When you're finally able to venture to your favourite library bookstore after 8 months only to see that they're having a $10 bag sale (you fill a large brown bag to the brim with books and it only costs $10), it's only logical to have a celebratory shopping spree. Me and my husband (@BilliamSWN) love supporting our local libraries and it was honestly such a joy to have the opportunity to purchase from their used sections again. Here's part 1 (yeah, we did some damage) of my haul, enjoy!
Little Women
by Louisa May Alcott
Do I already own this book? Yes, multiple times. But ohmygosh, so pretty! I will be donating one of the paperback versions of this classic tale revolving around a group of misfit sisters to sooth my guilty conscience, but.. dayum. I read Little Women for the first time early 2018 and fell in love with the story. Jo is one of the superior female characters ever written, especially in the era that this was published. In 2019 the movie adaption got released and it only fuelled my love for the book. If you haven't read this book yet as you think it may be daunting, have no fear! It's heart-warming and truly a joy to delve into.
Seven Days Of Us
by Francesca Hornak
Goodreads Synopsis: It’s Christmas, and for the first time in years the entire Birch family will be under one roof. Even Emma and Andrew’s elder daughter—who is usually off saving the world—will be joining them at Weyfield Hall, their aging country estate. But Olivia, a doctor, is only coming home because she has to. Having just returned from treating an epidemic abroad, she’s been told she must stay in quarantine for a week…and so too should her family. For the next seven days, the Birches are locked down, cut off from the rest of humanity—and even decent Wi-Fi—and forced into each other’s orbits. Younger, unabashedly frivolous daughter Phoebe is fixated on her upcoming wedding, while Olivia deals with the culture shock of being immersed in first-world problems.
I've seen this book make it's rounds through bookstagram and booktube but never actually knew what it was about. To be entirely honest, I assumed it was a rom-com book set around Christmas and that's why I put it in my bag. However, I later learnt that it's more of a family tale that gives me the impression of books like This Is Where I Leave You. Honestly, this intrigues me more and I'm exciting to hopefully get to this before Christmas.
The Bluest Eye
by Toni Morrison
Goodreads Synopsis: Set in the author's girlhood hometown of Lorain, Ohio, it tells the story of black, eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove. Pecola prays for her eyes to turn blue so that she will be as beautiful and beloved as all the blond, blue-eyed children in America. In the autumn of 1941, the year the marigolds in the Breedloves' garden do not bloom. Pecola's life does change- in painful, devastating ways.
As you read this, I'm in the middle of Beloved and it's stitched itself onto my heart. Toni Morrison has always been known for her poetic way of writing and her stories that are the pinacol of black women's lives. The synopsis to The Bluest Eye has always been the one that's intrigued me the most. I did attempt the audiobook a few months back but the narrator wasn't for me, so I'm hoping to physically read this next year. I'm not sure how I feel about this edition, thoughts?
Sing, Unburied, Song
by Jesmyn Ward
Goodreads Synopsis: Jojo and his toddler sister, Kayla, live with their grandparents, Mam and Pop, and the occasional presence of their drug-addicted mother, Leonie, on a farm on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. Leonie is simultaneously tormented and comforted by visions of her dead brother, which only come to her when she’s high; Mam is dying of cancer; and quiet, steady Pop tries to run the household and teach Jojo how to be a man. When the white father of Leonie’s children is released from prison, she packs her kids and a friend into her car and sets out across the state for Parchman farm, the Mississippi State Penitentiary, on a journey rife with danger and promise.
I got this out of my library a year or so ago and never got the time to read it before it got returned. To be honest, I solely picked it up because the librarian who checked me out raved about the story. I already know that this book will break my soul into a million pieces. Have you read this? Please tell me your thoughts as I have no idea what I'm in for.
The Library Book
by Susan Orlean
Goodreads Synopsis: On the morning of April 29, 1986, a fire alarm sounded in the Los Angeles Public Library. As the moments passed, the patrons and staff who had been cleared out of the building realized this was not the usual fire alarm. As one fireman recounted, “Once that first stack got going, it was ‘Goodbye, Charlie.’” The fire was disastrous: it reached 2000 degrees and burned for more than seven hours. By the time it was extinguished, it had consumed four hundred thousand books and damaged seven hundred thousand more. Investigators descended on the scene, but more than thirty years later, the mystery remains: Did someone purposefully set fire to the library—and if so, who?
Since I first say this book, I thought it was fiction. So when I picked this up at the bookstore and read the back I was pleasantly surprised. It sounds so good! In 2021, I'm going to try and widen my experience with non-fiction books that aren't strictly memoirs or biographies. I read I'll Be Gone In The Dark this year and found myself very entertained. So, maybe I'll enjoy a wider range of this genre! The same as last year, I'm hoping to pick up at least one non-fiction a month and The Library Book will be topping my list of priorities.
The Kiss Quotient
by Helen Hoang
Stella wants to experience passion with somebody. She's on the spectrum and that makes her romantic life a little wonky. Enter in a guy she's hired to fuel her sexual desires, Michael. Michael is a man of the night and craves more from his life. Together they may just find compatibility.
I adore this book! I read it a few years ago and constantly debate rereading. In the same vain as The Hating Game, I think the author did a tremendous job at writing a couple who have true on-page chemistry. I can't entirely comment on Stella's Asperger's as I have no experience with it, but from a reader's standpoint, I learnt a lot. I've never experienced a traditional contemporary romance that's taught me about something vital before. Would 110% recommend!
Miracle Creek
by Angie Kim
When an explosion kills two people, everyone is to blame. Who did it?
That's a hella vague synopsis, I know, but I went into this book entirely blind and I recommend you do the same. It's literally a more intense version of Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng which I adored. Me and my husband did the audiobook for this and I 110% recommend it. It's a great look at immigration, and alternative medicine.
We Are Okay
by Nina Lacour
Goodreads Synopsis: Marin hasn’t spoken to anyone from her old life since the day she left everything behind. No one knows the truth about those final weeks. Not even her best friend, Mabel. But even thousands of miles away from the California coast, at college in New York, Marin still feels the pull of the life and tragedy she’s tried to outrun. Now, months later, alone in an emptied dorm for winter break, Marin waits. Mabel is coming to visit, and Marin will be forced to face everything that’s been left unsaid and finally confront the loneliness that has made a home in her heart.
The Clockmaker's Daughter
by Kate Morton
Goodreads Synopsis: In the summer of 1862, a group of young artists led by the passionate and talented Edward Radcliffe descends upon Birchwood Manor on the banks of the Upper Thames. Their plan: to spend a secluded summer month in a haze of inspiration and creativity. But by the time their stay is over, one woman has been shot dead while another has disappeared; a priceless heirloom is missing; and Edward Radcliffe’s life is in ruins.
This book has always intrigued me. The cover is beautiful and the overall story seems like a perfect quiet fantasy. Though, I shan't lie, the size is very intimidating. If you have any idea what this book is like, please tell me. I'm very intrigued.
So, yeah, this haul was very miscellaneous but if there's anything that interests you, let me know! Merry week before Christmas!
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