Falling in love with my library haul

While Valentine’s Day is nearly upon us, my big plans for this year’s celebration are all about reading.

Specifically, diving into my most recent library haul that included a nice surprise at my local Little Free Library (more on that in a moment). During this incredibly arctic winter, books have become more of a warm comfort than ever before, plus my best romances in life have always been page turners!

The excitement that I felt last week when finding Kelly Bishop’s delightful memoir The Third Gilmore Girl on the shelf was truly passionate in a pop culture sense there.

Being a fan of the now iconic TV series (which celebrated its twenty fifth anniversary last year), Emily Gilmore as critical mother and loving grandmother to Lorelai and Rory was a key component to the success of the show and one of my favorites.

Bishop, who had a thriving career on stage and screen beforehand, gives her personal take on the GG experience as well as her own life and times. While I am interested in seeing how she got along with co-stars such as Lauren Graham and the late great Edward Herrmann, learning more about this grand lady herself should be an adventure worth exploring indeed:

Another pulse pounding moment for me that day was finding a copy of Long Bright River by Liz Moore as well.

This Philadelphia set story follows a pair of sisters, one a police officer, the other an addict on the streets. Mickey hates running into her sister Kacey while patrolling but can’t stop looking out for her.

When Kacey goes missing for longer than usual, it is up to Mickey to try and find her, only to be caught up in a gruesome string of local murders that may or may not be connected to her sister’s situation.

While I haven’t seen the limited series adaptation of the book, I did get a brief start in Moore’s big bestseller The God of the Woods and wound up putting it on pause. I’m hoping that LBR might revive my interest in TGOTW before that book gets an adaptation onscreen:

Before I mention the last library book of this bunch, I do want to talk about the LFL find that I had there.

As I dropped off a Maeve Binchy title (Chestnut Street, which is fine but not a must have for me), my sheer amazement in seeing Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop tucked in there was palatable to say the least. This translated novel by Hwang Bo-Reum was all the literary rage a couple of years ago but I just never got a chance to read it for myself until now, that is!

This charming tale of Yeongju, who flees the corporate world to open up the small bookstore of the title, and the friends she makes along the way was well appreciated during it’s initial release yet with the way things are going these days, I have a feeling that the gentle sentiments of this story are more needed right now.

Plus, it sounds like the kind of low key engaging drama that folks would enjoy tuning into, with it’s takes on life, love and literature as a welcome relief from the hectic pace of reality in all forms:

Back to my haul, the last book that I added to the pile was the final entry in Nora Roberts’ Lost Bride trilogy, The Seven Rings.

Yes, I now have all three volumes on loan and this set combines two of my personal reading challenges for the year(finishing my library reads/Return to Roberts). 

However , that’s not the only reason for choosing this particular trilogy here; some of it has to do with the upcoming release of the new Wuthering Heights movie. I know that as of this writing, there’s a big debate over the merits of this film for better or worse (especially the latter) and I have two things to say on this subject:

1) I am not a big Brontë fan (read Jane Eyre several times as a kid and liked it) but do like some Gothic flair from time to time in my stories. The Lost Bride trilogy has a haunted mansion with ghost brides and a new owner dealing with the ancient curse that set this whole thing off and that is really more my jam at the moment.

2) I read WH once as an adult and honestly, found it rather dreary. Yes, it’s a classic worth reading but Cathy and Heathcliff are just too miserable both together and apart for me to  want to revisit them either on or off the page.

I have seen a couple of film versions of the book before (did like the one with Ralph Finnes and Juliette Binoche)so I suspect that I’m not missing out on much with what sounds like a very overheated and overdone production at best. 

If you’re looking forward to this new Wuthering Heights for your holiday weekend entertainment, I wish you well. Hope you find the fun that you seek from it and plenty of popcorn on hand. As for me, my library finds are the best Valentine and the best version of WH is the Kate Bush song: