Grayson Studios Blog

Library Loot: My Holiday Reading Stack

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva and Marg that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library.

Last week was quite a treat for me as several of the books I had on hold at the library came in.  Have I mentioned how much I love my public library (Fulton County Public library here in Atlanta, GA).  I can usually find whatever I am looking for at the library! After spending a day in the office and the evening in the studio  I look forward to 10 pm when I turn off all of the things that beep, buzz, and jiggle to settle in for my reading hour (which usually turns into several hours). This is what I checked out last week.  I am also including books I picked up today for my Christmas vacation reading. Yipppeeeee!!!!!!

Helen Oyeyemi, The Icarus Girl.  I have  finished this book and I loved it.  I was immediately drawn in by the title and the cover art.  I have been working on a painted series involving birds, flight and women so the title immediately appealed to me. Oyeyemi upped the ante for me with this novel. I love her voice and the way she draws from culture and spirit in this novel.

Molly Wizenburg, A Handmade Life.  I enjoyed the conversational style of this author.  This book is part cookbook and part memoir.  It is wonderful to share the experiences and emotions with the author as she shares her love of food and all things French. I admire her for figuring out pretty quickly what she was willing to give up in order to focus her life on her passion: food! Now I have found a wonderful new blog to read (her blog is called Orangette) and even more wonderful recipes to try.

Helen Oyeyemi, The Opposite House.  The second novel by this wonderful author.  This book is about an Afro-Cuban woman whose family migrates to London.  I haven’t started this one yet but the book appears to have  all of the themes I love: woman in search of herself, woman connecting to spirit and the power within (the  main character’s name is Yemaya), exploring the thin line between myth and reality. .  . .

Other books I picked up today:

Marie-Elena John, Unburnable (this one has been sitting on my shelf for a while)

Steve Martin, The Pleasure of my Company (I thought Shop Girl was hilarious.  I didn’t know about this book)

Joseph O’Neill, Netherland (read a review in the Times last year which made me want to read it. Our library just got it)

Clarence Major, One Flesh (the book is about an artist.  That’s all *I* needed to know!

George Walker, The Woodcut Artist’s Handbook.

Peggy Vincent, Baby Catcher: Chronicles of a Modern Midwife

Karen White, The House on Tradd Street (read about this one on the Devourer of Books blog)

Karen White, The Lost Hours

Alicia Paulson, Stitched in Time (sweet patterns for sewing inspiration)

This entry was posted on Monday, December 21st, 2009 at 6:57 pm and is filed under Book Reviews, Books. The entry is tagged under Book Reviews, Books-fiction, Books-nonfiction, library loot, reading. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.