Category: Library Loot

Library Loot

Published on by Margaret9 Comments

It’s been a while since I did a Library Loot post. This is my latest haul from the Mobile Library that called round this morning (as usual click on the photo to enlarge):

I really appreciate the mobile library service, the van stops just along the road from our house and has a varied, if small selection of books. I chose:

  • The Lighthouse by P D James, an Adam Dalgleish mystery, set in an imaginary, remote island off the Cornish coast.  It’s been a few years since I read one of P D James’s books – I hope it won’t disappoint.
  • Have Mercy On Us All by Fred Vargas. I haven’t read any of his books before. According to the blurb on the back cover this is ‘an unusual and eccentric thriller’  and Adamsberg is ‘one of the most fetchingly weird detectives … a bit like Morse, but much more French.’ That’s odd as Morse isn’t a bit French!  I’m not sure I’ll like it, but that’s the beauty of library books – I don’t mind giving up on them. On the other hand, if I buy a book that’s very disappointing.
  • The Scent of the Night by Andrea Camilleri, an Inspector Montalbano Mystery. I’ve read one of his before which I enjoyed, so I have high hopes for this one.

Library Loot

Published on by Margaret9 Comments

I hadn’t intended to borrow any more library books for a while, at least until I’ve read at least half of the ones I’ve got out at present. But on Thursday I was watering the hanging basket at the front door and glancing down the road saw a mobile library van. We moved here in December and this was the first time I’d seen it. Needless to say I went across the road to have a look and came away with four books. It comes here every three weeks! So now I have three libraries locally that I can use – I’m spoilt for choice.

One of the books I borrowed is a great source of writers: Myers’ Literary Guide The North East. This includes not just writers born in the North East, which includes the counties of Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Durham, and Cleveland, but also writers with important links to the area. These include such people as Wordsworth, Shakespeare, Coleridge, Auden and Larkin. This area of Britain boasts the first known writer of English prose – Bede (673 – 735) who was also known as ‘The Father of English History’ – and the first Christian English poet, Caedmon (fl. 670 – 680), a servant at the monastery in Whitby. The only drawback is that it concentrates on historical rather than modern writers.

I also borrowed:

  • Agatha Raisin and the Haunted House by M C Beaton. This was quite opportune because I’d read an article about Agatha in newbooks Crime Fiction Supplement the other day. The victim of the haunting is an old lady nobody likes. Then she is murdered. This looks as if it sits in the Cozy Mystery genre.
  • Indiscretion by Jude Morgan, who was also mentioned in the Supplement, so maybe that’s why one of his books stood out for me. This one is historical fiction set in Regency England.
  • The Cruellest Month: an Inspector Gamache Crime Novel by Louise Perry. I keep seeing her books mentioned on book blogs but haven’t read any of them yet. This is a Canadian whodunit about a seance in an old abandoned house that has gone wrong. Another Cozy Mystery?

More Books

Published on by Margaret6 Comments

We had to take a CD back to the library today, so I thought I’d just see what was on the shelves, not intending to borrow any more books as I already have more than I can read for months  ahead.

But when I saw The Breaking Point, short stories by Daphne du Maurier was on the “new in” stand I wanted to read it so I thought I might as well see if there were any more books I’d like to borrow. The blurb on the back cover tells me that The Breaking Point is a collection of “suspenseful tales in which fantasies, murderous dreams and half-forgotten worlds are exposed … often chilling, sometimes poignant, these stories display the full range of Daphne Du Maurier’s considerable talent.”

I felt it would be good to know more about the local area, so I looked in the Local History section and came away with 100 Days on Holy Island: a Writer’s Exile by Peter Mortimer. Holy Island, off the coast of north-east England is not far from where I now live. This book is an account of Peter Mortimer’s time on the island, cut off twice a day by the tides, exploring the landscape, people and myths. Peter Mortimer is a playwright and poet.

I’ve recently been reading King Arthur’s Bones by The Medieval Murderers and enjoyed the stories by Philip Gooden, one of the authors. So I looked to see if there were any of his Shakespearean Murder Mysteries, featuring Nick Revill. There was just one on the shelf – An Honourable Murderer. I see from Fantastic Fiction that this is his sixth Nick Revill book – ah well, maybe the library has his earlier books too. This one is set in 1604, with James I newly on the throne. Nick’s theatre company, the King’s Men, are part of the ceremonial celebrations. Nick investigates a number of suspicious deaths.

Library Loot

Published on by Margaret5 Comments

I’ve been reading lots of library books  recently and still have quite a pile left unread. Here are just some of the books I’ve borrowed that I haven’t started to read yet.

From top to bottom:

  • Zennor in Darkness by Helen Dunmore. I haven’t read any of her books. The title of this drew my attention – Zennor is a village in Cornwall just north of Penzance, one of the places we used to go to years ago when Dave used to go rock climbing. But this book is different – it’s set in 1917 and U-boats are attacking ships on the Cornish coastline. D H Lawrence and his wife Frieda come into this novel, which won the McKitterick Prize in 1994.
  • Passenger to Frankfurt by Agatha Christie. I’m steadily reading Christie’s books, just in the order I find them. This is one of her later books and was written in 1970, published to mark her eightieth birthday. It’s a spy novel.
  • The Right Attitude to Rain by Alexander McCall Smith. I picked this one because I’d enjoyed The Careful Use of Compliments so much. This is the previous Isabel Dalhousie Novel in his Sunday Philosophy Club series and the third one in the series.  I’m looking forward to reading Isabel’s thoughts on moral and ethical dilemmas.
  • The Vicar of Sorrows by A N Wilson. I have a mixed reaction to Wilson’s books, some I like and some just turn me off. I liked A Jealous Ghost and Incline Our Hearts, but shied away from My Name is Legion. I also like his non-fiction – After the Victorians and some of his biographies. The Vicar of Sorrows is about a clergyman who does not believe in God and does not love his wife. It remains to be seen if I’ll like it.

Library Loot

Published on by Margaret8 Comments

Here are some of the library books I currently have out on loan.

I haven’t started any of them, although I’ve dipped into each one. From top to bottom they are:

  • The Case of the Missing Books by Ian Sansom. An interesting title I thought. It’s about a Jewish, vegetarian librarian who has just arrived to take up his first post as a librarian in Ireland. His problem is that the library has been shut down and he ends up driving a mobile library – with 15,000 fewer books than there should be. Who has stolen them and when would they have time to read them all?
  • The Careful Use of Compliments by Alexander McCall Smith. I keep reading reviews of his books, but not of this one, saying how good his books are, so I thought I’d borrow one to see for myself. This is an Isabel Dalhousie novel, part of the Sunday Philosophy Club series, in which she has a new baby, deals with the threatened takeover of her beloved Review and is drawn into the story of a painter’s mysterious death of the island of Jura.
  • Death of a Red Heroine by Qui Xiaolong. I read about this one on Norman’s blog and thought it sounded good. Set in Shanghai in 1990, Chief Inspector Chen’s investigation of the murder of a young woman leads him to the decadent offspring of high-ranking officials.
  • Dead in the Morning by Margaret Yorke. It’s been a few years since I read any of Margaret Yorke’s books. This one is about arrogant, cruel and demanding old Mrs Ludlow, whose housekeeper is found dead. Everyone assumes the fatal dose of poison was  intended for Mrs Ludlow herself, but was it?
  • Happy Birthday by Christina Jones. This is described as a “magical romantic comedy” and I thought it could make a nice change from my usual fare. It’s about Phoebe, jilted at the altar. Can she really use the secret magic of “birthday-ology” to find a perfect match? I’m not sure now that I’ll like this book.

Library Loot is hosted by Eva and Marg.

Library Loot

Published on by Margaret5 Comments

I had two trips to two libraries last week. As I live in England, but close to the Scottish border I can borrow books from both Scottish and English libraries. I’d joined the Scottish Borders Library Services earlier this year as it’s the nearest one and had already borrowed a few books. They were due back this week and I renewed The Music Room by William Fiennes and borrowed two more – Peter Robinson’s Not Safe After Dark, a collection of short crime stories. I wrote a bit about it here. I also borrowed Winnie and Wolf by A N Wilson. This is a novel about the relationship between Winifred Wagner, the daughter-in-law of Richard Wagner, and Adolf Hitler.

 

On Friday we joined the Northumberland County Library, where amazingly you can borrow 20 items at a time, that includes books, CDs, DVDs or Spoken Word material for three weeks. Even I couldn’t possibly get through that lot in three weeks! Time was limited for our visit as we only had an hour in the parking space and some of that time had gone walking to the library, so we did a quick tour round and came away with five books:

  1. Northumberland: and the Land of the Prince Bishops by Ed Geldard, a beautiful book with photos of places along the Rivers Tees, Wear, Tyne, Coquet and Tweed. There are plenty of places for us to visit once the weather improves.
  2. Walk Lothian The Borders & Fife by Richard Hallewell. Another book to look at preparing for our walks over the Border.
  3. Crime on the Move: the official anthology of the Crime Writers’ Association 2005 edited by Martin Edwards. More short crime stories to enjoy. I’ve read one so far, which was excellent – On a Bicycle Made For Two – an amusing look at the tension in the build up to a bike race in the little village of Bossingham.
  4. Raven Black by Ann Cleeves – more crime fiction, this time from an author who is best known for her Inspector Ramsay novels set in Northumberland. I haven’t read any of her books yet and perversely the one I’ve borrowed isn’t set in Northumberland, nor is it an Inspector Ramsay book. Raven Black is set in Shetland.
  5.  Northumberland Climbing Guide (this was D’s choice). I’ve read the introduction to this book which is about the history of the crags and found that there are examples of rock art on the crags near here. I shan’t be doing any climbing, but I will be looking out for the carved goats and prehistoric spirals.