I should learn by now NOT to look at the new books the library is bringing in. This should just be something I know not to do, but I just can’t help myself!
I’ve added even more to my Hold list! Some from the original list have come in, but I’m still waiting on most only to add more, plus shelving many, many more into the For Later pile.
Let’s have a look at what I’ve added to the Hold list:
The Living Sea of Waking Dreams, Richard Flanagan. I’m still devastated by The Narrow Road to the Deep North – what a book! This one looks amazing so of course it was an automatic Put On Hold! This one comes with a touch of magical realism.
In a world of perennial fire and growing extinctions, Anna’s aged mother is dying—if her three children would just allow it. Condemned by their pity to living she increasingly escapes through her hospital window into visions of horror and delight.
Darkness by David Adams Richards. Now, I historically have trouble connecting with many of Adams Richards’ books, but how could I not read a new one by him right? Maybe this will be one that I love?
In a saga crossing decades, continents and generations, yet rooted in the richly conceived world of Richards’ Miramichi, Darkness explores the shocking lengths we travel to fulfill personal ambition, and the tragic price we pay to defend our moral principles.
Ghost Forest by Pik-Shuen Fung. What a cover! This sounds devastating as well, assuming this because of the way the writing will be incredible and leave a serious mark on me.
How do you grieve, if your family doesn’t talk about feelings?
Buoyant, heartbreaking, and unexpectedly funny, Ghost Forest is a slim novel that envelops the reader in joy and sorrow. Fung writes with a poetic and haunting voice, layering detail and abstraction, weaving memory and oral history to paint a moving portrait of a Chinese-Canadian astronaut family.
Damnation Spring by Ash Davidson. I’ll admit it was the cover that first attracted me. Added bonus is this gives me Greenwood and The Overstory feels: Told from the perspectives of Rich, Colleen, and Chub, in prose as clear as a spring-fed creek, this intimate, compassionate portrait of a community clinging to a vanishing way of life amid the perils of environmental degradation makes Damnation Spring an essential novel for our time.
Legends of the North Cascades by Jonathan Evison. Again, what a cover! I haven’t read any Evison before, but I do have Lawn Boy at home. – of course still unread but I just said that didn’t I?
“Beautifully rendered and cinematic . . . A story of survival and the love and devotion between parent and child.” —Jill McCorkle, author of Hieroglyphics
The Vixen by Francine Prose. I waffled a bit about adding but this tipped me to putting in on hold over just in the For Later pile:
It’s 1953, and Simon Putnam, a recent Harvard graduate newly hired by a distinguished New York publishing firm, has entered a glittering world of three-martini lunches, exclusive literary parties, and old-money aristocrats in exquisitely tailored suits, a far cry from his loving, middle-class Jewish family in Coney Island.
One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin. I’ve seen this a lot lately on Twitter and Istagram so was excited to see our library was bringing it in.
Fiercely alive, disarmingly funny and brimming with tenderness, The One Hundred Lives of Lenni and Margot unwraps the extraordinary gift of life even when it is about to be taken away, and revels in our infinite capacity for friendship and love when we need them most.
The Absolute Book by Elizabeth Knox. It looks amazing. It is definitely not a genre I usually read, if ever, but there was something about it that made me really want to read it and then I saw this by Rachael on Goodreads so it became a must-read for me:
A couple of days ago, I posted about the bliss found in a beautifully turned phrase. The Absolute Book is 650 pages of beautifully turned phrases. This is a master craftswoman’s work.
I’m not going to list all the others I added to the For Later pile. It’s bordering on ridiculous. How am I going to read the books from my own shelves if I keep peeking into the library catalogue??
