandre Dumas (Classics Circuit), Claudine in Paris by Colette (World Party Challenge)
The Island of the Colorblind by Oliver Sacks (What’s in a Name? 3 Challenge), The 13th Element by John Emsley (Science Book Challenge), An Obsession with Butterflies by Sharman Apt Russell (for fun/Biodiversity Challenge)
The Ordeal of Elizabeth Marsh by Linda Colley (for fun/Women Unbound Challenge), Three Empires on the Nile by Dominic Green (Our Mutual Read Challenge), Chrysalis by Kim Todd (for fun/Women Unbound Challenge)
Arrow of the Blue-skinned God by Jonah Blank (World Religion Challenge), The Jew in the Lotus by Rodger Kamenetz (World Religion Challenge), Terra Incognita by Sara Wheeler (Reading the World Challenge)
Freedom from Fear by Aung San Suu Kyi (Women Unbound Challenge), Imperial Life in the Emerald City by Rajiv Chandrasekaran (Colourful Reading Challenge), The Country Under My Skin by Gioconda Belli (Reading the World Challenge)
Futebol by Alex Bellos (Reading the World Challenge)
A Striped Armchair 
Great loot! It would be hard to decide which one to read first.
Yep; I tend to just pick randomly from the piles! lol
Fine bunch of loot you have there Eva. I’m interested to read your reviews, especially the ones for the non-fiction books. I used to read non-fiction just about exclusively, until I started my blog a few years ago.
Really? That’s so interesting! I’ve always read somewhere around 2:1 fic:nonfic. :) Blogging has expanded the topics of the nonfiction I read though.
I’m so glad that you picked up a copy of An Elegy for Easterly based on the author’s classy response; I’m still in awe of her dignity and her background is enticing.
I’ve been wanting to reread Claudine at School so that I can read the other Claudine novels so perhaps I’ll do that soon, depending probably on your review.
I hope I enjoy Elegy more than you! Isn’t Colette wonderful?
I have The Ordeal of Elizabeth Marsh on my Kindle, I am interested to see what you think of it. Also, I loved Imperial Life in the Emerald City, it was really quite shocking. Enjoy!
So you’re a Kindle girl, eh? ;)
Yay Chrysalis! Yay The Skating Rink!
lol! You’ve been quite influential on my loot lately. :)
The only book I’ve read there is The Grapes of Wrath, and it was probably about 10 years ago. I remember enjoying it, though. There’s a scene with a turtle, right at the beginning, and though I didn’t stop to ponder its significance at the time, it has stayed with me over the years.
Oh, now I’m extra curious!
I can’t believe you didn’t like Of Mice and Men, I have to read it at least once a year to a class and love it every time.
I read An Elergy for Easterly last year when it was first published over here and enjoyed it, although it was a very sad book. I hadn’t realised at the time that it was short stories, but they entwined nicely. The English cover is a gorgeous range of purples.
Enjoy your reads, they look great
I read it when I was like 14, so that might have something to do with it. I’ll have to give it another shot one of these days. :)
I’m still waiting on some holds from the library so no loot for me yet this week =O(
Aww: I hope your books arrive soon!
A lot of really interesting titles. I loved the Claudine novels when I was younger, maybe 14? I read them quickly and repeatedly. Scary to think that was ten years ago. Time for a reread perhaps!
I wish I had discovered Colette when I was younger! I’m enjoying her now though. :)
I’m curious to see how you’ll like the Dumas. I just finished The Wolf Leader for the Circuit and loved it.
I think it’s going to be a fun tour!
Oh, you have me feeling nostalgia for Claudine. Perhaps a re-read. And love all Bolano but was impressed that The Skating Rink was his first novel. But it reads like the work of the poet he was. Very quick, very enjoyable.
You’re probably the reason I decided to start with The Skating Rink! I couldn’t remember who had reviewed it.
I love the penguin cover!!
Ah-see you’re a penguin person! I’m not, lol.
What an eclectic selection of books! I really need to get back to the library! I’ll be sure to stop by for the Colette review.
-Lydia @ The Literary Lollipop
Thanks Lydia! I love my library. :)
That’s a killer collection ! I sooooo need to get off my butt and do a library loot post, too !
Those look like great reads !
Thanks Maphead!
Terra Incognito is one of my favorites! I hope you enjoy it!
Oh, and there isn’t too much about penguins in it. There are some, but she basically talks about a lot of the different research that goes on down there.
I’m in the middle of Terra Incognita now, and I’m really loving it. It’s been happily penguin free so far! lol
Echo on Terra Incognita! I just read the book while on vacation, and I really wanted to keep heading south to Antarctica afterwards. The book offers great insight into how people live and interrelate in The Great White, as well as some background on the early explorers. I was quite taken by the book, and it strangely reminded me of Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars Trilogy (though perhaps not so strange — Kim Stanley Robinson was in Antarctica through the same artist and writer’s program about the same time as Sara Wheeler).
