Library Loot—November 9-15

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 sounds like such a fun idea. I'm just sorry I don't have more to share ... so I'll pad this with a confession. I just figured out how to use the holds at my library. Like, last week. In my defense, it had never been an issue before, when I lived a few blocks from my library's central branch. That branch had multiple copies of every book I ever wanted, so I just waltzed on in, got my books, and went home. But a few months ago I moved a mile away from the central library and discovered that the closest branch library never had any of the books I wanted. I'd look up a book on the library website, see that there were no copies at my branch, and trek up to the central branch to grab one of theirs. It got to the point where I started wondering whether my neighborhood branch actually had books at all.

And then last week I struck up a conversation with a woman who absolutely raved about The Invisible Bridge, which was published last year. Here's the thing. I almost never read books when they're popular. I put them on my enormous to-read list, where they languish for years before I finally get to them. The Invisible Bridge was already on my list, but this woman was so excited about the book that I decided to see if my library had it now. And that's when I noticed something I'd somehow never seen before—I could put the book on hold and select the branch I wanted to pick it up at! When I put the book on hold I was 9th in line for one of 15 copies, and less than a week later it was in my hands! I don't mind the walk to the central library, but I'm so happy I figured this out before it started snowing.

So—the lone book I checked out from the library this week was The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer (photo from Goodreads). It's a novel about a Hungarian man studying architecture in Paris in the 1930s. It's headed somewhere tragic—how could it not be with a Jewish protagonist in pre-WWII Europe?—but I'm ready to be drawn into that world.

Also this week: I returned Nom de Plume and I Capture the Castle to the library and finished The Woods (review coming [edit: it's here]). On deck: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, which I'll be rereading for at least the 23rd time. And I also have my eye on Redwall. I'll be reading that for the first time, but my brother loved the series when we were growing up and I found a copy in great condition at my library's used book sale.