Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Library Loot XXVII

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! This week's Library Loot is at Claire's.


The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa
The Iron Fey series, Book 3

I originally thought this week's library loot was going to be short and sweet with once again, just one book to report-- The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa. It is the second full length novel in Ms. Kagawa's Iron Fey series, the first of which is The Iron King. I read The Iron King a month or so ago and enjoyed it tremendously. The ebook novella Winter's Passage is the second book in the series, followed by The Iron Daughter. The series is an artful blend of contemporary teenage life and dark fairy tale, a little bit of romance and perhaps a subtle touch of steampunk. The whole Iron Kingdom thing... pretty cool.

That was the extent of my library loot until last night, that is, when I stopped by the library very briefly to return Room, which was very good, by the way, and not nearly as depressing or tearful as I expected. But really... who's kidding who? Although I have done it on occasion, let's just face facts and admit that it is nearly impossible to go to the library just to return a book without borrowing another. Or two. Or three. Or ... you get the idea. On my way over to browse the shelf of new books in my library, this cover caught my eye from the young adult section:

Raven Speak by Diane Lee Wilson

Isn't that stunning? Raven Speak is a young adult novel about the daughter of a Viking chief who is desperate to save her dying clan yet equally desperate to save her horse Raven from becoming a sacrifice to the gods and food to her people.

Then in a matter of three minutes, I had the following young adult books in my arms as well. I don't know what came over me.

Stringz by Michael Wenberg
A story of a teenage boy named Jace Adams who has great talent and passion for the Cello, but has a hard time fitting in anywhere namely because he's always the new kid. His mom is always changing jobs, always searching for a better life, moving every couple of months. The only constant in Jace's life seems to be his cello. Maybe this move to Seattle things will be different.









The Day of the Pelican
 by Katherine Paterson

A story about an Albanian family who struggle for safety and survival in a refugee camp in Kosovo in 1998 and who ultimately immigrate to the United States.




The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson


Because Angie liked it. Enough said. Seriously, though, I keep coming across very passionate reviews for this book, so I must see for myself. Another novel about a teenager who is passionate about music and playing an instrument. In this story, Lennie Walker has always lived safely and happily in the shadow of her vibrant older sister, but when her sister dies suddenly, Lennie struggles with her grief and with suddenly taking center stage in her own life.

No Such Thing as the Real World by An Na, M.T. Anderson, K.L. Going, Beth Kephart, Chris Lynch and Jacqueline Woodson

An anthology of short stories about teenagers who find themselves dealing with "real world" issues for the first time in their lives.

I checked out this armful of books and promptly left. I'm quite sure I was inside the library for all of eight minutes. Amazing how many books you can loot in such a short time. Now if only I can find the time to actually read all these books! ;)

Are you a quick, impulsive library looter who typically comes home with more books than you intended? 


Or do you go to your library with at least a mental list of what you want and come home with exactly that? 

I'm more of the latter type-- looking up the books I'd like to read on the library's online catalog and either reserving them that way or expecting to check out the book on my next trip. I occasionally pick up other books that I see at the library while browsing the shelves, but not nearly as impulsive as I was last night with this collection of young adult books.

15 comments:

  1. I don't usually go to the library with the plan. But I do hit the new section first. Our library is small so they rarely have what I have on my TBR, but sometimes they surprise me.

    Right now our local library is closed until after the new year. It's expanding and getting a remodel. I'm really excited. I can't wait to see what the new library is gonna look like. But the most important thing is they are gonna have a bigger collection. Yay!

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  2. Hey Christine!

    What a fantastic haul you've got here, I'm super jealous! Ames has read The Sky is Everywhere and really enjoyed it so I'm itching to read it. I read and enjoyed the heck out of the Iron Daughter so I'm sure you'll enjoy that one as well.

    Happy reading sweetie!

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  3. Anna, getting a bigger, better community library is AWESOME! Hopefully, they'll have money left over in the end to buy the books to fill it!


    Rowena, I LOVED The Iron King... possibly my favorite YA in 2010... I have to think about that one. Although I've read just over a dozen, so maybe that comment isn't worth so much. LOL!

