Earlier in the year I ditched the idea of restricting library reservations and changed my project into one to celebrate the magic of library reservations.
I’ve tried to strike a balance between not ordering too many books and not forgetting about them by using the list making facilities on my library’s website. I have a ‘soon’ list, a ‘maybe one day’ list and a ‘please put it into stock’ list.
A few weeks ago I ditched the idea of restricting library reservations and changed my project into one to celebrate the magic of library reservations.
I’ve tried to strike a balance between not ordering too many books and not forgetting about them by using the list making facilities on my library’s website. I have a ‘soon’ list, a ‘maybe one day’ list and a ‘please put it into stock’ list.
They are growing at a healthy rate, and reminding me that I need never run out of great books, and I don’t need to break the bank to but them all
And here’s list of ten interesting prospects for the future:
Heroines & Harlots: Women at Sea in the Great Age of Sail by David Cordingly
I really don’t remember how I found this one, but I love the title, I love stories of the sea, and so I popped it on a list.
Memories: incorporating Perverse and Foolish and Memory in a House by Lucy M Boston
I read such praise for Lucy M Boston’s two volumes of memoirs that I had to look for a copy. I found one, but I was distracted by Yew Hall, her one novel for adults, and so this one went in to a list to be ordered another day.
The Knot by Jane Borodale
“When Henry Lyte brings his young bride Frances home to his Somerset estate, he hopes she will share in his devotion to the garden – a refuge of fruit trees and flower beds, with a knot of herbs at its heart. Henry is a scholar, and his life’s work is his ‘herbal’ – a book of plants and their medicinal properties, intended for those who cannot afford physicians’ expensive cures.But life on the edges of the flood plains makes Frances uneasy, and there are strange rumours abroad concerning the death of Henry’s first wife – rumours that can be traced to Henry’s step-mother Joan Young, a grasping woman eager to seize control of the family’s lands. And while Henry cannot tear himself from his studies, he stands the risk of losing everything he loves.”
I liked Jane Borodale’s first novel – with just a few reservation – but I think this could be lovely – and a real progression – so I out it on the list, ready to order when the historical novel reading bug next strikes.
The Cornish Fox by C H B Kitchin
I spotted Streamers Waving by C H B Kitchin in the Faber Finds catalogue, I liked the look of it, I read it, I loved it, and it slotted nicely into my Century of Books. When I looked to see if the library had any more of his books I was intrigued by this title. I haven’t been able to find out anything about it, but I’ve added it to my list to be read one day when the century is done.
The Hive: the Story of the Honeybee and Us by Bee Wilson
Bee Wilson’s Consider The Fork has been on my bedside table for ages. It’s lovely, but it’s a dipping into and reading the same bit over and over again kind of book, and I don’t really want to reach the end. But I checked to see if Bee Wilson had written anything else, and I found this, and listed it to order when I finish my consideration of forks. And not just forks pretty much anything else you might find in a kitchen too …
Pied Piper by Nevil Shute
I read a few of Nevil Shutes’ novels from my parents’ shelves back when I first started reading grown-up books. They didn’t have this one, but Darlene gave it a very warm recommendation, and that’s a good enough reason to add it to my library lists.
The White Lie by Andrea Gillies
“On a hot summer’s afternoon, Ursula Salter runs sobbing from the loch on her parents’ Scottish estate and confesses, distraught, that she has killed Michael, her 19 year old nephew. But what really happened? No body can be found, and Ursula’s story is full of contradictions. In order to protect her, the Salters come up with another version of events, a decision that some of them will come to regret. Years later, at a family gathering, a witness speaks up and the web of deceit begins to unravel.”
I ordered this not long after it was published, but I couldn’t find the time to read it before I had to return to, to be passed on to the next person in the queue. This was before I could make lists on my library account and I nearly forgot it, but Cat wrote about it not so long ago, and I listed it to make sure I don’t forget it again.
Lucy Carmichael by Margaret Kennedy
I’ve fallen in love with Margaret Kennedy’s writing, and I’m slowly working my way through a number of her books that the library has in reserve stock. This one is next. because I love the idea of the story – a heroine jilted on her wedding day strikes out on a new path in life – and because it will fill a vacant year on my Century of Books.
And Then There Was One by Joyce Dennys
I stumble across this childhood memoir purely by chance, and I listed it ready to order once I’ve read Joyce Dennys’s much loved Henrietta novels. I own the first, and I’ve spotted a copy of the second in my local library.
To Serve Them All My Days by R F Delderfield
This is another book I read from my parents’s shelves years ago – and I remember a very good television adaptation too. I was delighted to spot it when I was looking to fill difficult years in my Century of Books, checked the library catalogue, found a copy, and listed it so I wouldn’t forget.
…. and that’s ten!
Fleur in her World 