New Year's Haul

I don't think I posted any of my library hauls in December, mainly because I've been smuggling books onto my hold shelf in anticipation of the TBR Dare, during which I can no longer put books on that hold shelf.

I am smuggling them from myself, trying to pretend I'm just accidentally accumulating far more books that I reasonably expect to read in a week. Or a month. Or a season, really. Strangely, I am not fooled, but I do enjoy the look of a well stocked bookshelf.

This is the first library day in the New Year, and the Dare is in action -- no browsing, only books from the hold shelf. I had thought these would come in slowly over the month, but instead they all dropped in the past few days:



Spies of Mississippi, Rick Bowers. I must have seen this recommended somewhere. Oh well, looks like a Mississippi book. It also looks interesting and covers some history that I don't know reliably.

Twin Spica 5, Kou Yaginuma. I've decided that getting the next book in a manga series doesn't count as getting a new book, because they are all units of a whole. Also, I like reading about astronauts.

The Truth Commission,  Susan Juby. Don't tell the library, but I also have this out as an ebook. I like reading in paper while lounging about at home, but then the NOOK is a light addition to my go bag. This is a Cybils book, so immune from the no-books dare.

Radiance, Catherynne M. Valentine. Good news -- both Vaginal Fantasy and Sword and Laser are reading a book called Radiance. Bad news -- they are different books. I think this is the Sword and Laser one.

Lemonade Mouth, Mark Peter Hughes. I was actually hoping to get this last year, as I wanted it to be my Rhode Island book. Oh well, it can be this year's.

Infandous, Elana K. Arnold. Another Cybils book. These YA books tend to be depressing. I'm glad my teens seem to live much simpler lives, or maybe they just hide themselves from me. The parents in these books probably say the same thing. Hmm.

I'm using my ebooks for book clubs and more Cybils fodder. This week I got:



Three Cybils, two kidlit book clubs.

I'm continuing my Library Quest.  I slowed down in December due to reading for the 50 States challenge, but I'm hoping to get back on track. I'm still in the Large Print Fiction section, so everything feels thick and important.

I've completed a book during the December reading frenzy:

Stakeout, Parnell Hall. Technically I should still be on the F's, but I jumped this one ahead because of its New Jersey setting. It's a mystery with a bumbling private detective who spends most of his time getting yelled at by his wife, lawyer, friends, or any passerby. Most of the time the reader is firmly on the side of the yellers. But he struggles on and eventually solves the mystery. It's #18 in a series, so it's possibly I'm missing some nuances in these relationships. I'm not seeking out more books in this series, but I'm not sorry I read this one.

I'm currently reading Songs From Willow Frost by Jamie Ford. I had it with me at the drug store and the woman at the check out recognized it and said she had read the first one, so we talked about the author. I had no idea his books were linked, but apparently so. I wonder who were the characters in the first book -- we didn't want to spoil each other so we talked in generalities. I'm also listening to The Heist. It's interesting to me that I find it hard to listen to most books -- I feel out of control because I can't control the pace. So this library quest is pushing me on a personal level.

I've currently got 50 things out from the library, including ebooks, books for me, and books for the kids. That large number is why I'm doing the TBR Triple Dare.

I'll go sign in to Library Loot which is at Silly Little Mischief this week to see what everyone else is getting.  Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Linda from Silly Little Mischief 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.