Library Loot

Post written on Monday, but only just got around to finishing off and adding picture!


Yesterday wasn't much of an improvement on last week as I spent all of two teabreaks and half of my lunch break on the phone to various hospitals and dentists trying to work out how I could be seen the fastest. You'd think that if you were willing to stump up the money, they would be falling over themselves to get it by offering to remove your tooth asap, but it seems that because the waiting lists for NHS extraction are so long, this is filtering through to the private sector. Anyway, after much hassle and tears on the phone to the consultant's secretary, I have an appointment to go to the hospital to get looked at next week, and a provisional date for surgery at the end of April. Since my birthday is in April, I was assuming that that would be my birthday present from my near relatives (parents, husband), but my Mum has kindly assured me that I can have a birthday present as well. Yayy!

Anyway, I digress. I decided to cheer myself up on the way home with a trip to the library, and came away with so many goodies that it was really very hard work to cycle 4.5 miles home. Memo to self - in future do not merely consider size (i.e. whether books will fit into panniers/rucksacks/carrier bags from the handle bars), but also weight. As you can see from this picture, I got some quite weighty library loot.

Joanna Trollope - Daughters in law. Having recently read her latest whilst on my holidays, I realised that I missed her previous novel, so I snapped it up and started reading it last night. It's a bit more old school Trollope than The soldier's wife without the level of interesting topic that made The soldier's wife so engrossing, but I'm quite enjoying it.

Ali Harris - Miracle on Regent Street. This came out at Christmas time and isn't actually stocked by any of the branches near me, so I've ordered it in. Who doesn't want to read a Christmassy book when it's nearly Easter?

Jacqueline Wilson - Diamond Girls - must be about the only Jacqueline Wilson book that I haven't read - should pass an evening when I am very tired!

Carole Matthews - Summer daydreams. The weather has been a bit warmer recently, and there's even been a few glimpses of the sun, but I'm still very much craving summer having been to Tenerife a couple of weeks ago. I've no idea what the book is about but I've read some of Carole Matthews books before and the title was enough to grab me.

Rebecca Shaw - Love in the country. I read my way through Shaw's Village series and Country series a couple of years ago, they're very easy reading and I thought I might like to reread it.

Marian Keyes - Watermelon - more rereading, I must have read this whilst I was still at university, I don't have much recall of the plot line at all as described on the back cover.

And some slightly more literary books...

Sebastien Barry - On Canaan's side - I've been waiting for AGES to spot this in the library. It was listed for the Booker and I really enjoyed his two previous novels so I am hoping that I will have the brain space to make a start on this soon.

Stella Gibbons - Tricky and Bachelor. I mentioned before Christmas my excitement in seeing one of the Print On Demand * Gibbons titles in a branch library, I then spotted another in a different branch, and now I've found two more in the main library. Maybe the Oxon Library service bought a set and split them around? As it's less than 4 weeks til my next holiday, I will probably hang on to at least one of these to read then. Exciting! Happy that my library doesn't just stock the latest bestsellers, although Gibbons is coming back on trend I think. Wouldn't be surprised to see a new adaption of Cold Comfort Farm fairly soon...

* I was asked last time about Print On Demand. As this article on wikipedia explains, basically it's a different model for publishers where they will only print the books once the orders are recieved, and the technology exists that even a single book can be printed. This makes it more economical to bring back out of print books into print if publishers are not sure what the demand will be.