Library Loot: September Scores!

Library Loot is hosted by Eva and Marg each week, and this week I really had to participate as I brought a bagful of great items home with me. (though never as many as Eva finds!)


Here is what I have to read in the upcoming weeks:

Family Album / Penelope Lively

I have been waiting for this one for ages and am so excited it is finally here. Although the cover is rather dull, nowhere near as delightful as the British cover, all I need to know is that it's the new Lively. Excellent!

The cover on the right is the one I am reading: I am also appending the British cover and an alternate North American cover. Which would make you pick this up?





Gourmet Rhapsody / Muriel Barbery

And another new book by a great author...I read Elegance of the Hedgehog a few months ago and simply LOVED it. How can I resist another book about a food critic who was one of the characters in Hedgehog? And the cover is in the same style as well, very charming and very appetizing. :)





Reckless Appetites / Jacqueline Deval

This novel from 1995 intrigued me because it is about food -- Pomme is French and the daughter of a chef. It is packed with historical recipes (fascinating!) and is written in what seems to be a bit of a pastiche of correspondence, Pomme's own essays, and told in different voices... it looks very interesting and could be either really good or not so good. We'll have to see.


Spilling Clarence / Anne Ursu

The odd title caught my eye, and when I saw it was a novel about memory, I was hooked. Reading so much Penelope Lively lately has attuned my reading eye to the vagaries of history and memory; this one promises a modern, American take on what purpose memory serves in our lives, and what and how we remember. The town of Clarence is split in two between a university on one side and a pharmaceutical factory on the other -- as the book opens there is a chemical spill at the plant. After a few hours, the townspeople are told all is well, nothing to worry about. But the spill has released deletrium, a chemical which allows all your memories to resurface, and it is affecting everyone in town...



Read for Your Life: Literature as a Life Support system / Joseph Gold

I just ran across this again and since I've been meaning to read it for ages, I brought it home. This sounds like a definite must read: Dr. Gold is a former literature professor and family therapist who is talking about literature's role in self therapy. As the blurb says: "both a self-help guide and a testimonial to the power of literature. Offering a wide range of familiar books and clinical examples, Dr. Gold illustrates the ways our daily reading can lead to sound mental health and personal empowerment." Sounds delightful!

And my last library find was a cd: Oliver Schroer's Camino: Solo Violin and Ambient Recordings from the Camino de Santiago. On his website it's described as "the musical and photographic record of a thousand kilometre trek along the Camino de Santiago." It is utterly gorgeous, and you can listen to clips at the website. Sadly, Oliver has passed away due to leukemia, but he has left a beautiful legacy in his stunning music.