My Week in Books: February 20-26

Welcome to my weekly Saturday feature here at Erin Reads, where I highlight new books that have entered my life, what I’ve been reading, and what’s happened on Erin Reads over the past week.

New Acquisitions

It was a good week for book acquisitions! Here’s what found its way to me:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IOU-_wzdAU

• The Tapestry of Love by Rosy Thornton: When I mentioned a few weeks ago that I’d added this novel to my TBR list, MizB of Should Be Reading offered to send me her copy. It arrived safe and sound and is now awaiting its turn as my current read. (Thanks again, MizB!)
• Running the Books: The Adventures of an Accidental Prison Librarian by Avi Steinberg: I’ve been on the library’s waiting list for this book for about five months, and it finally came! Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll be able to get to it in the three weeks I’m allotted. Perhaps in another five months!

These next three I received for review from publishers. They’re all set to be released in April.

• The Sandalwood Tree by Elle Newmark: Set in India in the 1940s, this novel tells the story of a woman living in India with her husband who discovers the letters and journal of two English women who lived in the same home a hundred years earlier.
• Nazareth, North Dakota by Tommy Zurhellen: As the back of the galley says, “A modern retelling of the story of the young Messiah.” I’ve read the first chapter, and I must say, my interest is piqued!
• The Bee-Loud Glade by Steve Himmer: I’m really not sure I can do this one justice by summarizing it, but I am looking forward to reading it!

TBR Additions

Both books I added to my TBR list this week are *gasp* nonfiction!

• The Woman Who Fell from the Sky by Jennifer Steil: Amanda’s review on the Zen Leaf made me want to read this memoir, set in Yemen, sooner rather than later.
• Free for All: Oddballs, Geeks, and Gangstas in the Public Library by Don Borchert: I’d forgotten about this memoir of a public librarian. It just popped into my head the other day, and I’m glad, because now it’s officially on the list.

Read This Week

This week I wrapped up The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver for February’s Reading Buddies, and I loved it. For my IRL book group meeting next week, I’m working on The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera, and it hasn’t won me over yet. However, I’ve just started Madre: Perilous Journeys with a Spanish Noun by Liza Bakewell, and so far I’m really enjoying it!

After zipping through the very short The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett earlier this week, I’m now working on Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome. It’s fun, and very well read (oh, Martin Jarvis, how I love your audiobooks!), but maybe not the thing to follow The Poisonwood Bible!

Erin Reads Recap

• On Tuesday I shared my thoughts on The Heretic’s Daughter by Kathleen Kent (audiobook).
• Wednesday’s Classics Reclamation Project post looked at Beowulf as translated by Seamus Heaney, which I read in high school but hardly remembered.
• Next up was another audiobook review, this time of the fascinating The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester.
• Finally, yesterday, I shared the Reading Buddies wrap-up post for The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver.

Your Turn!

How was your reading week? Do tell!