‘The Muse’ by Jessie Burton

Jessie Burton’s back, people!

Some of Literary Transgression’s more loyal readers may recall my, ahem, lukewarm reaction to her, shall we say, disappointing The Miniaturist back in 2014. There was a lot of hype surrounding that book and, in the end, a lot of misplaced expectations. After reading it, I was actively irritated and very nearly swore never to read Jessie Burton again.

Despite that fiasco, however, I decided to give her a second try when this beautiful piece of Library Loot came my way.

Library Loot: Week of March 9

I got a big haul in this week, although much of it is for professional development. Since I’ve re-started reading Middlemarch, I’m not so hard up for something to read recreationally, although I am over-the-top excited to start V.E. Schwab’s A Darker Shade of Magic (it had me at “parallel historic Londons”).

Also on the exciting scale is Marc-Antoine Mathieu’s The Museum Vault, a pretty excellent-looking graphic novel about working at a museum (in this case, the Louvre). I have no idea what the plot will be, but the book itself looks very mysterious and a little Alan Mooreish.

Check out the rest of my loot below and share yours in the comments!

FOR FUN:
A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
“Step into a universe of daring adventure, thrilling power, and multiple Londons.” Don’t mind if I do.

FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT:
Registration Methods for the Small Museum by Daniel Reibel
General buiding-my-skills reading! I’ve never had formal “museum studies” training, so reading up on the basics seemed like a good place to start.

Museum Registration Methods by Dorothy Dudley, Irma Bezold Wilkinson, “and Others”
This is apparently the museum registrarial bible. And it has a very dramatic portrait of Charles Peale on the cover to further emphasize just how serious an enterprise Museum Registration is.

FOR BOTH:
The Museum Vaults by Marc-Antoine Mathieu
Behind-the-scenes museum graphic novel? Yes please.

Modern Quilts Traditional Inspiration by Denyse Schmidt
Denise was the featured speaker at a wonderful NYPL Crafternoon a couple of years ago and, since I’ve been asked to teach a little course on quilting here on Nantucket, I thought I’d brush up on my stitches!

Literary Locales: The Literary Tourist Trap

As I’ve been traveling around thinking about which literary landmarks of London to visit, the inevitable literary tourist trap locales keep popping up as possibilities. I’m talking about places like the Sherlock Holmes Museum at 221b Baker Street.

I’m torn about these pseudo-landmarks. I love that they are inspired by fiction, but I’m also wary. It seems almost Disneylandish to go to a place that has no real association with anything beyond print and see the words on the page made somewhat real.