Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Sharlene from Real Life Reading 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. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.

 

Happy Library Loot Day!

 

 

I’m confused by this. I’ve borrowed the ebook and it’s called The Look of the Book: Jackets, Covers, and Art at the Edges of Literature but the hardcover version of the book as listed on Goodreads is called The Book Cover: Art at the Edges of Literature

So just to let you know, in case you’re interested in reading this, it goes by two different titles….

The Look of the Book – Peter Mendelsund, David J. Alworth

The Book Cover shows that book covers are, and have always been, so much more than silent salespersons. They are advertisements for themselves, but also advertisements for us. Even the most casual book collector understands the interplay of shelf and self, the display of books and the fashioning of identity. With case studies, interviews, and galleries of jackets for best-selling books that never saw the light of day, this is a fascinating inside look at the intersection of culture and commerce. With a jacket that folds out into a poster, perforated cards for alternate covers for famous books, and several different types of paper used inside, this is the perfect gift for book lovers.

This possibly may be me realising I read far too many 2020-published books and I need to read some classics (or at least listen to them). This by the way is a multi-narrator cast and quite well done. 

As I Lay Dying – William Faulkner (audiobook)

As I Lay Dying is Faulkner’s harrowing account of the Bundren family’s odyssey across the Mississippi countryside to bury Addie, their wife and mother. Narrated in turn by each of the family members — including Addie herself — as well as others; the novel ranges in mood, from dark comedy to the deepest pathos. Considered one of the most influential novels in American fiction in structure, style, and drama, As I Lay Dyingis a true 20th-century classic.

I’m rather excited to get my hands on this! (Well at least the ebook version). Get ready for a very long synopsis! I’m also on the waitlist for the audiobook but I’m hold number 1,407 for that! Apparently there are 220 copies of the audiobook available though! (This is the Singapore library btw). 

A Promised Land – Barack Obama

A riveting, deeply personal account of history in the making—from the president who inspired us to believe in the power of democracy.

In the stirring, highly anticipated first volume of his presidential memoirs, Barack Obama tells the story of his improbable odyssey from young man searching for his identity to leader of the free world, describing in strikingly personal detail both his political education and the landmark moments of the first term of his historic presidency—a time of dramatic transformation and turmoil.

Obama takes readers on a compelling journey from his earliest political aspirations to the pivotal Iowa caucus victory that demonstrated the power of grassroots activism to the watershed night of November 4, 2008, when he was elected 44th president of the United States, becoming the first African American to hold the nation’s highest office.

Reflecting on the presidency, he offers a unique and thoughtful exploration of both the awesome reach and the limits of presidential power, as well as singular insights into the dynamics of U.S. partisan politics and international diplomacy. Obama brings readers inside the Oval Office and the White House Situation Room, and to Moscow, Cairo, Beijing, and points beyond. We are privy to his thoughts as he assembles his cabinet, wrestles with a global financial crisis, takes the measure of Vladimir Putin, overcomes seemingly insurmountable odds to secure passage of the Affordable Care Act, clashes with generals about U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, tackles Wall Street reform, responds to the devastating Deepwater Horizon blowout, and authorizes Operation Neptune’s Spear, which leads to the death of Osama bin Laden.

A Promised Land is extraordinarily intimate and introspective—the story of one man’s bet with history, the faith of a community organizer tested on the world stage. Obama is candid about the balancing act of running for office as a Black American, bearing the expectations of a generation buoyed by messages of “hope and change,” and meeting the moral challenges of high-stakes decision-making. He is frank about the forces that opposed him at home and abroad, open about how living in the White House affected his wife and daughters, and unafraid to reveal self-doubt and disappointment. Yet he never wavers from his belief that inside the great, ongoing American experiment, progress is always possible.

This beautifully written and powerful book captures Barack Obama’s conviction that democracy is not a gift from on high but something founded on empathy and common understanding and built together, day by day.

What did you get from your library this week?

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