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!
I must say I had a very nice reading week. I've spent every evening some quality time with the same captivating book. :) I've been reading Sailing to Sarantium by Guy Gavriel Kay and finally finished it earlier today. What a great read! And what's even better there's a sequal, which I already reserved from the library. Can't wait to find out how the story ends! I'll post a review of Sailing to Sarantium on Tuesday.
Today, however, I want to talk about the books I got from the library this week. I did also borrow some books in Finnish, but let's concentrate on those written in English here. :)
Richard Fortey worked as a senior paleontologist at London's Natural History Museum until his retirement in 2006. He has written several books about paleontology and related subjects. Survivors is a book on evolutionary history in which Fortey takes his readers on a journey across the world uncovering plants and animals that have survived, almost unchanged, since the beginning of geological time! When I saw this book in my library's catalogue I immediately put a hold on it. Paleontology fascinates me and good writing on what ever field is always a joy to read. Also, who could resist this text on the back cover: ...Survivors combines the very best science writing with an explorer's sense of adventure and a poet's wonder at the natural world.
After reading and loving Wilful Impropriety (review to follow soon :)), I checked our library catalogue for any books by any of the writers included in the collection. That's how I found this steampunk novel by the editor of Wilful Impropriety. Heart of Iron is set in an alternate Russia where the Decembrists' revolt was successful and the Trans-Siberian railway was built already before 1854. Sasha Trubetskaya only wants to have a decent debut ball in St. Petersburg, but her aunt's feud with the emperor lands Sasha at university, where she becomes one of the first female students. I simply love anternate history! And even better if there is steampunk elements in the story! I'm really looking forward to reading this book. It might even be my next read. We'll see. :)
I read The Beauty of Humanity Movement by Camilla Gibb for my English reading circle and asked a collegue some help with the pronunciation of the Vietnamese names and words in the novel. We then started to talk a bit more about The Beauty of Humanity Movement and she mentioned that we also have a novel by American Vietnamese Monica Truong in our English Fiction collection and suggested that the members of the reading circle might be interested in that novel,too. She was right, but no one wanted to borrow The Book of Salt immediately, so I ended up borrowing it myself as it sounded so interesting! :) This novel about "food and exile, love and betrayal" tells the story of Binh, the Vietnamese cook for Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas.
I have wanted to read this novel since it was first published. Starting in year 1333 and ending in 2060, this first novel takes the reader on a journey through time and through various paintings or photographs of women reading.
On my, I think I have a minor problem here. I would like to start reading all of these books at once! But I know attempting that would only lead to some unfinished reads. Which one should I read first?
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