Library Loot XXXIX

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 Marg's.

I have an unusually large loot this week. I went to the library on Saturday specifically to pick up my favorite cookbook on preserves that I seem to borrow about four times a year when I want to make jam. I'm canning homemade strawberry jam this afternoon from berries I picked last Friday. And because I went to the library on a Saturday and not in the middle of the week minutes before closing, I actually had time to browse the shelves. Which means more books came home. We also discovered a used book sale going on at the library and grabbed a few with minutes to spare before the sale ended.

Classics:

 

A Midsummer Night's Dream edited by Roma Gill
A Midsummer Night's Dream Shakespeare Explained by Joseph Sobran


I am reading Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream this month for the Once Upon a Time V reading challenge. I haven't read Shakespeare since high school, which was a long time ago, so I picked up two different publications to make sure I understood it all. This Shakespeare stuff is not easy! One book contains a summary of the entire play, followed by the original work. The second book is sort of an overview and interpretation of the play, information about various modern film and stage productions,  and also includes biographical information about Shakespeare and his time period in general.

Edgar Allan Poe's Tales of Death and Dementia
by Edgar Allan Poe, illustrated by Gris Grimly

My teen has been studying Poe in her sophomore AP lit class recently and really likes his work. Again, I haven't read Poe since high school myself, so when I happened to see this graphic novel at the library, I knew it was meant to come home with me. I find it rather ironic that my teen is reading the straight text versions of Poe's works as well as a biography and here I am reading the graphic novel. But there ya' go.

In graphic novels:



Harvey by Hervé Bouchard and illustrated by Janice Nadeau
Burnout by Rebecca Donner and illustrated by Inaki Miranda
A.D. New Orleans After the Deluge by Josh Neufeld

In young adult:
My daughter and I spent a chunk of time browsing the young adult shelves at the library together. We clearly have different ideas about borrowing books. I am more along the lines of the"looks good? okay, bring it home!" method.  She's a bit pickier about which books actually make it to the check out counter. She's more along the lines of "carefully inspect every book that might be interesting, scrutinize the inside flap, book blurb, maybe read the first chapter or even --gasp! -- a random few pages IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BOOK, and THEN decide if she wants to borrow it" method. Even then, she still hems and haws with an "I'm not sure, Mom." I always follow up with, "Well, then borrow it. You can read more of it STARTING AT PAGE ONE at home and decide then. We can always return unread it if you don't like it." About 45 minutes later, she has one or two books picked out. Meanwhile, I've been standing around pulling a dozen or so books into a pile and then realizing it's too many to physically carry and I put a few back for next time.

Which method is more your style? 

My choices:

 
Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool
This book is the 2011 recipient of the Newberry Medal.

Nothing by Janne Teller
This book has been awarded the Michael J. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature. It's short, but sounds thought provoking.

Chime by Franny Bllingsley
I've seen this one around quite a bit and love the cover. I read the book blurb and was sold.

Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson
I started following Maureen Johnson on twitter a week or two ago following the Wall Street Journal's critical article about young adult fiction when she, author Libba Bray and others responded intelligently and compassionately to the WSJ's claims and the #YASaves hashtag was born. When I saw one of her books on the shelf at my library, I figured it would be nice to read the work of an author I follow on twitter. ;)

Things I Know About Love by Kate Le Vann
This story is about a teenager from the UK who is in remission with leukemia and travels to the US to visit her brother who is a student at Princeton University, where she falls for her brother's friend. Looks like a good story.

Daughter's choices: (not pictured)
Gifted: Finders Keepers by Marilyn Kaye
Gifted: Now You See Me by Marilyn Kaye
These are the fourth and fifth books, respectively of the Gifted series by this author--a series about a group of nine teens who attend an ordinary high school but wield unique psychic gifts or powers. She read the first three books last summer, maybe.

Bought at Friends of Library Used Book Sale:
The first two are my picks, the second two are my daughter's. We bought all four books for $1.

Shoot the Moon by Billie Letts
Love the title.
Call Me Mrs. Miracle by Debbie Macomber
I've just realized I've been collecting little hardcover Christmas themed stories like this one every time I go to these used book sales at my library. It wasn't a planned collection up to this point, but I think it will be now!
Secrets of my Hollywood Life by Jen Calonita
Now Starring Vivien Leigh Reid by Yvonne Collins and Sandy Rideout


Now I'm off to make strawberry jam...  :)