Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.
My library visit this week was a bit of a mixed bag. I couldn’t find the books that I actually set out to get (The spy who came in from the cold by John le Carré, some Neil Gaiman, a little Graham Greene). Nada none…these books have been published ages ago, and it’s a shame when they are still so hard to find :(.
Anyway, here are the books that I did get:
- Outlander by Diana Gabaldon – I haven’t given in to the hype over this series. Till now, that is. I am not so very fond of historical romances, and I am not so sure about the Scottish setting, but from all accounts this series is very entertaining, so let’s see how I feel about this book. It’s such a fat one though, I am quite intimidated just looking at it.
- Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder – It’s supposedly philosophy-lite, and I will probably either love it or hate it totally. I am not very into philosophy, but when it’s packaged in an enjoyable way, it can be lovely to read. Here’s hoping I love this one.
- Predator by Patricia Cornwell is a bit of a meh pick. I have gone off the later books in the series, and the reviews for this one are mixed, but I was in a hurry and couldn’t find anything better, and so I picked this.
- The Casual Vacancy by J.K.Rowling – I don’t feel I can ignore this book any longer. It’s the one book that is always available in the library, and I have always snubbed it and picked up something else. But, like I said, it was slim pickings this time in the library, and so this book also came home with me. Also, isn’t the cover really ugly? What were they thinking? Surely budget couldn’t have been an issue.
Anyway, these are the books I have brought home with me this week. When you add that to the pile of books that I got for review last week, and the ones that I am expecting to receive shortly…I have no issues keeping myself occupied for the next two months. Now to actually find the time to read these books. Sigh!
What a stack of books. I work in a library and this means I check out too many books… more than I could ever read. I also do ILL at my library so I ILL a lot of books. I cannot decide if I want to read Outlander or not. Let me know what you think!
I read Outlander earlier this year. I enjoyed it but have been slow to start the second. The books are huge! Enjoy your loot.
AH!!! I am glad we agree on the Patricia Cornwell novels! I Hate the Scarpetta Female!! she is so irritating.. my God! I know, I do tend to over react, but I just can never feel even one shred of sympathy for her. I sometimes worry I might be a really a cruel person 🙁
@Malvika: I actually liked her in the first few books. She seemed so smart and on top of things. She and the rest of the characters went completely downhill after the 4th or 5th book. I don’t know why I even read these books any more. Just habit, I guess. And sometimes the library just sucks in choice 🙁
I really tried to read Casual Vacancy. Really hard. I wasn’t reading it thinking “This woman gave us Potter”, but I was incredibly underwhelmed. It annoyed me. It was almost as though she was angling to be like Martina Cole, but falling massively short of the mark, to be honest. Can’t wait to hear what you think though!
@Zoe: I haven’t read any Martina Cole, so I have no idea about the comparison. But, it is Rowling after all, so it can’t be totally awful? I don’t know. Let’s see. There are so many varied reactions to this book, it’s hard for me to guess whether I”ll like it or not.
Martina Cole is not bad. She writes about the London underground a lot. Repetitive if you read too many of the books directly after each other, but not bad. Dangerous Lady and Maura’s Game are two books that follow up and are definitely worth the read if you are not familiar with her works.
Hahaha, I wish I had that faith. I also read some of The Cuckoo’s Calling, and I am still trying to finish that.
I would be very interested to see what you have to say. I felt the same when I started it, but very soon knew where I was on the list.
@Zoe: The synopsis of Cuckoo’s Calling sounds so cliched, doesn’t it? I have read so many variations on this theme.
It was that clichéd, really. You have read it so many times. Nothing new, nothing fresh, zero character development, awkward writing style, stinted story. I was very disappointed!
I recently read The Cukoo’s Calling by J.K. Rowling. I have’t read The Casual Vacancy. I wonder if J.K Rowling will find the type of magic she had with The Harry Potter series again. Enjoy your books.
@postingfornow: I actually wanted to read The Cuckoo’s Calling, but since that wasn’t available, I settled for this one. I leafed through the book, and I think it shouldn’t be too bad. Let’s see. It helps that I will be going into it with low expectations.
I will have to try and write my first ever book review this weekend. All your books sound interesting. Among the four, Casual Vacancy is the only one that I’ve read… Can’t wait to read your review.
@Archie: How did you like the book? Cool that you will be writing book reviews too. Looking forward to reading them.
Would it be unfair to comment now before you’ve had a chance to read it?
@Archie: Not at all, go ahead and comment 🙂
You know what… I have this brilliant idea of making it my first ever book review post over the weekend…
Nice books. I got Sophie’s World ready on my night stand for somewhere in the upcoming weeks too. It is a re-read for me though as I remember enjoying it when I was younger and was curious if I would still like it.
Looking forward to your thoughts on The Casual Vacancy!