Was my top priority on my vacation day travelling to a neighboring city, signing up for their library system, and borrowing a single book - all to avoid the months-long wait across all the other library systems I'm part of?

Obviously.

I did not anticipate that the highlight of my weekend would be a 41-year-old history of Ottawa around the time of confederation but here we are

Is there any better end of summer tradition than an agricultural fair? This one had a rodeo but, let's be serious, can that beat the excitement of finding out who arranged the most attractive sheaf of wheat?

I heard zero enthusiasm for Robertson Davies from the adults in my life while growing up so never read him. Surprise: he is funny!

I just finished The Clarinet Polka & it was the best kind of reading experience. It pulled me into a Polish-American community in West Virginia at the end of the 1960s & held me with its good-hearted-but-self-destructive narrator. Loved it all.

Flipping through old reading diaries, was reminded of how fun and sassy some of Sara Jeannette Duncan's heroines are. Particularly love A Voyage of Consolation (1898), in which our American heroine is back in Europe (see An American Girl in London) & still not able to shake off annoying Englishmen

Sunday afternoon sorted

Some quick reviews as I near the end of A Century of Books thecaptivereader.com/2024/12/22/o...

Absolute highlight of my recent reading has been John Mortimer's memoir, Clinging to the Wreckage, looking at his childhood and evolution into a barrister/writer

When the top FAQ for a State Park website is whether you can bring a handgun. Oh America.

"People fall apart easily here."

After weeks of frustratingly mediocre books, what a joy and relief to pick up something as funny and engaging as Nancy Lemann's Lives of the Saints

A bit of everything in this week's Library Loot thecaptivereader.com/2024/01/24/l...