Friday 23 August 2013

Library books and August reading

      I've been taking books out from the library all summer. Last night I dropped by because two more had come in, and this is what I came home with:

Selected Poems - Sharon Olds
I Sit Listening to the Wind - Judith Duerk
In the Dark Before Dawn: New Selected Poems - Thomas Merton
Quiet:  The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking - Susan Cain (finally! over a year to get this!)

I already had out:
After the Golden Age - Carrie Vaughn
Faerie Tales  ed Martin Greenberg and Russell Davis
Signs in the Blood - Vicki Lane
Love Letters - Katie Fforde
The Grimm Legacy - Polly Shulman
One Year to a Writing Life - Susan Tiberghien
The Cats of Tanglewood Forest - Charles de Lint
Alif the Unseen - G. Willow Wilson
Summertime Death- Mons Kallentoft
Fairest Wide Awake: new graphic novel from the creators of Fables
Pain, Parties, Work: Sylvia Plath in New York, Summer 1953 - Elizabeth Winder
Twice Upon a Time - Women Writers and the Story of the Fairy Tale - Elizabeth Wanning Harries
At the Mouth of the River of Bees - Kij Johnson
The Writer on Her Work - ed Janet Sternburg, Vol 1.

Just looking at the titles to write them down here is making me want to read them all!!!  Just need to find the time.....which leads me to:

READING SLUMP!
I am in a bit of a reading slump, mostly because I had to hand back the book on Sylvia Plath that I had out from the library and was really enjoying, Mad Girl's Love Song.  Also some personal news is distracting me, and with stress with my new temporary position at work, all in all I'm struggling to settle into reading this month.

How about you?  Are you reading much this summer?  Do you use the library more in the summer or winter months?
                                                   

                                     

12 comments:

Sarsafrass said...

The one from the Fables folk sounds interesting! I LOVE our library. (I am also in Ottawa. :) ) I recently moved and have been enjoying our new local branch, which is a beautiful branch. I find I read far more when the weather is favourable, so it's not so much season-dependent as dependent on being very rainy or very humid, when I would much rather stay in with a book than go out!!

Cath said...

Hi Susan. Sorry to hear some personal news has upset you, hope whatever it is works itself out soon.

That's a lot of library books. I have... two... on my pile at the moment. That's almost unprecedented. LOL. It's all down to be being away and then ill when I came back, so books had to be returned and I haven't been back to get any more out. It feels very odd to look over at the shelf and see a measly *two* books sitting there.

Yes, I'm reading a lot this summer, it's just this month has been so odd I've not blogged at all about the six books I've read. I'll have to do one large post next week I think.

Getting ready for RIP, are you? I've been reading so many crime books that I'm now ready for something different.

Susan said...

Sarsafrass: I'm glad you are still around! And that you are on the good side of the river, now :-) I tend to read more in certain months of the year. I like using weather as an excuse to stay in and read, too! Have you discovered that you can order books held at any branch, and even do inter-library loans to almost anywhere in Ontario :-)

Cath: I will email you about it, it's not my own news, so not something I can share yet publicly.
2 library books on your pile! I think that would mean you are reading your own books, which means you are getting through quite a few. That's so satisfying, isn't it?

I am so getting ready for RIP! lol I am about to do a post about a book I am so anxious to read and it comes out in time for RIP. I'm in the mood for some ghost stories, etc. Have you got your books all picked, or are you still getting some for RIP?

Cath said...

Ok, Susan. That's quite understandable.

You'd think, wouldn't you? But in fact of the six, four were library books and two my own. So the library pile 'was' high, until recently. LOL! I'm just reading a couple of Daisy Dalrymples and those 'are' my own...

And at long last I made it to the library this morning. Came back with four travel books which I'm suddenly hooked on for some odd reason, crime and travel - such an odd mix. No wonder people think I'm weird. ;-)

I have a pile of RIP books picked out off my tbr shelf, but knowing how bad I am at reading from these pools I'm loathe to say that those will get read. LOL. We'll see. I too am ready for some ghost stories and I do really want to move a few books off my tbr pile. RIP should start a week tomorrow I think. I'm ready.

Molly said...

I have been in a fiction reading slump for months now... but have enjoyed reading several books on writing and journaling. I noticed a few titles on this topic in your list of library books that I will need to check out :)

I am sorry that there is stress in your life. I hope that it is working itself out and you are finding peace...

Susan said...

Cath: when I get time this weekend, I will email you. I'm home for two days too, so hope to find some free time :-) I laughed when I saw that the books you were reading were library books after all!

Travel and crime is not unusual! Well, a tad, but then I get the weirdest things out too....books let you be weird, if you let them pull you down paths you didn't know you want to explore!

Like you, I have a pile of RIP books ready, some from last year....but what I actually read might be very different! :-) Sometimes I think we have so much fun planning the reading, but then get bored because we know what we are going to read, and go read something else for the challenge instead. Some of that weirdness coming out again, I expect, at least for me!

I'm ready too for RIP! I'll come see your post, I know you have it up already - you really couldn't wait! LOL

Molly: Yaay! I was thinking of you when I wrote the titles down, wondering if you had heard of them or read them. My challenge now is to find the time to actually read them. What writing books can you recommend, that have really helped you this past year or two?

Thank you for your kind wishes, Molly. It's sad news, and we are all coping as well as we can.

Nan said...

Have you read the newest Sharon Olds - Stag's Leap? The whole story of it is so interesting. Great piece on her here if you are interested:
http://www.concordmonitor.com/doseetaste/5704786-95/an-interview-with-sharon-olds-pittsfields-pulitzer-winning-poet
I have a Henri Nouwen book on Merton book which a dear friend gave me, and I must read it.
Sorry to hear about the stress in your life. I find that reading is the best reliever - I sit down and get lost in another world, and am refreshed.

Susan said...

Nan: I've been looking for Stag's Leap for some time now, and just read the review of Stefanie at So Many Books did earlier this week. Did you read it yet? I will check out the link, thank you so much :-)

AS for the stress, I am finding that I am able to read again, which is good - you are so right, reading takes me away out of everything, and is wonderfully relaxing for me.

Nan said...

It's at both A and B&N, if you are interested. I think I'm going to buy it. I've read a lot about it, and have read several of the poems. Intense, but good.

Ana S. said...

I love the sound of Twice Upon a Time! If you get around to reading that one please let me know what it's like.

Also, I hope you're doing okay, friend *hugs*

Susan said...

Nan: I know, I've read quite a bit too. Stefanie at So Many Books did a review in August on it, a very interesting one. I have not been able to find many of the poems from it to look at yet. I'll check Amazon, thanks for the info that it's in stock.

Ana: I have been on a mystery kick since doing this post, so I'm getting ready to dip into Twice Upon a Time in the coming week now. It seems right for this RIP challenge, somehow. I will definitely let you know how I find it :-)

thanks for the hug. I need it! I'm hoping to be able to say what's been going on shortly, with some good news. It's been a long summer and not so good in some ways.

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