I’m really enjoying it, and it’s definitely made Antarctica more appealing! I’m curious about Wheeler’s other books now, since it sounds like she’s travelled quite a bit.
Imperial Life in the Emerald City sounds intriguing. As far as Iraq war books, I read One Bullet Away by Nathaniel Fick earlier this year and loved it, and I plan to read Generation Kill sometime in the near future. I go to a smallish branch library and it’s amazing how many books they have on the Iraq war. I might keep going with them after Generation Kill – just a book every few months or so, accumulating different perspectives as I go. :)
As always, an interesting array of books in your library loot! I look forward to your reviews.
Can I recommend Night Draws Near? It’s really good & more focused on everyday Iraq life.
Yes, you certainly can. Coincidentally, I just went and typed the title into goodreads only to realize I’d added it to my to-reads list some time last year. I think it was on Newsweek’s 50 Books for Our Time list. So double the reason to read it then. :)
It’s amazing to me how you manage to come back from the library with only books I’ve never read or heard about each week! Well, obviously, I’ve heard of Grapes of Wrath and the author Dumas, but not this particular book, but you always leave me with a feeling that there is so much more reading to be done!
The name “An Elergy for Easterly” sounds familiar, but I’ve never seen it in bookstores or read it. I’m curious to hear your thoughts and I love it that the author left such a classy response.
Aww-thanks Iris! :)
Goodness girl, I couldn’t look as adorable as you look in this vlog on my very best day! I have this awful/wonderful feeling that my wish list is going to be taking quite a hit as you start reviewing most of these books. ;)
I’m thanking you for the compliment and reprimanding you for self-deprecation at once! ;)
You know, i would love to visit the library with you, you find such fantastic books and the covers really draw me too them. Have fun.
Thanks Vivienne! I’d love to visit the library with you…too bad we have this pesky ocean between us.
Chrysalis is the one that really captured my attention this time. The Dumas novel looks promising.
I’m almost done w/ Chrysalis and it’s really good!
You have some interesting titles there, many of which I have never heard of before. It’s one of the reasons why I love reading posts about book loot! I’m looking at The Arrow of the Blue-Skinned God and The Jew in the Lotus and wondering whether I should look for them too.
Don’t they both sound so interesting?! I should be reviewing them soon!
So many great finds in your loot! I, too, love the Three Musketeers, but have actually not even read more than a few pages of The Count of Monte Cristo. The Three Musketeers was the first novel I ever wrote a paper about in comprehensive school. I was perhaps 13 yrs old back then.
I’m actually planning on reading An Elegy for Easterly after I finish the novel I’m reading now. It will be my Africa book for Reading the World and my music term book for What’s in a Name 3.
Enjoy your loot!
Greetings,
Tiina
Ohh-that’s so neat we’ll both be reading Elegy!
Now I feel like I need to go back to the library and ransack the nonfiction aisles! I swear you find the most exciting nonfiction titles. Oh and really looking forward to your review of the Dumas books – that just looked fun. I loved The Three Musketeers but haven’t read any of his other works so will have to look for this one.
Doesn’t the Dumas book sound like fun?!
My husband really wants to go to Antarctica just to see the beautiful snow and scenery — not for the penguins. I’m not sure I can handle the cold, even if I’m just on a boat.
Anyway, lots of interesting looking books. I really want to read Grapes of Wrath since my East of Eden reread, not sure when I’ll have time.
Now that I’m reading Terra Incognita, I’m understanding the appeal of Antarctica. :) But yeah; I’d have to be really bundled up!
So glad you included Castle Eppstein. Sounds right up my alley. And my library has a copy! Score!
Awesome!
I read The Grapes of Wrath in high school and I definitely didn’t appreciate it then. I think I would now though. As always the rest of your loot looks great too!
That’s when I read Of Mice and Men, and that might be part of why I didn’t appreciate it. I loved East of Eden, though, which I read my senior year!
You had some great finds this week! The Grapes of Wrath isn’t too bad, but it has been a bit since I’ve read it. I remember kind of enjoying it!
You have some interesting non-fiction picks. I usually stick to history or biographical things if I read non-fiction, but I may have to branch out. I can’t wait to see your reviews!
As always lots to add to my own list. I loved ‘An Elergy for Easterly’ (although like any collection there were a few bum stories) and I hope you like her too. I think she’s publishing a novel soon.
Double yay for Alexandre Dumas!
Sorry for my late response to this. I am playing catch up with blogs today. You know how I love your vlogs they are a weekly highlight for me and after a funny old week this was a treat. I hope that you enjoy the Gappah, I really, really enjoyed it.