The Library

Hello all!
Today I want to have a little chat about my library books. As you know I am a librarian, I am actually a full time librarian now (more or less) and so i spend even more time than before surrounded by books, and I get to take lots of them home!

Lately though I have had to be strict with myself, in our county you can borrow 30 books at a time, and previously I have been borrowing pretty much to my limit, there are so many that I just can't wait to read, and I might forget about them if I just don't take it home right there and then, that I scan my card and into my bag it goes. This behaviour is not good for my reading corner.

I have a small corner on top of my bookcases where my library books live, and I like to keep it tidy, bringing lots of books home doesn't keep it tidy because there simply isn't room for that many.
As you can see I currently have one too many on loan, but I really really really want to read Steve Jobs' biography, so I am letting that slide, I absolutely cannot take any more out though. I had to take back quite a few to get my selection back to a suitable size, and I really had to think carefully about which ones I definitely would pick up and read.

So why have I elected to keep these ones until they are finished?

The Well of Lost Plots is the third in a series of Jasper Fforde books about Thursday Next, she lives in an alternate universe where literature is the most valuable commodity of all. Nuff said.

The Night Rainbow I picked up from one of the displays at work quite randomly because it has a pretty cover, the synopsis hints at darker contents touching on depression and loss of innocence, the juxtaposition here really intrigued me. I can't wait to crack open the cover of this one.

Before I go to Sleep has had a lot of press coverage and is going to be made into a film with Nicole Kidman, you wouldn't believe the amount of times I have picked tis up and nearly brought it home and instead passed it onto a borrower I thought might like it, the other day there were three copies on the shelf though, so I decided it was time for it to come home. the synopsis hints at a woman who loses her memory every night and has to write herself a diary of the days events. Something fishy is going on though, and I love a mystery or thriller.

The Five People you Meet in Heaven is another book which has had a lot of attention. It is one of those books you feel like you should have read years ago but never did. It is about a man who dies and discovers that when you to heaven you actually have your life explained to you by five people who appeared throughout it. I love concepts of a different afterlife, one which defies the norm, and I think this will be an interesting and thought provoking read.

Vanished Kingdoms is a history book, but not your standard this war happened during so and so time period history book. This book is about fallen dynasties, royalty that has fallen out of favour, empires and republics that have been overthrown. I find history that is completely missing from the modern day fascinating, especially if there is a bit of doubt over what happened. I think this one will teach me a lot.

Company of Liars is a book that I have had a lot of recommendations for. Since I started reading historical fiction I have had various works suggested to me but Karen Maitland's works have always cropped up. Some of her books can apparently be quite gruesome, so I am starting with this one which is set during the plague. Lets hope i can stomach it!

I picked up The Yard shortly after i watched a BBC television show called Ripper Street. The show is set in victorian london after Jack the Ripper has had his day and the police are encountering a surge in murder and crime. The Yard appears to be along a similar vein, set one year after Jack the Ripper a new killer is on the prowl and the newly formed Scotland Yard murder team is on the case. It sounds gripping.

Another Non-Fiction title, From Gutenberg to Zuckerberg is a bit of a social history of the Internet. Another one spotted while browsing the shelves, and another one that I think might just expand my knowledge a little bit. I already have quite a knowledge of the Internet because of my profession but I always like to read new takes and opinions, you never know what nuggets of information you may have missed.

What I Did has an interesting synopsis and I predict it will get my brain whirring. It is about the repercussions that our actions can have on the order of things. A child runs across a busy road and his world changes completely, his father punishes him, a passer by sees this and reports him and the child's life and his family's begins to spin out of control. I like that this one reminds the reader that split second decisions can have a huge impact. Another one I can't wait to pick up.

Old Filth was a recommendation from a colleague, she assured me it would have me chuckling while also being in awe of the writers descriptive skill. this book follows a character throughout his life from being a child to being an old man, from being an orphan in the Raj through the British Empire and the Second World War. This one sounds like a fun journey.

Lastly Steve Jobs, I have wanted this book ever since it was released, but it wasn't cheap so I lumped for borrowing it. Once I have read it I will probably buy a copy anyway because Steve Jobs has had a huge effect on my life. At 15 I decided to go against the grain and convince my dad that I wanted an iBook, not a windows laptop, and since then I have been an absolute Apple convert. I know that the biography also tells us some of the negative points from Steve's life, but he was an inspiration to me so I want to read anyway.

So there you have it, the books I currently have on loan from the library.
if you use your library what do you currently have on loan and why?