Library Loot (11 June 2009)

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva and Alessandra that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library.

A visit to the library never fails to brighten my day, especially when it's a cloudy one.

Clear Light of Day by Anita Desai

Set in India's Old Delhi, Clear Light of Day is Anita Desai's tender, warm, and compassionate novel about family scars, the ability to forgive and forget, and the trials and tribulations of familial love. At the novel's heart are the moving relationships between the members of the Das family, who have grown apart from each other. Bimla is a dissatisfied but ambitious teacher at a women's college who lives in her childhood home, where she cares for her mentally challenged brother, Baba. Tara is her younger, unambitious, estranged sister, married and with children of her own. Raja is their popular, brilliant, and successful brother. When Tara returns for a visit with Bimla and Baba, old memories and tensions resurface and blend into a domestic drama that is intensely beautiful and leads to profound self-understanding.

A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes

The dreamlike action of this masterful narrative begins among the decaying plantations of late-nineteenth-century Jamaica. It then moves to the high seas, as Richard Hughes tells the story of a group of children thrown upon the mercy of down-at-the-heels pirates. A tale of seduction and betrayal, of weird humor and unforeseen violence, this twentieth-century classic is an unequaled exploration of the nature, and limits, of innocence.

The Sushi Economy: Globalization and the Making of a Modern Delicacy by Sasha Issenberg
Oh I could do with some sushi right now.

Jumping from Mediterranean docks to the multimillion-dollar tuna auctions of Japanese fish markets, "The Sushi Economy" traces sushi's journey from Tokyo street snack to global delicacy

Excellent Women by Barbara Pym
(Instead of a synopsis, here's Alexander McCall Smith on Barbara Pym)
I've heard plenty of good about Barbara Pym's work so I'm looking forward to this one, which if I'm not wrong is on The Guardian's 1000 list.

Caprial's Soups & Sandwiches by Caprial Pence
Mmmm... soups.

Cradle of Flavor: Home Cooking from the Spice Islands of Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia by James Oseland
I'm curious to see what he knows about Singapore.

Oseland offers readers home cooking from the Spice Islands of Indonesia, the Nyonya dishes of Singapore and Malaysia, and the fiery specialties of West Sumatra and Java. Includes a helpful glossary (illustrated in color in one of the picture sections) of all the ingredients needed and where and how to buy them

See more Library Loot here.