    I'll let you know how I like The Sky Is Everywhere when I get to it! :)

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  4. I'm a bit of both. I go in with a plan in my head of what I'm looking for and I also look at the new books in both the teen area and the new book area. These days I only go in to pick up holds that have come in, but I do take a few minutes to look around. Since our library is so small, my best bet of grabbing a new book coming in is to haunt the database for it. *g*

    Great book haul! Enjoy!
    Hope you're having a marvelous week!

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  5. Hey Christine! Did you leave any books at the library for the rest of us! Lol. I haven't been the library in ages, but I think I would be the impulsive type. I usually raid bookstores, put a huge pile of books in my arms, retreat to a small corner, and then narrow down my selection. I'd do the same thing in a library but not bother narrowing down my pile!

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  6. I generally only go to the library to pick up books on hold. If I browse the shelves I tend to come home with way too many books and leave so many unread. It makes me sad. So I make lists of books to read and then put a few on hold so I can actually read them.
    Nothing for me this week. Trying to get caught up on what I have before getting more books!

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  7. Oh, great loot Christine. Very YA I see :) Was this deliberate or just how it happened?

    ...let's just face facts and admit that it is nearly impossible to go to the library just to return a book without borrowing another.

    Hmmm. I used to be that way when I was younger. Now I go in to collect a reserved book - I never have time to browse :( That's not a good thing...

    @Anna - where will you go in the meantime with no library? There are quite a few libraries in the current library system if my local library had to close for repairs...and soon there will be 55! 3.5 million books! *rubs hands with glee*

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  8. I have to admit that I'm not familiar with any of these titles but they all sound interesting. Enjoy your loot!

    As for my looting style...lately I've just been picking up holds rather than browsing since my library has unlimited holds. After two years, the novelty of that still hasn't worn off. I still love a good wander, randomly grabbing books off shelves if they intrigue me, but that only happens about once a month now.

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  9. I like your loot!!! For me I usually have a list of books and in most cases end up reading them all!!!

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  10. They all look good. I'm especially interested in Stringz.

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  11. Brandy, my usual library visits are just like yours. I don't know what happened to me this time that I just grabbed so many books so fast! My wallet is glad I didn't do that at the bookstore! LOL!

    firepages, being impulsive at the library is great! I mean, there's no risk really. You don't get to a book, you renew it. You change your mind, you return it. I should be this impulsive more often! :)

    Linda, I get sad when I don't read all the books I borrow from the library, too, but I have to admit it was pretty fun just pulling books and thinking, "Why the heck not?" and adding it to my pile.

    orannia, this mega YA haul was not deliberate. Very impulsive. They're all relatively short reads though, so maybe that made it easier to want to take "just one more."

    Claire, I don't think unlimited holds will ever lost its appeal! I don't actually know what my library's hold policy is as I usually keep my own list of "books to loot" and then put a hold on one or two at a time.

    Lover of Romance, I usually read all the books I borrow, too. Very rarely does one make it back unread. Do you read YA? I don't think I've seen you review one on your blog...

    Beth, I started Stringz the very night I came home with my library loot. It's very good so far.


    Thank you all for taking the time to check out my library loot! :)

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  12. Very good loot, Christine :P You'll have to let us know about Raven Speak and Stringz, they look interesting :P

    The selection at my library is limited and it always takes forever to get new releases :( So it's hard to get impulsive. I try to browse for books, but seriously, a lot of time, I try to control/limit myself because I know I won't read them ^_^;

    I'm glad Room wasn't as depressing as you thought it'd be!

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  13. nath, I'm nearly finished with Stringz right now and I really like it. I hope to get to Raven Speak very soon.

    My library has been pretty good with keeping their YA section updated, although I was waiting forever for them to get the third Soul Screamers book by Rachel Vincent so I finally had to request that they actually buy it! I hope they actually honor my request!

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  14. I tend to have my books all waiting for me on the hold shelf and never actually browse the shelves!

    Enjoy your loot

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  15. Marg, I think a lot of voracious book readers (addicts) like you and I are like that, and we really ought to take time to stop and browse the shelves. Kind of like taking time to smell the roses, so to speak. ;)

    Hope you're having a good reading week.

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