Thursday, March 10, 2011

Library Loot: March 9-15


Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire (The Captive Reader) and Marg (The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader) that encourages bloggers to share the books they've checked out of the library. If you'd like to participate, just write up your post, feel free to steal button, and link up using the Mr. Linky on Marg's site this week. And, of course, check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.

Here's my haul so far (usually make another tr
ip on Saturday) You may notice that they are all "color" titles....I'm working on a Color Coded Reading Challenge and went a little color crazy at the library.....

Blue Ruin by Grace Livingston Hill Lynette had waited all her life for one man. But now that they are together, something is terribly wrong.



Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett When the last hon
est citizen of Poisonville was murdered, the Continental Op stayed on to punish the guilty--even if that meant taking on an entire town.



The Trail of the Red Diamonds by L. Ron Hubbard Golden age reprint volume, whose rollicking title tale first appeared in Thrilling Adventures magazine in 1935. While recovering from wounds received in South America's Gran Chaco War, Lt. J
ohn Daly learns of "the red diamonds of Kublai Khan" from reading "an original manuscript" of Marco Polo's Travels. Determined to find the diamonds, Daly embarks on a journey with best friend Jim Lange that will lead them from Peking, China, to the remote burial temple of Kublai Khan and straight into heart-thumping danger. The book's second tale, "Hurricane's Roar," about a devilishly clever Mongolian warrior named Wind-Gone-Mad, is less fun but still full of colorful pulp action.(Publisher's Weekly)



The Girl in Blue by P. G. Wodehouse
'The Girl in Blue' is a Gainsborough miniature, the proud possession of a once carefree London solicitor, and before she knows where she is, she is missing. There hang in a precarious balance, pending her rediscovery: the future of a tottering country seat, the peace of mind of an American tycoon and the good name of his kleptomaniac sister, the happiness of a young heir and his two fiancees, the prospects of a grasping actress, the tenure of employment of a broker's man masquerading as a butler, and the golf of the aforesaid solicitor.


Eight White NIghts by Andre Aciman
This feverish novel from the author of Call Me by Your Name takes a microscope to a torrid romance–cum–battle of the sexes between two 20-something New Yorkers. Clara Brunschvicg and the unnamed narrator meet at a swank Christmas Eve party and immediately jockey for position. The ensuing grappling plays out over the course of the seven nights between that party and New Year's Eve.



Plus a bonus! Each winter our library hosts a reading
contest for adults. For a long time there were all these programs for children and nothing for adults, so the library powers-that-be decided (6 years ago or so) that they would offer a contest each winter for adults. All you have to do is turn in submissions for each book you read and every week during the contest they draw a winner. I'm a winner this year! And here's my prize:

Perfect Reader by Maggie Pouncey This imaginativ
e debut takes a profound look at the connection between words on the page and the infinite interpretations for a reader. For heroine Flora Dempsey, the father-daughter bond is a further complication. Flora moves back to her picturesque New England hometown after the death of her father, former president of the town's local college, where she discovers that her inheritance includes the role of literary executor. Lewis Dempsey, an academic writer, has left behind a manuscript of erotic poems written to Cynthia, his lover, whose existence is a surprise to Flora. Cynthia, meanwhile, attempts to become part of Flora's life, wanting friendship—and publication of the poems. Overwhelmed, Flora navigates her father's poetry, retreats into her memories of childhood and her parents' divorce, and poignantly contemplates the acts of reading and writing. Pouncey has skillfully created a portrait of smalltown academia, where the relationships between reader and text are just as elusive and complex as the relationships between father and daughter, husband and wife, or between two lovers.


4 comments:

Unknown said...

I loved blue ruin. It was one of my favs!!

Linda said...

Perfect Reader sounds good. Congrats on your win!

Chinoiseries said...

I know how it feels, trying to find suitable books for many reading challenges... great win by the way, Perfect Reader sounds like an interesting read!

Marg said...

Interesting list of books this week! Enjoy your loot.