Library Loot #1: December 14-20

2022-12-17

Library Loot is a weekly event hosted by two bloggers, Claire from The Captive Reader and Sharlene from Real Life Reading, that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library.

I don’t go to the library on a weekly basis, but I thought this would be a fun event to participate in when I can!

When I went to the library today, I was perusing the stacks in my usual orderly fashion: look at the general fiction area for anything by the Brontës, Haruki Murakami, and Virginia Woolf; the science fiction area for anything by Ursula K. Le Guin; and the graphics novel section for anything I would like. Sometimes I find something there, sometimes I don’t.

I found a couple of graphics novels that caught my eye, but nothing else from the general fiction area. I decided to take a look at the literature and “English” section of the library because, after all, this is a “literature blog”!

Here is what I ended up getting and why!

• The Brave Escape of Edith Wharton: A Biography by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge: I just finished reading The Age of Innocence and The House of Mirth this month, so when I saw this in the literature section, I had to grab it! I really loved reading Wharton and I would love to know more about her.
• The Crucible by Arthur Miller: I’ve heard a lot about this play, but I’ve never gotten the chance to read it. It is a quite slim book, so I felt like I could add this to my pile without regret.
• Humble Pie and Cold Turkey: English Expressions and their Origins by Caroline Taggart: This one caught my eye because the title made me think, “Where DID the expression ‘Cold Turkey’ come from?” I have to know!
• Equipoise by Katie Zdybel: Right near the check-out at my library, there are little booths with (I’m presuming) staff selected works. I was looking at the “Prose” section and found many books I wanted to read. However, Equipoise was the slimmest of them all while still having an interesting blurb on the back (I know, I know) so I grabbed it.
• The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist by Arian Tomine: Yet another book (in this case, graphic novel) that caught my eye because of the title. What does it mean to be a “long-distance cartoonist”? Honestly, my mind went to Simon Sarris’s article on Long Distance Thinking, although I am quite sure it has nothing to do with it.
• Jane by Aline Brosh McKenna and Ramón Pérez: I’m usually not one to pick up graphic novels with art that looks like it could grace the cover of a DC/Marvel/Superhero comic, but I made an exception because A) one of my friends is really into superhero comics, and B) I am a sucker for one-word titles.