Library Books Mid-January 2017

This stack is really more of a reflection of the books I've brought home from the library since I went back to work on January 3, but that seems to be plenty! The Tournament of Books longlist and an upcoming book club discussion that I am leading fuel many of these.

News of the World by Paulette Jiles
After by Claire Tristram
Ground Zero: Nagasaki Stories by Yuichi Seirai
Monterey Bay by Lindsay Hatton
The Course of Love by Alain de Botton
The Lightkeepers by Ally Geni
Nagasaki: Life After Nuclear War by Susan Southard
Faithful by Alice Hoffman
The Never-Open Desert Diner by James Anderson
To the Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey

The Hatton, Geni, Anderson, and Ivey were all contenders for the Tournament of Books, but none of them made the short list. That's okay, I'm still going to read them anyway. Actually I only have one left!

I'm leading a discussion next month on A Dictionary of Mutual Understanding by Jackie Copleton. I felt like I needed a better grounding on Nagasaki, so that is why I have the Seirai (translated) and the Southard. I need to get cracking on those, and a reread of the Copleton!

I snagged the Jiles, Botton, and Hoffman from the new books cart in the library where I work, and requested the Tristram from interlibrary loan after hearing about it from my friend (who is the author!)

New Books In, August 2016

I brought home SO MAN BOOKS in August that they will have to be represented by three photos of book stacks.  Bear with, bear with.

Much of the fault goes to The Really Good, Really Big, Really Cheap Book Sale put on every summer by the Greenville Literacy Association. This year I volunteered as a book sorter, pulling a few shifts throughout the month of July to sort donations that came in. I haven't heard yet how many books were sold, but I know we sorted over 126,000 books, if you can imagine. I was a minor player compared to some people who seemed to be full-time volunteers.

Child of All Nations by Pramoedya Ananta Toer
Footsteps by Pramoedya Ananta Toer
House of Glass by Pramoedya Ananta Toer
Bad Dirt: Wyoming Stories 2 by Annie Proulx
A Circle of Quiet by Madeleine L'Engle
Time and Again by Jack Finney
Your Face Tomorrow: Fever and Spear by Javier Marías
Old Filth by Jane Gardam
The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa

I read the first book of the Toer (This Earth of Mankind) and was pleased to find books 2-4 for $1 each.  I have meant to read some of L'Engle's adult fiction, and the others were all authors I had on my list. Yes, I do bring a list. It helps keep me focused. The Finney was an earlier pick this year for the Sword and Laser book club, one I didn't get to, but hey, for $1, I might still.

I went to that book sale twice - once on the Saturday, where you pay per book, and once on the Sunday, where you pay $10 for every grocery bag. I went earlier on the Saturday than I usually do, so there were more people. This meant I didn't get to look deeply at the non-fiction, which is where I headed on the Sunday! Richardson-Moore is a minister in my town, Nahmad wrote the book I wish I'd lived, and the Kabat-Zinn was to give away!

Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala
The Weight of Mercy by Deb Richardson-Moore
Agent Zigzag by Ben Macintyre
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn
Pilgrimage to Iona by Claire Nahmad
My Sergei: A Love Story by Ekaterina Gordeeva
The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith

Otherwise, I had birthday money that I of course spent on books. Many of the books I ended up with in August are in preparation for my in-person book club. (You can hear more about this book club on Episode 049 of the Reading Envy Podcast.) There are some other random books in this pile - one from a Misfit Reader which I purchased in a weak moment, one Goodreads Giveaway win (the McInerney) and two audiobook review copies from Brilliance Audio.

Salt Creek by Lucy Treloar
The Hamilton Affair by Elizabeth Cobbs
The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester
A Dictionary of Mutual Understanding by Jackie Copleton
The Registrar's Manual for Detecting Forced Marriages by Sophie Hardach
The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
Skylark Farm by Antonia Arslan
The Plum Tree by Ellen Marie Wiseman
The Seventh Elephant by Alexis Stamatis
The Glorious Heresies by Lisa McInerney

Now that I have finally taken photos of these piles, I can try to find space for them on my shelves.

Reading Envy 049: The Legendary Cheese

Jenny sits down with two longtime members - Caroline and Holly - of the International Center of the Upstate Book Club. We talk about our favorites, least favorites, and what we love about this book club. It's been a while since there has been a Reading Envy book club episode, so please enjoy! This was recorded mid-November 2015 but was put on hold for the end of year episodes.

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 049: The Legendary Cheese.

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Books mentioned:


Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff
In the Unlikely Event by Judy Blume
The Widow Clicquot: The Story of a Champagne Empire and the Woman Who Ruled It by Tilar J. Mazzeo
A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage
The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo by Tom Reiss
The Beauty of Humanity Movement by Camilla Gibb
The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East by Sandy Tolan
Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy by Carlos Eire
The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamad
Perla by Carolina de Robertis
When a Crocodile Eats the Sun: A Memoir of Africa by Peter Godwin
The Hired Man by Aminatta Forna
Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling by Ross King (?)
The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit: A Jewish Family's Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World by Lucette Lagnado
Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson
In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson
The Iguana Tree by Michel Stone
In the Garden of Stone by Susan Tekulve
The Dinner by Herman Koch
The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano
City of Thieves by David Benioff
Sugar in the Blood: A Family's Story of Slavery and Empire by Andrea Stuart
Elephant Company: The Inspiring Story of an Unlikely Hero and the Animals Who Helped Him Save Lives in World War II by Vicki Croke
The Potbellied Virgin by Alicia Yanez Cossio
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
The Book Thief by
Ashley's War: The Untold Story of a Team of Women Soldiers on the Special Ops Battlefield by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon
The Sunlit Night by Rebecca Dinerstein
Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall
The Telling Room: A Tale of Love, Betrayal, Revenge, and the World's Greatest Piece of Cheese by Michael Paterniti
The Lady in Gold: The Extraordinary Tale of Gustav Klimt's Masterpiece, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer by Anne-Marie O'Connor
The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World by Eric Weiner
The Absolutist by John Boyne
Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking: A Memoir of Food and Longing by Anya von Bremzen (sp)
Anne Perry and the Murder of the Century by Peter Graham
The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson
The Tsar of Love and Techno: Stories by Anthony Marra
Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon

Other Mentions:
The International Center of the Upstate
The Book Thief (film)

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